Vatican Marks 60th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate with Call for Renewed Interreligious Dialogue
On the 60th anniversary of the landmark declaration Nostra Aetate, the Vatican has released a new document titled A Journey of Hope to reaffirm the Church's commitment to interreligious cooperation. Vatican officials emphasized that authentic dialogue is essential for countering rising fundamentalism, violence, and discrimination in the modern world. Cardinal Victor Fernández and other prefects highlighted that all religions should stand for peace, warning against the dangers of isolationism and religious hatred. The Church continues to advocate for fraternity and concrete action to support the vulnerable, including migrants and refugees. This milestone reflects the ongoing mission of the Church under Pope Leo XIV to foster global coexistence and understanding.
14 days ago
The Vatican has marked the 60th anniversary of Nostra aetate by publishing “A Journey of Hope: Sixty Years of Interreligious Dialogue and Fraternity in the Light of the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate.” The joint document calls for renewed dialogue, protection of religious freedom, opposition to fundamentalism and religious persecution, and practical cooperation among believers while maintaining distinct religious identities. 2 5
Nostra aetate, promulgated by the Second Vatican Council on October 28, 1965, represented a major change in the Catholic Church’s approach to other religions. It rejected discrimination and persecution based on religion, race, or social condition and urged Catholics to recognize what is true and holy in other religious traditions. 2
The new note presents the declaration as the starting point for six decades of institutional, theological, and pastoral development. It reviews the contributions of successive popes and the growth of permanent structures for dialogue, including the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and commissions focused on relations with Judaism and Islam. 1 2
Pope Leo XIV approved the note during a June 22 audience with the prefects and secretaries of the three participating dicasteries and authorized its publication on September 16. 5
The document calls for a “new ethic of dialogue,” described as a culture of complexity, flexibility, friendship, and courageous encounter rather than fear or distance from people of other faiths. It also rejects dialogue based on defensiveness, hostility, conquest, or the political manipulation of religion. 5 2
At the same time, the Vatican stresses that dialogue does not require abandoning religious truth or Christian identity. Authentic dialogue is presented as requiring a clear awareness of one’s own faith, respect for the identity of others, openness to difference, and a willingness to proclaim one’s beliefs with “esteem, listening, and charity.” 3 5
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández said that dialogue can also be a form of Christian witness, provided it avoids coercion and proselytism. He linked this approach to the idea that Christians should share the beauty of their faith through lives transformed by love, while respecting the freedom and dignity of others. 3
Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad described interreligious dialogue as having acquired “deep structural roots” within the Church, while continuing to face new tensions. He said dialogue has developed from earlier attitudes of mistrust, rejection, or ignorance into lasting friendships among religious leaders, shared educational and social projects, and joint responses to wars and humanitarian crises. 1
The Church now approaches dialogue through several forms: daily coexistence, cooperation in practical action, theological exchange, and shared religious or monastic experience. Koovakad described it not as a peripheral diplomatic activity but as a constitutive part of the Church’s evangelizing mission. 1 4
The document cites work with Muslims and with followers of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, and traditional African religions. It also points to theological discussions, interreligious monastic exchanges, youth forums, women’s networks, publications, and cooperation with the World Council of Churches. 1 2
The note links meaningful dialogue to respect for religious freedom. It calls for equal freedom for Christians living as minorities and condemns the persecution of Christians by extremist groups, while presenting every form of religious persecution as a violation of human dignity. 2
The Vatican identifies several forces undermining dialogue: fundamentalism, extremism, violence committed in God’s name, political exploitation of religious identity, persistent prejudice, and the legacy of past conflicts. In secularized societies, religious belief may also be marginalized, reduced to folklore, or treated solely as a private opinion. 1 2
Cardinal Fernández stated that religions should stand for peace rather than war and echoed Pope Leo XIV’s warning that those who use God’s name to legitimize terrorism, violence, or war betray the nature of religion itself. 3
The Vatican also criticized Islamophobia, particularly when it wrongly treats peaceful Muslim believers as equivalent to fundamentalists or violent extremists. The document encourages greater knowledge and esteem between Christian and Muslim communities. 2
“A Journey of Hope” gives special attention to Catholic-Jewish relations, emphasizing the two communities’ shared roots in the Old Testament and the importance of mutual understanding and respect. It reaffirms that God’s covenant with the Jewish people is irrevocable while maintaining the Catholic belief that Christ is the one and only Redeemer. 2
The document calls for a continued joint struggle against antisemitism and recalls that Nostra aetate condemned anti-Jewish hatred and persecution, including when perpetrated within the Church. It also acknowledges that conflicts in the Middle East have strained communication and generated differing interpretations among Jewish and Christian communities. 2
Cardinal Kurt Koch said Christians must speak honestly about the tensions created by their bond with the Jewish people and their ethical concern for those suffering in Gaza. He also stated that antisemitism is incompatible with discipleship and reaffirmed the Holy See’s position that a two-state solution is necessary for peace in the Middle East. 4
A central theme of the Vatican’s message is that the treatment of poor and vulnerable people serves as the practical test of any interreligious initiative. The note describes concern for the vulnerable as a “compass” for evaluating political, economic, social, academic, religious, and cultural projects. 1 2
The articles describe cooperation among religious communities to assist migrants, refugees, conflict victims, families in difficulty, children, elderly people, and those without access to health care. Examples include shared soup kitchens, interreligious educational programs, humanitarian projects, and protected spaces for vulnerable people in conflict zones. 1 4
The Vatican also identifies local Churches as the “creative front line” of dialogue. Their initiatives include dialogue commissions, joint humanitarian and educational projects, shared celebrations, and everyday cooperation in religiously diverse neighborhoods. 1 5
The note calls for dialogue to become a lived practice rather than merely an official principle. It proposes stronger formation in seminaries, theological institutes, and pastoral programs, including knowledge of other religions, the history of interreligious relations, religious literacy, and awareness of contemporary cultural and geopolitical issues. 5
The Vatican places particular emphasis on young people, urging the development of a generation capable of building bridges rather than walls. Koovakad said the Dicastery wants fraternity to become a practical “pedagogy” lived in local Churches, schools, and families. 1 4
The note concludes that fraternity among believers is not only an ideal but also a moral, spiritual, and social imperative in responding to religious extremism, migration, secularization, ecological threats, and social crises. 5
Examine how Nostra Aetate reshaped Catholic teaching on interreligious dialogue
Nostra Aetate (1965) reshaped Catholic teaching by moving interreligious relations from a primarily defensive or polemical framework toward one of respectful encounter, theological recognition, cooperation, and dialogue. It did not relativize Christianity or treat all religions as equally true. Rather, it held together two convictions: other religions contain genuine elements of truth and holiness, while the fullness of religious life is found in Jesus Christ.
The declaration begins not with religious difference but with the unity of the human family. All peoples share one origin in God and one ultimate destiny, and religions address universal questions about meaning, suffering, morality, death, and God.
This gave interreligious dialogue a theological foundation. Dialogue was not merely a diplomatic strategy or a means of avoiding conflict. It became a response to the fact that God’s providence and saving purpose extend to all humanity. Later Catholic teaching would describe contact, dialogue, and cooperation with other religions as a duty and challenge inherited by the whole Church from the Council.
One of the declaration’s most consequential statements is that the Church “rejects nothing that is true and holy” in other religions. It acknowledges that their teachings, moral practices, spiritual disciplines, and sacred rites may reflect “a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men.”
This was not an unqualified endorsement. Nostra Aetate recognizes both common ground and fundamental differences. Hinduism and Buddhism are presented as serious responses to the human search for liberation and ultimate meaning; Islam is recognized for its worship of the one Creator God and its connection, in its own self-understanding, with Abraham.
The International Theological Commission therefore stresses that Catholic theology must articulate both “common elements” and “differences” between Christianity and other religions. Dialogue cannot be reduced to saying that all religious convictions are interchangeable.
The declaration’s central balance is Christological: the Church honors what is true in other religions but continues to proclaim Christ as “the way, the truth, and the life.”
Consequently, dialogue is not a substitute for evangelization. John Paul II taught that it is also part of the Church’s evangelizing mission, because Catholics enter dialogue convinced that the fullness of salvation comes from Christ. At the same time, he affirmed that people outside the visible boundaries of the Church may receive God’s grace through Christ. This does not eliminate the Church’s call to proclaim the Gospel and invite all people to faith and baptism.
The later document Dialogue and Proclamation expresses the same tension: the Church must engage in dialogue while remaining bound to proclaim Christ as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Nostra Aetate also changed the practical purpose of interreligious relations. Catholics are urged to engage followers of other religions with prudence, love, and fidelity to Christian faith, recognizing and promoting their spiritual, moral, and cultural goods.
This opened the way for cooperation on concrete concerns: peace, freedom, social justice, moral welfare, opposition to violence, and the overcoming of prejudice. The declaration’s treatment of Islam explicitly calls for mutual understanding and joint work for the good of humanity.
Thus dialogue has both a contemplative and practical dimension. It involves listening and learning, but also working together where religious communities can serve the common good without denying their doctrinal differences.
Although the declaration addresses religions generally, its section on Judaism is historically and theologically central. Pope Leo XIV has described it as the “heart and generative core” of the document because it presents the Jewish roots of Christianity on an explicitly theological and biblical basis. It also firmly rejects antisemitism and religious discrimination.
This means that Catholic dialogue is not simply an external relationship with unrelated traditions. In the case of Judaism, it concerns the Church’s own origins, Scripture, covenantal history, and identity. The declaration therefore helped replace inherited suspicion with theological respect and a commitment to oppose hatred.
Subsequent Catholic teaching developed Nostra Aetate beyond formal meetings between religious representatives. Pope Leo XIV describes dialogue as “a way of life”—a journey in which both listening and speaking transform those involved. He emphasizes that authentic dialogue begins not with abandoning one’s faith but with standing firmly within it.
Pope Francis likewise summarized the Council’s legacy as holding together openness to other religions and fidelity to the truth that salvation originates in Jesus Christ. This guards against two opposite errors:
Nostra Aetate did not establish a new religion or surrender the Church’s missionary identity. It reoriented the Church’s manner of relating to other religions. Its principal developments were:
Its enduring achievement is therefore a dialogue of conviction: Catholics are called to listen sincerely, cooperate generously, and learn from what is true in other traditions, while remaining faithful to the uniqueness of Christ and the Church’s mission.