The Vatican has extended greetings to Hindus worldwide ahead of their Diwali festival, calling it an occasion to promote peace, dialogue, and reconciliation in a divided world. In an Oct. 10 message, the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue said the festival of lights — celebrated on Oct. 20 this year — symbolizes “the victory of truth over falsehood, light over darkness, life over death, and good over evil.” The three-day celebration marks the beginning of a new year, family reunions, and the worship of God, the dicastery noted.
This year’s Diwali message coincides with the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate — the Second Vatican Council’s landmark declaration on the Church’s relations with non-Christian religions, promulgated on Oct. 28, 1965. The dicastery’s prefect, Cardinal George J. Koovakad, and secretary, Monsignor Indunil Janakaratne, signed the message on the theme: Hindus and Christians: Building world peace through dialogue and reconciliation in the spirit of Nostra Aetate. The dicastery recalled that Nostra Aetate urged believers to “recognize, preserve, and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values” present in other faith traditions for the sake of peace. The Vatican urged Christians, Hindus, and all people of goodwill to strengthen shared efforts for peace “through dialogue and collaboration in the spirit of Nostra Aetate,” emphasizing unity and fraternity across religions and nations. It also reaffirmed the Church’s teaching to reject “nothing that is true and holy” in other religions, and to honour teachings and practices that “reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all people.”
