Pope Francis discusses education with faith leaders on World Teachers’ Day

來自不同信仰的宗教領袖星期二在梵蒂岡會面，一同在世界教師日探討教育問題。出席10月5日舉辦的跨宗教會議代表包括東正教、穆斯林、猶太教、佛教、錫克教、古印度耆那教、加爾文教、新教公誼會及福音派，代表們應邀與教宗方濟各相聚討論。

Religious leaders from different faiths met at the Vatican on Tuesday to discuss education on World Teachers’ Day. The interreligious meeting on 5 October included Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Calvinist, Quaker, and evangelical representatives who gathered together with Pope Francis.

會後各代表共同發表了一份聯合聲明，敦促各界教師致力「為各自服務的人民以至整個人類社會，通過教授更尊重環境的生活方式，尋找著眼於整體生態、且能解讀現今經濟和政治狀況的新方法。」這次會議是教宗方濟各在2020年10月發起的《全球教育契約》的其中一個部分。

The group released a joint statement following the meeting urging teachers to commit to “researching new ways of understanding the economy and politics, as instruments at the service of people and the entire human family, and with a view to a holistic ecology, by teaching lifestyles that are more respectful of the environment.” The meeting was part of the Global Compact on Education launched by Pope Francis in October 2020.

各宗教代表們亦呼籲應推崇「以人為核心的教育方式」，並尊重「女性的尊嚴，以便女性參與一起建設一個正義與和平的未來。」君士坦丁堡大公教主 Bartholomew I、埃及開羅愛資哈爾大教長 Ahmed Al-Tayyeb、來自伊朗德黑蘭的 Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad、以及靈鷲山佛教會創始方丈心道法師的代表亦有列席會議。

The religious representatives also called for forms of education that put “the human person at the center of every educational process” and respect “women’s dignity so as to build with them a future of justice and peace.” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and Ahmed al-Tayyeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt, were among the participants, along with Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad from Tehran, Iran, and a representative of Venerable Master Hsin-Tao, the founding abbot of Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Society.

教宗方濟各在梵蒂岡宗座宮的克萊孟大廳向宗教領袖們發表講話。教宗表示：「宗教與教育一向有密切的關係，宗教活動中經常伴有教育、學習和學術元素。過去是這樣，我們的時代亦是如此。憑借我們各種宗教傳統的智慧和人性，我們希望成為新一代教育活動的動力，從而令兄弟情誼與⼈際友愛滿佈世界。」

Pope Francis addressed the religious leaders in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. “Religions have always had a close relationship with education, accompanying religious activities with educational, scholastic and academic ones. As in the past, so also in our day, with the wisdom and humanity of our religious traditions, we want to be a stimulus for a renewed educational activity that can advance universal fraternity in our world,” the pope said.

「過去分歧使我們產生矛盾，但如今我們在各自的不同中，反而看見了多種步向上主的豐富方式，以及多種教育年輕人在相互尊重中和平共處的方式。」聯合國教科文組織在1994年將10月5日定為世界教師日。

“If in the past, our differences set us at odds, nowadays we see in them the richness of different ways of coming to God and of educating young people for peaceful coexistence in mutual respect.” UNESCO established Oct. 5 as World Teachers’ Day in 1994.

教宗指出建立一個更公正和充滿兄弟友愛的世界，關鍵在於教育年輕人「不計較大家生於哪裡、長於哪裡」，而要互相欣賞。「如果在過去，女性、兒童和最弱勢群體的權利並未能獲得尊重，那麼今天我們更要堅定地致力捍衛他們的權利，並教育年輕人成為他們的代言人。」

The pope said that the key to a more fraternal world was the education of young people to appreciate one another “regardless of where he or she was born or lives.” “If in the past, the rights of women, children and the most vulnerable were not always respected, today we are committed firmly to defend those rights and to teach young people to be a voice for the voiceless,” he said.

教宗方濟各還強調教育工作者需要培養未來一代人「更重視生態可持續的生活方式。」教宗亦說道：「教育使我們更投入去愛我們的地球母親，避免浪費食物和資源，並更慷慨地分享上主為每個人的生活而賜予我們的物品。一位非天主教徒的思想家曾經說過：『上主常常寬恕，人們偶爾寬恕，但大自然則永不寬恕。』」

Pope Francis also stressed the need for educators to train future generations in “more sober and ecologically sustainable lifestyle.” “Education commits us to love our mother Earth, to avoid the waste of food and resources, and to share more generously the goods that God has given us for the life of everyone. I think of what one thinker, not a Catholic, used to say: ‘God always forgives, we occasionally forgive. Nature never forgives,’” he said.

最後教宗總結時，向每位宗教領袖提出「讓我們大家一起靜默片刻，請求上主啟迪我們的思想，使我們的討論能取得成果，幫助我們勇敢地追求新教育視野的道路。」

At the end of his speech, the pope asked each religious leader to spend a “brief moment of silence, asking God to enlighten our minds so that our dialogue will bear fruit and help us courageously to pursue the paths of new educational horizons.”

資料來源：天主教通訊社網頁 | Source of News: Website of Catholic News Agency