The designation of 4 February as the International Day of Human Fraternity is the result of a UN General Assembly resolution proposed by Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
This is a global celebration. The people of the Earth must remember the importance of common peace and peaceful coexistence, universal respect, tolerance, the values of peaceful coexistence and international cooperation.
The date was not chosen by chance: at the Global Conference of Human Fraternity in Abu Dhabi the “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” was declared on February 4, 2019. The Conference coincided with a visit to the UAE by the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Dr Ahmed El Tayeb, who signed the Document of Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together.
Against the backdrop of increasing violence, hate speech, xenophobia and various forms of discrimination, this Document (together with the Day of Human Fraternity) should become the basis for promotion of peace, mutual assistance, solidarity, tolerance and unity among the people of the world, regardless of their differences.
Pope Francis said fraternity “is one of the fundamental and universal values that ought to undergird relationships between peoples.”
“In a mutual and shared spirit of fraternity, all of us must work to promote a culture of peace that encourages sustainable development, tolerance, inclusion, mutual understanding and solidarity,” he said.
In his message, Pope Francis stressed that “We all live under the same heaven, independently of where and how we live, the colour of our skin, religion, social group, sex, age, economic conditions or our state of health.”
Perhaps today it is more important than ever. Our time is not the time for indifference and indifference. Either we are together, or everything will collapse, and the world will be buried under the rubble of our civilization.
“Either we are brothers and sisters, or everything falls apart,” Pope Francis said, urging believers, despite the long and challenging path of brotherhood, to counter mindsets of violence and hate “with the sign of fraternity that, in accepting others and respecting their identity, invites them to a shared journey.”
