By Gina Christian, OSV News
PHILADELPHIA (OSV News) — Dialogue and bridge-building have emerged as early indicators of what Pope Leo XIV’s interreligious approach to Jews and Muslims may look like, giving hope that Pope Francis-era advances in the church’s interfaith relations will continue, experts told OSV News.
In his first public address — delivered minutes after his May 8 election — “Pope Leo XIV clearly prioritized dialogue for his new pontificate, as it was for his predecessor Pope Francis,” said Philip Cunningham, professor of theology and religious studies at St. Joseph’s University and co-director of its Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations in Philadelphia.
Cunningham quoted the pope’s call to “look together how to be a missionary church, building bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving with open arms for everyone, like this square, open to all, to all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, love.”
On the day of his election, Pope Leo sent a message to Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee, pledging “to continue and strengthen the church’s dialogue and cooperation with the Jewish people in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration ‘Nostra Aetate.'”
The landmark conciliar document, which marks its 60th anniversary this year, affirmed the church’s spiritual kinship with the Jewish people while denouncing all forms of antisemitism.
The AJC posted the pope’s message to its X account May 13, with Rabbi Marans telling the Jewish Telegraphic Agency shortly after the pope’s election that the former Cardinal Robert F. Prevost’s U.S. origins boded well for Catholic-Jewish relations.
“More than anywhere in the world, the relationship between Catholics and Jews has flourished and set a gold standard in the United States,” said Rabbi Marans.
Adam Gregerman, professor and co-director of St. Joseph’s Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations, also told OSV News the Chicago-born pope’s U.S. origins also signaled promise for deepening Jewish-Christian bonds.
“The locus of many of the major improvements in Jewish-Christian relations since the Second Vatican Council have taken place in the U.S., owing above all to the size of these communities and the regular, fruitful interactions between them. It is thus encouraging to see the elevation of an American as pope,” said Gregerman.
He added that Pope Leo’s public affirmation of his commitment to interreligious relations is “a welcome indication of the importance of this issue to him.”
He said, “Given his roots in a diverse American society, I know many Jews are excited about his selection.”
In a May 8 message, the World Jewish Congress congratulated the new pope, saying its relationship with the Holy See “spans decades,” and is “grounded in a deep, ongoing commitment to interfaith dialogue” focused on countering antisemitism, defending religious freedom and fostering the welfare of Jewish and Catholic communities.
“The WJC looks forward to continuing and deepening this essential dialogue under the leadership of Pope Leo XIV,” said the organization. “At a time of global crisis, the importance of this relationship is only heightened.”
Rabbi Marans highlighted in particular Pope Leo’s previous study at Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union under now-retired Servite Father John T. Pawlikowski, co-founder and director of the school’s Catholic-Jewish studies program, and a four-term board member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
That training will also benefit Muslim-Catholic relations, said Mehnaz Afridi, professor of religious studies at Manhattan University and director of the school’s Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center.
Afridi, who knows several of the pope’s former instructors and classmates at Catholic Theological Union, said the former Father Robert Prevost’s education at that institution and Villanova University is a significant factor in assessing his interreligious lens.
“As a scholar, but also as a Muslim, we do so much Muslim-Catholic, Muslim-Christian dialogue with Villanova and CTU,” Afridi told OSV News. “It’s really important that someone comes from that kind of tradition.”
She also stressed the pope’s Augustinian roots as key for interreligious dialogue, since Augustinian thought is “really about the centrality of God,” and “the importance of the interior experience and inquiry of God,” which “Muslims also believe.”
Afridi cited the pope’s devotion to Mary — evident in his first speech, which concluded with the Ave Maria, and his visit to a Marian shrine — as another point of connection between the Catholic and Muslim faith traditions.
“We Muslims have a whole chapter on Maryam (Mary) in the Quran,” said Afridi, referencing Islam’s central religious text.
Afridi said she was also struck by the number of times the pope has used the words “dialogue” and “peace” in his early communications.
“That was really important,” she said. “(As) Muslims, we look for leaders of any faith right now, especially the Catholic faith, to spread the message of peace, and to understand there is suffering going on … in the Muslim world.”
She added, “We have Sudan, we have Somalia, we have Gaza. There’s this sort of understanding that all of these places are very terroristic, but there are very faithful and very good people living in these places.”
In addition, “a lot of Catholics and Muslims live together all over the world, especially in Africa,” she said.
Afridi said she is “pretty confident” that the “new understanding of dialogue” among faiths forged under Pope Francis will continue with Pope Leo.
The new pope’s choice of name — honoring Pope Leo XIII, dubbed the “father of Catholic social teaching” — is not lost on Muslims either, she said.
“In the Muslim world, naming … means something. You’re supposed to kind of embody the name as you move on in terms of your own ministry,” she explained.
Pope Leo’s Chicago origins have a specific significance for Muslims as well, since that city and Detroit were home to the Ahmadiyya Muslim movement — a revival in Islam that emphasized peace and the sanctity of life — in the U.S., said Afridi.
“Chicago has a lot of rootedness in the Muslim faith; the early kind of movements in Islam came from there,” she said. “So he’s actually born in this historical city for a lot of Muslims in America, and that’s something very interesting to me.”
The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb — with whom Pope Francis met during a 2019 apostolic journey to the United Arab Emirates, and with whom he signed a “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” — also extended his congratulations to Pope Leo.
“We look forward to continuing our collaboration with His Holiness in strengthening interfaith dialogue and promoting the values of human fraternity, in pursuit of global peace, coexistence, and a better future for all humanity,” the Cairo-based grand imam wrote on his X account.
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.
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