Vatican dicasteries publish document marking 60 years of interreligious dialogue

September 16, 2026

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue today published a document commemorating the six decades of interreligious dialogue that followed Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions.

The document, approved by Pope Leo XIV on June 22 and dated today, is entitled “A Journey of Hope: Sixty Years of Interreligious Dialogue and Fraternity in the Light of the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate.” It has five sections:

• Introduction (The Origin and Scope of Nostra Aetate: A Response to the Shoah; The Distinctive Character of Dialogue with the Jewish People)
• Post-Conciliar Developments: A Continuity Enriched by Successive Popes (Pope Saint Paul VI, Pope Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, Pope Leo XIV)
• The Fruits and Challenges of the Declaration Nostra Aetate Today (Visible and Silent Fruits, Persistent Resistance and Misunderstandings, A Pedagogy of Dialogue to be Developed Further)
• Perspectives and Directions for the Future of Interreligious Dialogue
• Conclusion

Citing remarks made by Pope Leo in October 2025, the document concluded:

Today more than ever, it is necessary to move forward resolutely in this direction, sustained by God’s grace and the spiritual treasure of religious traditions. “Sixty years ago, Nostra Aetate brought hope to the world after the Second World War. Today we are called upon to rekindle that hope in our world, devastated by war and our degraded natural environment.” This journey of hope remains open, and all of us are invited to walk it together with courage.

 

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Further information:

• A Journey of Hope: Sixty Years of Interreligious Dialogue and Fraternity in the Light of the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate (Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, 9/16/26)