Meeting with the Muslim Community in France (31 May 1980)

On 31 May 1980, the Holy Father met with the Muslim Community in Paris, to whom he spoke of a common ideal that Muslims and Christians recognize each other as brothers.

It is with great joy that I greet you, Muslims, our brothers in faith in the one God. Through you, I greet all your brothers and sisters who live in this country.

If the reason that led you to leave your respective homelands, be it work or study, gives your decision a character of indisputable dignity, it is no less true that your condition as immigrants poses to you, as it poses to the country that welcomes you, important social, cultural and religious problems.

I know that efforts have been made to understand your problems and to seek satisfactory solutions. I think in particular of the numerous socio-professional and cultural organizations sensitive to your situation and that of other immigrants living in France.

Even the Church is aware of this. I mention only two initiatives that it has undertaken: the Conciliar Declaration of 28 October 1965, which affirmed its will not only to seek dialogue with Islam, but also to promote social justice, moral values, peace and freedom together for all men, and the creation on 19 May 1964 of the "Secretariat for non-Christians". I recently reaffirmed this will of the Church during my trip to Africa meeting representatives of Islam in Nairobi and Accra. This concern of the universal Church finds expression among you in the "Secretariat for Relations with Islam" set up by the Church in France.

However, all your problems are not solved, I realize, neither are those of other workers around the world, nor are those of many Christians who live and work in Muslim countries. But we are convinced that good will, a sincere effort at understanding and the common search for solutions in a real desire for conciliation can, with the help of the one God in whom we all believe, help to find satisfactory solutions.

Our common ideal is a society in which men recognize each other as brothers who walk illuminated by the light of God in emulation for good.

Thank you for your presence here.

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