VATICAN - Message from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue to Buddhists, for the feast of Vesakh: “Witnessing to a Spirit of Poverty: Christians & Buddhists in Dialogue”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – On the occasion of the feast of Vesakh, the most important of feasts for Buddhists, in which they recall the main events from Buddha's life, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue – as is customary – has written a congratulations message for the feast, which will be celebrated on April 8 in Japan and Taiwan, May 2 in Korea, and May 8 in all other nations of Buddhist tradition. The theme of the Message is “Witnessing to a Spirit of Poverty: Christians & Buddhists in Dialogue.”
The Message reads: “While renewing our sense of closeness to you, Buddhists, in this period, it becomes clearer and clearer that together we are able not only to contribute, in fidelity to our respective spiritual traditions, to the well-being of our own communities, but also to the human community of the world. We keenly feel the challenge before us all represented, on the one hand, by the ever more extensive phenomenon of poverty in its various forms and, on the other hand, by the unbridled pursuit of material possessions and the pervasive shadow of consumerism.”
Recalling the teachings of the Holy Father Benedict XVI, the text highlights that “ for a Christian, the poverty to be chosen is that which allows one to tread in the footsteps of Jesus Christ... Such poverty creates in us a willingness to listen to God and to our brothers and sisters, being open to them, and respecting them as individuals.” Likewise, as Pope Benedict XVI noted in his homily on January 1, 2009, “there is a poverty, a deprivation, which God does not desire and which should be fought; a poverty that prevents people and families from living as befits their dignity; a poverty that offends justice and equality and that, as such, threatens peaceful co-existence .” In wealthier societies, there are also various forms of malaise seen in people whose interior lives are disoriented: evidence of marginalization, as well as affective, moral, and spiritual poverty.
The Message concludes: “Whereas we as Catholics reflect in this way on the meaning of poverty, we are also attentive to your spiritual experience, dear Buddhist friends. We wish to thank you for your inspiring witness of non-attachment and contentment. Monks, nuns, and many lay devotees among you embrace a poverty 'to be chosen' that spiritually nourishes the human heart.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 6/4/2009)