4730(II)_May Catholics & Buddhists Witness to World
Before the Birthday of Budha Pope Francis meets the Thai Budhist delegation
May 18, 2018
Vatican, 16 May 2018 -- Between April 30 and May 22 the world wide Budhist community does celebrate one of their main Feast (Vesakh) commonly called also 'Buddha's Birthday'. For the population of Japan, Korea, Macau, Hongkong, Taiwan, Thailand, Maynmar, Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia it's a very important (public) holiday. Indeed Vesakh actually commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha, and is celebrated on different days in different countries.
On Wednesday May 16, before the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father Francis met with a delegation of Buddhists from Thailand in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall meeting room. of the words of greeting that the Pope Francis addressed to those present at the Audience:
"I offer you a warm welcome and I thank you for the precious gift of your Sacred Book translated into today’s language by the monks of Wat Pho Temple. It is a tangible sign of your generosity and of the friendship that we have shared for so many years, a journey made of many small steps. I think in particular of the meeting in the Vatican between Blessed Pope Paul VI and the Venerable Somdej Phra Wanaratana, whose portrait can be seen in the entrance of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, which you have visited in these days.
It is my heartfelt wish that Buddhists and Catholics will grow increasingly closer, advance in knowledge of one another and in esteem for their respective spiritual traditions, and offer the world a witness to the values of justice, peace, and the defense of human dignity.
With renewed gratitude for this meeting, I invoke upon on all of you the divine blessings of joy and peace."
As every year the Pontifical Council for the Inter-religious dialogue made public the 2018 Message for the Birthday of Lord Budha with the 'Christians and Buddhists - Preventing and Combating Corruption Togeher!'
Also the UN Secretary General shared a special message on this occasion of Vesak “The Buddha’s teachings can inspire us to become global citizens […] the Buddhist world view teaches us to see ourselves as a part of this world and not as its masters.” (https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/05/1008722)
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