As tributes from around the world pour in for the late Pope Francis, many remember him as a champion of interfaith unity.
Francis often traveled the world to meet with leaders from other religions. For a pope who spent much of his life bringing communities together, it was only fitting that Vatican City welcomed people of all faiths during Francis’ final Easter.
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WATCH HERE“He was a true leader of the world, and I can tell you as a Muslim that he had won the hearts of so many Muslims around the world,” said Anila Ali, the president of the American Muslim & Multifaith Women's Empowerment Council.
Ali said it was an honor to be invited to the Vatican for Easter. She flew back to the U.S. Sunday night and woke up Monday to the news Francis died.
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SIGN UP “I was in tears because he's a man who really stood for the common people,” Ali said.
In 2019, Pope Francis and the religious leader for Sunni Muslims signed the Abu Dhabi declaration to promote peace and friendship between Catholics and Muslims.
Ali hopes all faith communities learn and follow Francis' legacy of building and fostering dialogue. It’s a legacy Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, hopes to follow.
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“Here is a person who is literally holding together a global church with 1.3 billion humans, and he makes the time to not only meet with people, but to listen and to hear the pain of our experience and to find a commonality,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs said he met Francis at an interfaith conference in 2017 and was shocked when the pope asked Jacobs to bless him.
“I thought to myself, ‘You're the pope,’” Jacobs laughed, “‘That's what we ask you to do.’ But, he was so earnest about it and he put his head right down, and I said, ‘I can only bless you if you in turn will bless me.’ He said, ‘of course.’”
An exchange of blessings, as people of all faiths honor a pope known for outreach and inclusion.
