QUESTION: The Pope is writing an Encyclical titled “Our Brothers” and it is related to the Islamic world, which follows the second biggest religion in the world. We had some communal disturbance in Bangalore recently. In its aftermath, some preachers publicly created an atmosphere of hostility against Muslims. How do you look at these tendencies?
ANSWER: All human beings are our brothers and sisters. God has only one plan in Jesus Christ. We read in the letter to the Ephesians about the great mystery of God to unite all things in Christ Jesus, and that is the definitive plan of God for mankind; neither Muslims, nor Hindus, and nor anyone else is excluded. We are not talking merely of religion; we are talking about the unconditional love of God, which embraces all His children. As clearly stated in Galatians 3:13, 14, the Abrahamic blessing is for all generations. There is a lot of politicizing going on in all religions, but deep-down they all have one spirituality. As Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam said, our religions should be gardens that attract people, not Islands which divide people. We are one humanity and one family of God. I strongly believe as a bishop and as a priest that my mission is to proclaim that this unconditional love of God is available to all, no matter what religion one may belong to. There is no room for hatred or division. It’s unity that we look for in our differences. We should never provide an occasion to hate people.

Bp Henry D’Souza – Bellary