DILI, 23 april 2024 (TATOLI) – The President of the Republic, Jose Ramos Horta is throwing his full support behind an initiative to promote the values of the Document on Human Fraternity throughout Timor-Leste’s educational system, with socialization efforts targeting junior high, senior high, and university-level students across the country.
The Document, signed in 2019 by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, calls for embracing “the values of peace, justice, goodness, beauty, human fraternity and coexistence.”
At a gathering in Dili, Chief of Staff Jesuína Maria Ferreira Gomes said the president’s office will soon begin socializing the Human Fraternity principles in all municipalities and disseminating the Document to students of various ages.
She invited representatives from government ministries, religious communities, and civil society to be actively involved in the process.
The President’s Advisory Office for Human Fraternity Affairs is coordinating the nationwide socialization and dissemination efforts, though no timeline was provided for when the concepts would formally enter school curricula.
Timor-Leste was the first country in the world to adopt The Human Fraternity Document, a document promoting peace and harmony between Christians and Muslims that has been endorsed by both Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayyeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar.
The “Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” was signed on february 4, 2019, in Abu Dhabi during the Pope’s visit to the United Arab Emirates. It seeks to promote a “culture of mutual respect” between the religions.
In september 2022, President Horta and the Deputy Prime Minister of the Vatican, Archbishop Edger Pena Parra, launched Timor-Leste’s Center of Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together, at the Presidential Palace.
The establishment of the center aims to promote peace and living together in the country.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Filomeno Martins
