This Thursday, Feb. 4, will be the first International Day of Human Fraternity.
An online event has been organized from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Pope Francis, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, will be among invited guests.
The winner of the Zayed Prize will be announced during the event. The prize is awarded to people dedicated to building peace and dialogue.
Feb. 4 was not chosen by chance. It was on that day, in 2019, that Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, signed the document on human fraternity.
That meeting set the foundation for a common goal between Christians and Muslims: to fight against fanaticism and discrimination by fundamentalist groups.
Since then, the pope has given a copy of the document to every government leader he's met.
The text is a commitment to build a more fraternal world, an idea the pope also explores in his latest encyclical “Fratelli Tutti.”
The United Nations has also taken up the Abu Dhabi initiative, which is why it has declared every Feb. 4 as International Day of Human Fraternity.
Due to the pandemic, its first edition will have to be held online.
Javier Romero
Translation: CT
