February is a special month to recognize and celebrate the many efforts made in communities all across Canada to promote healthy and active interreligious relationships.

For the past 15 years, the United Nations has designated February 1-7 as World Interfaith Harmony Week, dedicated to spreading “the message of harmony and tolerance among the followers of all the world’s religions, faiths and beliefs.” It adheres, in the broadest possible terms, to the principles of “Love of God (or the Good)” and “Love of Neighbour.”

In my own city, as in many Canadian cities, World Interfaith Harmony Week is marked by a variety of activities including open house events at churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues; educational and dialogue events; concerts and spoken word events; and of course prayer events led by and involving different religious communities. It is a beautiful weeklong celebration of local religious diversity, and an annual reminder and recommitment within each religious community, of the importance of supporting one another and working together for the common good.

While the Catholic Church does not officially mark World Interfaith Harmony Week, at least not within the liturgical calendar, many Catholics – from the popes on down – are actively engaged in promoting interreligious connections and activities all around the world. Indeed, it is not an exaggeration to identify the Catholic Church today as a leader in the field of interreligious relations.
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Pope Francis has urged U.S. Catholics and people of goodwill to not give in to “narratives” that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to migrants and refugees.

“I recognize your valuable efforts, dear brother bishops of the United States, as you work closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ and promoting fundamental human rights,” he said in a letter to the U.S. bishops published by the Vatican Feb. 11.

Pope Francis said he was writing because of “the major crisis that is taking place in the United States” with the start of President Donald J. Trump’s “program of mass deportations.”

In his presidential executive order, “Protecting the American people against invasion,” released Jan. 20, Trump said, “Many of these aliens unlawfully within the United States present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans.”

Pope Francis said, “The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”
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The Nicene Creed is more than a statement of faith — it is a powerful sign of unity among Christians, Pope Francis said as he welcomed young priests and monks from Oriental Orthodox Churches to the Vatican.

“Whereas the devil divides, the symbol unites!” the pope told the group taking part in a study visit to Rome promoted by the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. He explained that the Creed is called a “symbol” because it not only summarizes the core truths of Christianity but also serves as a sign of identity and communion among believers.

“How beautiful it would be if, each time we proclaim the Creed, we felt united with Christians of all traditions,” he said.
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Jubilee 2025: Turn Debt into Hope campaign launch webinar to feature Indigenous and Global South voices, Canadian faith leaders.

What: a group of Christian organizations, led by KAIROS Canada, are coordinating Canadian participation in Jubilee 2025, a global movement to end the mounting debt crisis. The Launch Webinar: Jubilee 2025 – Turn Debt into Hope will kick off Canadians’ participation in signing the Jubilee petition and feature insights from Indigenous and Global South voices, as well as from Canadian faith advocacy leaders. The event will feature simultaneous French translation.

Partner organizers include: Citizens for Public Justice, Development and Peace – Caritas Canada, the Office of Religious Congregations for Integral Ecology and The Canadian Council of Churches.

Where: online, via Zoom. For more information and to register, visit the Launch Webinar: Jubilee 2025 – Turn Debt into Hope event page.
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World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay has described the proposal of US President Trump as “tantamount to proposing full-scale ethnic cleansing and neo-colonization of the homeland of the 2 million Palestinians of Gaza.”

Pillay noted that the proposal violates every applicable principle of international humanitarian and human rights law, flouts decades of efforts by the international community – including by the USA – for a just and sustainable peace for the peoples of the region, and would if implemented constitute multiple international crimes of the most serious kind. “The standing of the United States of America as a responsible member of the international community has been gravely diminished by the proposal itself, not to speak of any actual implementation thereof,” Pillay said. 

In a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 4 February, President Trump said the United States “will take over” the Gaza Strip — possibly with the help of American troops — while the Palestinians who live there should leave. “The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,” said President Trump. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings,” he said, describing his vision for the area as a new “Riviera.”
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Canada must urgently withdraw from the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) given the dire situation facing refugees in the United States, the Canadian Council for Refugees and Amnesty International Canada said today.

The Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States bars most people crossing into Canada via the United States from seeking refugee protection in Canada. Under the agreement – which is premised on the notion that both countries reliably respect people’s right to seek asylum – people entering Canada via the U.S. to make a refugee claim here are usually turned back at the border.

“President Trump’s extreme anti-immigrant and anti-asylum orders are designed to instill fear and make the U.S dangerously more unsafe for those seeking protection,” said Ketty Nivyabandi, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section. “Canada’s assertion that the United States remains a safe country for refugees under the Trump administration is a cruel irony to those fleeing persecution today. It must be urgently rescinded, and tariffs threats must not blur the plight of those at immediate risk.”
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“A permanent ceasefire would cease hostilities, release all remaining hostages, liberate thousands of Palestinian prisoners detained without cause or charge, ensure continuing and increasing humanitarian aid in all forms — medical, food and psychological — and result in the withdrawal of occupying forces,” write Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and United Church leaders.
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The late Fr. Bernard de Margerie was remembered during the 2025 De Margerie Series for Christian Reconciliation and Unity — the 12th year of the series and the first to be held since his death in March 2024.

“We continue this series in his memory, and, with his encouragement, to continue to be agents of Christian reconciliation and unity,” said Nicholas Jesson, who helped establish the series in 2012 while serving as ecumenical officer for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon, and who now serves in Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations for the Archdiocese of Regina.

“No doubt Fr. Bernard is listening tonight, and joining us in prayer that all may be one in Christ so that the world may believe (John 17:21),” said Jesson in a poignant introduction at the start of the 2025 series Jan. 22 in Saskatoon.
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Pope Francis has named Indian Cardinal George J. Koovakad to be the new prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.

The 51-year-old, who received his red hat from the pope in December, also will continue to be responsible for organizing papal trips abroad, Vatican News reported Jan. 24, the day his appointment was announced.

The dicastery is responsible for dialogue with Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and members of other world religions.

“The Dicastery works to ensure that dialogue with the followers of other religions takes place in an appropriate way, with an attitude of listening, esteem and respect,” according to the apostolic constitution governing the Roman Curia.
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