Let’s Celebrate Common Values

Sir Sigmund wants people of all faiths to annually celebrate their communality

Three Faiths Forum co-founder Sir Sigmund Sternberg is calling for the setting up of an annual day on which people of faith can acknowledge their common values and shared belief in God.

Sir Sigmund called for the ‘Nostra Aetate’ day during a speech earlier this month (Feb) during a lunch at the Wimbledon residence of Archbishop Faustino Sainz Munoz - the Papal Nuncio to the UK (the diplomatic representative of the Vatican with ambassadorial status).

Sir Sigmund is a papal knight – a chivalric distinction conferred by the Pope. At the luncheon, the Archbishop presented him with a ‘star’ for his previously-awarded Order of St Gregory the Great, one of the most distinguished papal orders of chivalry.

Sir Sigmund responded to praise about his work within the field of inter-faith relations by stating his hope that during Pope Benedict’s forthcoming visit to the UK in September, he would “follow the precedent he has set elsewhere, in Rome and Cologne, of visiting a synagogue, thus enabling the Jewish community to express its ongoing commitment to open and forward-looking dialogue between Jews and Catholics”.

It will be the first papal visit to the UK since 1982.

Nostra Aetate is the name of the 1965 Vatican document which renounces ancient teachings about Jews as deicides (God-killers). It denounces anti-Semitism and says Church teachings are opposed to discrimination against people because of their colour, race or religion, stating that all are created in God’s image.

Sir Sigmund said Nostre Aetate wasn’t  only for Jews and an annual day would be an opportunity to bring faiths together and show the Pope cared for other faiths.

Sir Sigmund and his wife, who is a papal dame, successfully mediated at Auschwitz in a dispute between nuns and Jewish authorities.