The Pope receives the participants in the meeting for dialogue between Buddhists and Catholics

Vatican City, 24 June 2015 (VIS) – Before today's general audience in St. Peter's Square, the Pope received in the room adjacent to the Paul VI Hall the participants in the Meeting for Dialogue between Buddhists and Catholics of the United States on the theme “Suffering, liberation and fraternity”, organised by the Focolare Movement and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and inaugurated yesterday at Castel Gandolfo by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the dicastery.

The meeting, which ends on 27 June, has involved the participation of around fifty delegates from New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, representing Catholics and Buddhist communities of different traditions. The Holy Father thanked them for their visit to the Vatican, “a visit that is close to my heart as it is a visit of fraternity, dialogue and friendship. These are things that do great good, that are healthy. In this historical moment, so scarred by wars and hatred, these small gestures are seeds of peace and fraternity. I thank you, and may the Lord bless you”.