Just announced

Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, and Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada shake hands at the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City, May 10. © Vatican Media.

SGI NEWS

Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada Meets With Pope Francis

VATICAN CITY—On the morning of May 10 (local time), Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada met with Pope Francis at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.

 

With his appointment in 2013, Pope Francis commemorated the 10th anniversary of his papacy last year. Born in Argentina, he is the first pope from South America. He has engaged in conflict resolution, environmental crises, interreligious dialogue and church reform. In 2019, he was the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula. That same year, he made the first papal visit to Japan in 38 years, traveling to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 

In 2017, Soka Gakkai Vice President Hiromasa Ikeda and others met the pope as participants in an international conference on creating a nuclear weapons-free world.

 

Last year, Pope Francis sent a message of condolence on the passing of Ikeda Sensei, expressing gratitude and praise for Sensei's lifelong efforts to promote peace and interreligious dialogue.

 

On this occasion, President Harada expressed appreciation for being able to meet with Pope Francis, who smiled and responded that he had been waiting to meet Soka Gakkai representatives.

 

The Soka Gakkai president conveyed his hopes that, amid these turbulent times, religious communities desiring peace can overcome differences and work together based on the shared love for humanity. He also offered gratitude for the pope's condolences on Sensei's passing.

 

President Harada affirmed his desire to continue working for the happiness and peace of the world, to which Pope Francis responded, stressing that war is a sign of defeat and must be stopped.

 

The Soka Gakkai president shared the Soka Gakkai's efforts over more than five decades toward abolishing nuclear weapons under Sensei's leadership, most recently in partnership with ICAN (International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons), and that in 2023, Sensei issued statements on No First Use of nuclear weapons.

 

The pope also strongly criticized the use of nuclear weapons, agreeing with and praising the Soka Gakkai's focused efforts.

 

President Harada affirmed that the Soka Gakkai is developing its peace movement based on the spirit of the opening lines of Ikeda Sensei's novel The Human Revolution: "Nothing is more barbarous than war. Nothing is more cruel." Pope Francis agreed wholeheartedly that this spirit is vital.

 

Their friendly exchange lasted about 30 minutes.

President Harada and his delegation engage in heartfelt conversation with Cardinal Mauro Gambetti (third from left), Rome, May 10. Photo by Seikyo Press.

Dialogue With Cardinal Mauro Gambetti

ROME—Following his meeting with Pope Francis, Soka Gakkai President Minoru Harada met with Cardinal Mauro Gambetti in Rome on May 10 (local time). Kimiko Nagaishi, Soka Gakkai Women's Leader, and Hirotsugu Terasaki, SGI Director General for Peace and Global Issues, were also in attendance.

 

As president of the Fratelli Tutti Foundation, established in 2021, the cardinal is dedicated to promoting the arts as well as ethnic, cultural and interreligious dialogue. The name of the foundation comes from the pope's 2020 encyclical (a papal letter sent to all bishops of the Catholic Church), titled "Fratelli Tutti" (All My Brothers).

 

President Harada shared about a planned meeting in 1975 with Ikeda Sensei and Pope Paul VI, who were both committed to interreligious dialogues for peace. However, this meeting never took place due to the dogmatic views of the Nichiren Shoshu priesthood (with which the Soka Gakkai was associated at the time). He stated that today's historic meeting with the pope was a manifestation of Sensei's wishes.

 

Referring to the ideal of upholding the sanctity of life expressed in the pope's encyclical, the Soka Gakkai president explained the Buddhist doctrine of "cherry, plum, peach and damson," which places belief in the Buddha nature inherent in all human life while cherishing each person's individuality. He confirmed that this spirit is common to both faiths and shared his hope to work together for peace.

 

Cardinal Gambetti said that he sees a deep love of humanity in the Soka Gakkai and stressed that human beings must transcend the boundaries of secular and economic power and strive to reclaim the inherent beauty of humanity that resides in us all.

 

He also introduced the three pillars of the Fratelli Tutti Foundation: promoting mutual understanding through dialogue, education and art. He conveyed his desire to cooperate with the Soka Gakkai in promoting interreligious dialogue as well as education and cultural exchanges.

 

—Adapted from a report on SeikyoOnline.com

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SGI-ToMyFriends-Wagatomo(Gillingham)" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sgi-tomyfriends-wagatomogillingham+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sgi-tomyfriends-wagatomogillingham/e3bd2151-88ed-441d-9dc8-c9bf5310f549n%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.