Nostra Aetate

50th Anniversary Pope Paul VI in the Holy Land Aerogramme, 2014 This past week, the Church honored the 60th anniversary of the release of “Nostra Aetate”. From the Latin meaning "In our time", it is the “Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions”, and was promulgated on October 28, 1965, during the fourth session of the Second Vatican Council. This week, Pope Leo XIV participated in two events commemorating the declaration: an audience in the Pope Paul VI Hall and a prayer service at Rome’s Colosseum attended by some 300 representatives of the world’s religions and cultures. “Nostra Aetate” is the shortest of the documents produced during Vatican II (sixteen documents in total were generated during the Second Vatican Council). It is "the first [document] in Catholic history to focus on the relationship that Catholics have with Jews", as well as with other faiths such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. It “reveres the work of God in all the major faith traditions.” Starting with the papacy of Pope Saint Paul VI, one sees the effort to find commonality between not only various Christian denominations but also between all religious faiths. The pope’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1964, the first voyage of a pope outside of Italy in many years, began a dialogue with Eastern Orthodox Christians in an effort to heal the 900+ years long schism between the Eastern and Western Churches. The next year, “Nostra Aetate” laid the groundwork for future efforts to find common ground with other religious faiths. Starting with the papacy of Pope John Paul II, all popes have engaged in numerous efforts to interact with other faiths, including the following examples of pilgrimage journeys pictured on stamps issued by Vatican City: Pope John Paul II—Visit to the Roman Synagogue (1986) Scott 1236i (2003) Pope John Paul II—Visit to the Holy Land (2000) Scott 1190 (2001) Pope John Paul II—Visit to the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria (2001) Scott 1233 (2002) Pope Benedict XVI—Visit to Holy Land (2009) Scott 1456M (2010) Pope Francis—Visit to Abu Dhabi (2019) Scott 1753 (2020) Pope Francis—Visit to Iraq (2021) Scott 1811 (2022) The “Vatican News” article in the references includes a brief 10-minute video remembering “Nostra Aetate” and the voyages of the popes to the sites of other religious faiths to build on the common good shared by all religions. REFERENCES: Wikipedia, Nostra Aetate Vatican News, October 28, 2025, A milestone of dialogue: Sixty years of 'Nostra aetate' Kristina Millare, Catholic News Agency (CNA), October 29, 2025, Pope Leo XIV commemorates Nostra Aetate anniversary with interfaith celebrations The Holy See website (www.vatican.va), Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, “Nostra Aetate” Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search