Changing of the Guard

As Rome prepares for Easter – a time that Christians have always considered to be one of renewal and rebirth – there is a palpable feel across the global religious map of a recharging of batteries, a resurgence of hope, and new leaders reinvigorating the faithful of different religious traditions.

We have a new Pope, the first from the Americas, expressing forcefully messages of simplicity, human dignity and responsibility for our environment that flow from a deep reading of the teachings of Francis of Assisi, from whom Pope Francis took his name.

In Canterbury, Archbishop Justin Welby, the 105^th Archbishop since Augustine, has taken the reins of the Anglican Communion, expressing a clear sense of the importance of the international dynamism of Anglican Christianity and the role it has to play in the social, economic, ethical and political debates of the public square.

New authorities at Al Azhar in Egypt have expressed an eager willingness to see visible re-engagement between the Holy See and Islam. The new Coptic Pope, Theodoros II, has called for a church that “serves the community”. And we shall see new faces at the helm of the Jewish world as well – Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks steps down shortly after many fruitful years as Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth – as Jewish leaders in Italy and Israel, too, have welcomed the election of Pope Francis.

One of the key messages of recent weeks has been the willingness – the readiness – of these new leaders to work with each other across faith divides, and of religious leaders already in office to engage with them.

Many in the media seem to have missed just how significant it was that the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople attended the inauguration of Pope Francis, alongside strong delegations from other Orthodox churches, from Anglicanism, the wider Protestant world, alongside Shia clerics and rabbis.

In his speech of 22 March to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, Pope Francis emphasised how “it is important to intensify dialogue among the various religions” as well as “to intensify outreach to non-believers”.

Religion is often seen as a dividing force. There are too many instances before our eyes of conflict in the name of religion even if, as Benedict XVI always insisted, any religion that justified violence could not be considered a genuine faith.

Pope Francis has talked, instead, of the “fundamental” role of religion as “a builder of bridges … connecting all people, in such a way that everyone can see in the other not an enemy, not a rival, but a brother or sister to be welcomed”.

Fine words. And it is easy to be cynical about them. But let’s give the new guard a chance, and our support. In a world in which religion is growing in importance, their role alongside political, economic and other opinion leaders may well be crucial in helping us face the dislocation of change, economic crisis and globalisation with which we are all grappling.