This volume is about Pope Francis, the diplomat. In his eight years of pontificate, Pope Francis as a peacemaker has propagated the ideas of human and divine cooperation to build a global human fraternity through his journeys outside the Vatican. This book discusses his endeavours to connect and develop a common peaceful international order between countries, faith communities, and even antagonistic communities through a peaceful journey of human beings. The book analyses his speeches, and meetings as a diplomat of peace, including his visits to Cuba and the United States, and his mediations for peace in Colombia, Myanmar, Kenya, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Jerusalem, the Central African Republic, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. It discusses the role of Pope Francis as mediator in different circumstances through his own writings, letters, and Vatican documents; his encounters with world leaders; as well as his contributions to a universal understanding on inter-faith dialogue, climate change and the environment, and human migration and the refugee crisis. The volume also sheds light on his ideas on a post-pandemic just social order, as summarised in his 2020 encyclical. A definitive work on the diplomacy and the travels of Pope Francis, this volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of religious studies, peace and conflict studies, ethics and philosophy, and political science and international relations. It will be of great interest to the general reader as well.
Introduction 1. An Interfaith Journey 2. From Auschwitz to Hiroshima 3. International Mediations 4. Peace and the Care of the Planet 5. Towards A Shared Humanity
Biography
Mario I. Aguilar is Professor of Religion and Politics at the School of Divinity, St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom. A few of his recent publications include Church, Liberation and World Religions: Towards a Christian–Buddhist Dialogue (2012); Pope Francis: His Life and Thought (2014); Christian Ashrams, Hindu Caves, and Sacred Rivers: Christian–Hindu Monastic Dialogue in India 1950–1993 (2016); The Way of the Hermit: Interfaith Encounters in Silence and Prayer (2017); and Interreligious Dialogue and the Partition of India: Hindus and Muslims in Dialogue about Violence and Forced Migration (2018). His research interests include the study of religion; religion in the contemporary world; theology in Latin America and Africa; contextual theology; biblical studies and anthropology; Islam in Africa; the history of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism; Christian–Buddhist dialogue; Hinduism, particularly monasticism in India; Christian–Hindu dialogue; and Hindu texts.
