The Second Vatican Council: A Builder of Bridges by Attilio Galimberti

The article was originally published in Francesco il Volto Secolare (FVS), the national magazine of the Italian Secular Franciscan Order—Ed.

We often read that the Second Vatican Council marked the crossing of a frontier between an old vision of the church and a new vision, that it gave momentum to Roman Christianity in order to become more effectively “universal” in the sense that is given to this term today: that is, openness to dialogue with other religions in an attitude and action of respect and listening. This openness is not only for specialists and academics but for everyone, thus involving the faithful in a deepening of their own faith which then becomes a sign of great maturation, awareness, and shared responsibility.

The shortest of the council’s documents which has revealed itself to be fundamental in this sense (because it is decidedly prophetic and, as such, is always timely), is Nostra Aetate, which deals with relations with non-Christian religions. If the reader does not remember the text, I would invite them to go back and rediscover it and hope that, in reading it, the same thing will happen to them as did to me: that is, to see it as the breath of the Spirit who guided the council fathers in a special way.

I was reflecting on these concepts several days after having participated as an auditor in a Zoom roundtable for the presentation of Between Thought and Action, the biography of Fethullah Gülen, a recently deceased Turkish imam who lived in exile in the United States because he was disliked by those in power. The roundtable was facilitated by the book’s author, Ori Z. Soltes, along with two priests who are experts in interreligious dialogue.

Gülen was a very important figure in the Turkish world. In my opinion, among the many initiatives he brought to life, the most important was the Hizmet movement (the word means “service”), whose methodology is that of dialogue and nonviolence. Sound familiar?

Over time the Hizmet movement created schools, hospitals, universities which were open to students, based on merit, who did not have the means to study in government-run institutions, and many other charitable activities. All of these structures were opened not only in Turkey but also here in Italy and in many nations throughout the world.

Unfortunately, following the failed coup d’etat in July 2016, which was falsely attributed to Gülen and his followers, the Turkish government declared the movement illegal and seized their structures and activities, conforming them to government standards as well as forcing many of the movement’s members to flee the country and to seek welcome as political exiles in foreign lands.

As one of the panelists at the roundtable noted, the style in which the movement worked, and continues to work, is quite similar to what is proposed by St. Francis in chapter XVI of the Earlier Rule, which treats those who go among the Saracens and other nonbelievers, recommending that the friars be submissive to them, not to create disputes, and to confess to being Christians only if they are asked. This is the way that Gülen’s followers behaved in the schools and initiatives which they operated or are still conducting, and the fraternity to which I belong can bear witness to it, thanks to a decades-old spirit of dialogue and friendship with some members of Hizmet who live in Milan now and who share together in many activities.

If the Second Vatican Council had not thrown open the doors to dialogue and knowledge of the other regardless of differences in faith, I believe that I would have never had this wonderful experience of universal fraternity that not only means that we are all children of the same Father, but also that the aspirations and tension to live as brothers and sisters in peace and harmony are common to all humankind and are a gift that God has poured out upon all people of good will who try to put it in practice, even risking their own life.

In Nostra Aetate, there is a recommendation: “The Church, therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.”

In this emphasis we can find a great truth. There is no need to fear a dialogue with the other because there is nothing to be lost, only gained. However, in order to go out of our “comfort zone,” the little garden in which we feel protected and secure, we must strengthen our own faith, our own choices, developing a listening stance, and set out into the deep. ♦

Attilio Galimberti is a Secular Franciscan Order (OFS) member from Milan, Italy. For many years he was the representative for the OFS to the Roman 6, an organization that represents all branches of the Franciscan family.

Image: A procession of Cardinals enters St. Peter’s in Rome, opening the Second Vatican Council. Painting by Franklin McMahon, 1961. Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0