As we come to the close of our celebrations of the bicentennial of the birth of our founder, Venerable Emmanuel d'Alzon, Cardinal Jean-Louis TAURAN, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue honored us with a visit to the general house in Rome on December 18th. This close collaborator of Pope Benedict XVI presided at the Eucharist that day.

During his homily, he reminded us of this thought from Blaise Pascal:·“Apart from Jesus-Christ we know nothing about life, nor about death, nor who God is or who we are for that matter.”

At Christmas, God reveals His name to us: God-with-us, God-for-us, God-for-all. Then the Cardinal posed this question: “Is God’s name sanctified by our words, our judgments, our attitudes?” He reminded us of the extreme humility of God described by the German poet Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843): He is the one “who created man in the same way that the sea creates the continents, by drawing back.”

This extremely discrete Church servant was in charge of the international relations of the Holy See during the time of John Paul II’s papacy. He then became the wise councilor of Pope Benedict XVI for relations with the Muslim world. His various responsibilities over the years, at the service of the Pope, have touched upon some of the most complex and thorny questions at the heart of the Church’s mission.

While enjoying an aperitif with the community, the Cardinal spoke of his recent visits in the Near East, in Iran, in Irak and in Pakistan. He spoke of his dialogue work with the Muslim world and his contacts with the universities of Qom (Iran) and Al-Azhar (Egypt). During his recent visit in France, he was the recipient of a doctorate honoris causa from the Institut Catholique of Paris. The text of his address at that time will be published in La Documentation Catholique.

During the meal that followed our conversation, the Cardinal spoke of his activities at the service of the Holy See and about his life in Rome, where he has resided since 1983. At the conclusion of his visit, this former Prefect of the Vatican Library, was shown some of the volumes in the d’Alzon Library, which includes some 1800 volumes that belonged to the founder. Though he has been at the service of the Vatican for thirty years, this was Cardinal Tauran’s first visit to our community.

Fr. Bernard Le Léannec, AA