Cathal BarryFr Thomas Norris, said the new document seeks “to promote understanding between Muslims and Christians and to continue a dialogue with people who have lost their sense of God”.
An Irish priest played a pivotal role in drafting a recently released major Vatican document dismissing any link between Christianity and violence.
International Theological Commission representative and member of the sub-commission that drafted God, the Trinity, and the Unity of Humanity: Christian Monotheism and its Opposition to Violence, Fr Thomas Norris, said the new document seeks “to promote understanding between Muslims and Christians and to continue a dialogue with people who have lost their sense of God”.
Fr Norris, a Priest of the Diocese of Ossory and current Spiritual Director of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome, told The Irish Catholic the document also “addresses those who want to dismiss God and claim that religion causes wars”.
“This document seeks to clarify that the God of Jesus Christ is a God who wants to heal the wounds of violence and bring peace to the world. It also seeks to promote a dialogue of life with people who may have lost their faith.
“As followers of Christ, the prince of peace, we have to be peacemakers. This document is a contribution to that type of dialogue and will hopefully equip people to have the ability to do that,” he said.
The new document is available on La Civiltà Cattolica’s website (www.laciviltacattolica.it) as well as on the International Theological Commission’s webpage on the Vatican website (www.vatican.va).