Thread by @jordandenari

Excerpts from Pope Francis' amazing, tear-jerking address at the interreligious meeting in Ur, birthplace of Abraham. #PopeFrancisInIraq #CatholicMuslimBridge vatican.va/content/france…

"In those stars, Abraham saw the promise of his descendants; he saw us. Today we, Jews, Christians and Muslims, together with our brothers and sisters of other religions, honour our father Abraham by doing as he did: we look up to heaven and we journey on earth."

"Those same stars...illumine the darkest nights because they shine *together.* ...The Almighty above invites us never to separate ourselves from our neighbours. The otherness of God points us towards others, towards our brothers & sisters."

"May we – the descendants of Abraham and the representatives of different religions – sense that, above all, we have this role: to help our brothers and sisters to raise their eyes and prayers to heaven."

"I think of the young Muslim volunteers of Mosul, who helped to repair churches and monasteries, building fraternal friendships on the rubble of hatred, and those Christians and Muslims who today are restoring mosques and churches together."

"Heaven has not grown weary of the earth: God loves every people, every one of his daughters and sons! Let us never tire of looking up to heaven, of looking up to those same stars that, in his day, our father Abraham contemplated."

"For Abraham, looking up to heaven, rather than being a distraction, was an incentive to journey on earth."

"On our own journey, we are called to leave behind those ties and attachments that, by keeping us enclosed in our own groups, prevent us from welcoming God’s boundless love and from seeing others as our brothers and sisters. ...we need one another...'No one is saved alone'"

Our moment "demands...that we row together on the same side. There will be no peace without sharing and acceptance, without a justice that ensures equity and advancement for all, beginning with those most vulnerable."

"There will be no peace as long as we see others as them and not us. There will be no peace as long as our alliances are *against* others."

"While some try to have enemies more than to be friends, while many seek their own profit at the expense of others, those who look at the stars of the promise, those who follow the ways of God, cannot be against someone, but for everyone."

"[We heard about] Najy, from the Sabean Mandean community, who lost his life in an attempt to save the family of his Muslim neighbour. How many people here, amid the silence and indifference of the world, have embarked upon journeys of fraternity!"

"Together, we wish to commit ourselves to fulfilling God’s dream that the human family may become hospitable and welcoming to all his children; that looking up to the same heaven, it will journey in peace on the same earth." (BRB, gotta go cry now. 😭🥰)