April 2025

This month of April, a bit earlier than usual, the tsutsuji (Japanese azalea) of Shinmeizan were in full blossom!
We would like to bring a bouquet of them to the tomb of Pope Francis, in Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, remembering our meetings with him, and his encouragement to courageously continue our commitment to interreligious dialogue, a great moment for which has been the ‘Abu Dhabi Declaration on Human Fraternity’ signed on February 4th, 2019.

Among the guests who visited Shinmeizan this month of April, we would like to remember especially:

• Fr. Alex, S.J., from Yamaguchi, who came accompanied by two friends on April 1-2;

•  And Elena Conforto, General Counselor of the Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary, accompanied by Milka Nonini, General Delegate for Japan, who stayed with us on April 22-24.

Among the various activities in the field of interreligious dialogue, carried out this month, particularly significant were

• The participation by Sr. Maria in the interreligious conference held by Archbishop Felix Anthony Machado, President of the Committee for Interreligious Dialogue of the FABC (Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences), in Tokyo on April 3, organized by Buddhist friends of the Nichiren tradition, during which Maria was asked to present the famous painting of Caravaggio depicting the deposition of Christ from the cross, which will be shown at the International Expo held in Osaka, starting this month of May.

• The visit by Fr. Claudio, Fr. Franco and Maria to the Islamic Center of Kumamoto, on April 28, to prepare a meeting to be held there by the ‘Kumamoto Group for Interreligious Dialogue’.