Sunday, December 15, 2013

Court Yard of the Gentiles - Dialogue and Interaction with Agnostics and Athiests









The Pontifical Council for Dialogue with Unbelievers was founded in 1965 by Pope Paul VI.  In 1982 the Pontifical Council for Culture was founded by John Paul II.  Click Here for additional information about this department   In 1993, the two Councils were united with the Motu proprio 'Inde a Pontificatus».  La Costitution Pastor Bonus assigned to the Dicastery the mission to “foster relations between the Holy See and the realm of human culture, especially by promoting communication with various contemporary institutions of learning and teaching, so that secular culture may be more and more open to the Gospel, and specialists in the sciences, literature, and the arts may feel themselves called by the Church to truth, goodness, and beauty. (art. 166)...Click Here for the Pastor Bonus document
The Courtyard of the Gentiles is a department of the Pontifical Council for Culture that was a response to Pope Benedict XVI desire for dialogue in 2009 as expressed in his address to the Roman Curia on December 21, 2009.  Click Here for the Entire Address.  The last two paragraphs Pope Benedict expresses his concerns regarding people of our day who are agnostic or athiest and his desire for the Church to open a Court of the Gentiles.  The initiative was then started by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Ponticial Council for Culture.  
 
Mother Church is constantly protecting us and always has a desire for us, all people, to know Christ.  This relatively new venue for dialogue has been meeting throughout Europe and all continents. 
 

Official Website available only in Italian.
 
Future events.  Note on April 9-11, 2014 Georgetown University in Washington D.C. will be hosting Court of the Gentiles. 

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