Pope Francis: Diverse religious identities are ‘a gift from God’

Pope Francis addresses young adults gathered in Tirana, Albania, for the Mediterranean Encounters 2024 conference on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. / Credit: The Archdiocese of Tiranë–Durrës Rome Newsroom, Sep 17, 2024 / 10:50 am (CNA). Pope Francis praised cultural and religious diversity as “a gift from God” in a video message to an interreligious youth conference on Tuesday.“Contemplate the diversity of your traditions as a wealth, a wealth willed by God,” the pope told young adults gathered in Tirana, Albania, for the Mediterranean Encounters 2024.“Unity is not uniformity,” he added, “and the diversity of our cultural and religious identities is a gift from God.”Francis’ comment about diverse religious identities being a gift willed by God followed shortly after the pontiff made headlines over the weekend for telling young people in Singapore on Sept. 13 that “all religions are path[ways] to reach God.”The pope’s video message Sept. 17 was sent to 50 young adults from 25 Mediterranean and Black Sea countries participating in Mediterranean Encounters 2024 (Med24) in Tirana, Albania, Sept. 15–21.Young adults gather in Tirana, Albania, for the Mediterranean Encounters 2024 on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. Credit: The Archdiocese of Tiranë–DurrësThe meeting’s theme is “Pilgrims of Hope, Builders of Peace” and comes one year after Pope Francis participated in the Mediterranean Encounters in Marseille, France, on Sept. 23, 2023.The interreligious conference is focused on the themes of peace, migration, and human dignity and includes moments of dialogue, prayer, and cultural visits.In his message, Pope Francis asked Med24 participants to “put the voices of those who are not heard at the center,” especially the poor and migrants.“I think of those who, often very young, must leave their country for a better future,” he said. “Take care of each one. It is not about numbers but about people, and each person is sacred; it is about faces, whose dignity must be promoted and protected. We renounce the culture of fear to open the door of welcome and friendship.”The pontiff also encouraged the young adults from Albania in particular to “walk in the footsteps of your martyrs.”“Their courage is a living testimony that can inspire your commitment to resist all the violence that disfigures our humanity, as Blessed Maria Tuci did at only 22 years of age,” he said. Maria (also spelled Marije) Tuci is one of 38 Albanese martyrs beatified in 2016.The young Albanian woman, a teacher in a Catholic elementary school who was also in formation to become a religious sister, was arrested and imprisoned by the anti-Catholic communist state in 1949.She died in 1950 at the age of 22 after being brutally tortured in prison.