Witnesses of Mercy for Peace and Reconciliation

89 ear Friends. Our time of sharing and wit- nessing the event of Mercy for Peace and Reconciliation was a deep experience of mutual listening and enlightenment, of learning from one another and drawing from the wealth of the wisdom within our religious traditions. As believers, and of particular necessity in our own times, we are called to be messengers of peace and build- ers of communion and to proclaim, in opposition to all those who sow conflict, division and intolerance, that ours is a time of fraternity. We at the KAICIID Dia- logue Centre with the support of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, thought it good to create an event of significant sharing here in Rome during the Year of Mercy, with the aim of responding not only to today’s challenges but, above all, to the call to love which is the core of all authentic religion. We have learnt during the last two days that love does not leave us prey to evil or to our own frailty; it does not forget, but remembers and draws near to every human misery in order to relieve it. Rahamim , rahmah , mercy, pardon, forgiveness and all of the other nuances of mutual love resonated very often in our talks. And we were offered not only theories but living examples of peacemaking and the promotion of human dignity. We can agree with HH Pope Francis, that: “Forgiveness is surely the greatest gift we can give to others. Yet at the same time, it is what makes us most like God.” HH Pope Francis also reminded us that it is: “Urgent to extend mercy to the world around us, to our common home, which we are called on to protect and preserve from unbridled and rapacious consumption,” because: “The gravity of the ecological crisis demands that we all look to the common good, embarking on a path of Concluding Remarks His Excellency Bishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, mccj, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and Board Member of the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) D HE Bishop Ayuso at the closing ceremony CONCLUDING WORDS