The Sov­er­eign Order of Mal­ta wel­comes the first Inter­na­tion­al Day of Human Fra­ter­ni­ty as unan­i­mous­ly decreed by the Unit­ed Nations Gen­er­al Assem­bly on 21 Decem­ber 2020. This ini­tia­tive takes into account the meet­ing on Feb­ru­ary 4, 2019 in Abu Dhabi between the Holy Father and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, where they signed the “Doc­u­ment on Human Fra­ter­ni­ty for World Peace and Liv­ing Togeth­er”, call­ing for peace, tol­er­ance and sol­i­dar­i­ty among peo­ple of dif­fer­ent religions.

This day is also in line with the Inter­na­tion­al Day for the Abo­li­tion of Slav­ery on Decem­ber 2. On Decem­ber 2, 2014, the Vat­i­can gath­ered around Pope Fran­cis, along with Angli­can, Ortho­dox, Protes­tant, Hin­du, Mus­lim, Bud­dhist and Jew­ish rep­re­sen­ta­tives to sign a Dec­la­ra­tion in which these spir­i­tu­al lead­ers pledged to abol­ish con­tem­po­rary forms of slavery. \

This inter-reli­gious coop­er­a­tion is vital for human­i­ty in the spir­it of the Encycli­cals Lauda­to si’ and Fratel­li Tut­ti.