The Holy See hosted its annual Interreligious Service this last Thursday 30th January in Geneva. It took as its theme, Pope Francis World Day of Peace Message for 2025: ‘Forgive us our trespasses and give us your peace'. Now in its 16th year, the Service, co-organized with the local diocese, provided an opportunity for the international community in Geneva to gather at the start of the new year and to reflect on the precious gift of peace.
The Service opened with welcoming remarks from Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva. Framing the Service within the context of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year, he encouraged those gathered to look upon the many challenges facing the world at this time, with ‘a heart aglow with hope’. Archbishop Balestrero expressed his hopes that the Service would provide an encouragement to build ‘a more hopeful, just, and fraternal world.’
Cardinal Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, then offered a reflection on Pope Francis’ Message for the 58th World Day of Peace. His Eminence began by highlighting restorative justice and the restoration of dignity as being essential to giving ‘new hope’ to the world in this Jubilee Year. He outlined the three concrete measures proposed by the Holy Father to make this ‘new hope’ a reality during the Jubilee Year: cancellation of international debt, the establishment of a World Fund to eradicate hunger and respect for life from conception to natural death. He then concluded by underlining the importance of acknowledging the weakness of the human condition in order ‘…to be open to the peace that only God can give’ and in turn, be enabled to act as peacemakers. Cardinal Koch’s full intervention can be read, here.
Religious leaders from Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist Communities were then invited to share their reflections on the Holy Father’s message in light of their own traditions and beliefs. Their interventions can be found here. These reflections were interspersed with music from the Filipino and African choirs of the Parish, reflecting something of the universality of the Catholic community in Geneva. The Service concluded with the famous prayer of St Francis of Assisi, ‘Make me a channel of your peace’, led by the Vicar General of the Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg.
Approximately 300 people – including the Director General of the United Nations in Geneva, many Ambassadors, staff of Diplomatic Missions and International Organizations, faithful of the Diocese, Catholic NGOs and friends and staff of the Holy See Mission, attended the annual event at St Nicolas de Flüe Church. The Service was then followed by a convivial reception in the Parish Hall.
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