Pope Leo’s Vatican asks Catholics to ‘esteem’ other faiths

[Stone]

Pope Leo’s Vatican asks Catholics to ‘esteem’ other faiths
The Vatican’s new document on inter-religious dialogue downplays evangelization 

and rejects ‘a closed view of reality’ and ‘the defensive entrenchment in one’s own position.’



Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez
Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

Sep 16, 2026
(LifeSiteNews [Emphasis - The Catacombs]) —The Vatican has asked Catholics to ‘esteem’ other faiths in its latest document on interreligious dialogue and “fraternity.”

The document, signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF); Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity; and Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, appeared this morning.

Entitled “A Journey of Hope: Sixty Years of Interreligious Dialogue and Fraternity in the Light of the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate,” the text discourages “proselytism,” that is, attempts to convert people of other religions. 

“The defensive entrenchment in one’s own position and the view that proselytism is the only way to engage with the other no longer make sense in a world that increasingly resembles an interconnected and constantly evolving global village,” it states.

The document upholds “interreligious dialogue” and “fraternity” with other religions as an ideal, but frames these as means towards “peace” and “understanding,” as opposed to evangelization.


What does dialogue mean, according to the text?

“To engage in dialogue in the spirit of, therefore, presupposes a contemplative gaze directed toward the ‘other who is different.’ ‘Approaching, speaking, listening, looking at, coming to know and understand one another, and to find common ground: all these things are summed up in the one word ‘dialogue.’” Evangelization, conversion, and bringing one towards Christ are not cited in this conception of dialogue.

The document further explicitly differentiates “dialogue” from Christian evangelization, more clearly implying that the Vatican’s idea of interreligious dialogue does not involve evangelization.

“To those who might be tempted to insist exclusively on the obligation to proclaim Christ, they recall that  also affirms the necessity of dialogue with other religious traditions, since such dialogue is now ‘a part of the Church’s evangelizing mission,’” the text states.

The text cites Pope Francis’ affirmation that such dialogue is “a necessary condition for peace in the world, and so it is a duty for Christians as well as other religious communities.”

So-called “fraternity” itself is also a stated goal, independent of any effort to convert others to Christianity. The document encourages “constant dialogue with cultures, religions, and consciences” that is ultimately “directed toward universal fraternity.”

In “building human fraternity,” what matters for each religion is not that they adhere to the truth, but that they embrace the “poor” and “wounded”:

“Hence arises the importance of a universal criterion of discernment that can be found in the sacred texts of the various religions: namely, whether one welcomes or rejects the wounded person lying by the roadside. Concrete concern for the most vulnerable is the essential measure by which the integrity of every project—whether political, economic, social, academic, religious, or cultural—must be judged. The poor, in all the forms their vulnerability may take, are the compass that allows us to know whether we are moving in the right direction.”

Moving forward, the document declares that our religious goal should be not to establish a “one great world religion in which all beliefs are flattened,” but to build “a fraternal society capable of accepting differences.” That is, Catholics must accept that their neighbors espouse error.

“This intention remains at the heart of interreligious dialogue,” it adds.

The document even suggests that adhering to dogma involves a “closed view of reality” that becomes a source of “suffering.”

“Monolithic and isolated models, which encourage a closed view of reality, are proving increasingly inadequate and, ultimately, become sources of violence and suffering for the most vulnerable,” it claims.

The DDF’s text goes so far as to declare that different, erroneous religions have “special gifts” that they do not have to part with: “In this regard, religions, like universities, have much to offer, without having to renounce their specific character and special gifts.”

Thus, by all indications, the document endorses religious indifferentism, which was condemned by Pope Gregory XVI, by Pope Pius IX in his Syllabus of Errors, and by other popes.

In this regard, the DDF text contradicts Church magisterial teaching.