Catholic criticism of the 1986 Assisi meeting is "schismatic", and this interreligious prayer meeting is part of the "ordinary magisterium". These remarks were made by Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad in a speech on 7 October at the Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome. He is the Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.
Cardinal Koovakad recalled that, in 1986, 160 religious leaders gathered “to pray: each faithful to his own tradition, all before the Mystery”.
Despite the presence of a Buddha statue on the altar and photographic evidence, Cardinal Koovakad insisted that “the encounter had been conceived and experienced without a shadow of syncretism.”
He added that “not everyone understood it”: “Integrist circles contested the day, even making it one of the reasons for a schismatic rupture, while others feared syncretism or relativism, as they still do today.”
Cardinal Koovakad paraphrased Leo XIV's encyclical 'Magnificent Humanity', saying that “the 'spirit of Assisi,' brought forth by Saint John Paul II and continued through the commitment of Pope Francis, shows that believers can draw anew from the most authentic sources of their own traditions, where there is no room for sacralized hatred.”
Cardinal Koovakad believed that Leo XIV had incorporated the spirit of Assisi into the Magisterium: “With these words, 27 October 1986 enters into the ordinary teaching of the Magisterium. It is no longer merely an event to remember: it is a criterion through which to interpret the present." It is no longer merely an event to remember: it is a criterion through which to interpret the present.”
Picture: Antonianum.eu, #newsZrjtguesfn