Third Christian-Taoist Colloquium

Final Statement

We, Christian and Taoist believers and scholars, held the Third Christian-Taoist Colloquium from 11-13 March 2024 in Hong Kong, whose theme was: Cultivating a Harmonious Society through Interreligious Dialogue. In our times, when societies are often marred by conflicts and divisions, our gathering was meant to convey a message to our polarized world: that through respectful and constructive dialogue, we can extinguish the fires of conflict and violence and light a candle of peace and harmony. We are more than ever convinced of the need to continue to talk, walk, and work together. With this goal in mind, we agreed to the following:

1. Encounter: Our dialogue helped us to encounter the sacred mystery of each other through our knowledge about our respective religious writings, rituals, ethics, saints, and sages. Both of our religions, in their own ways, seek to allay the restlessness of the human heart. Therefore, before the inexpressible divine mystery, we need to be open-minded and humble by expanding our minds and hearts.

2. Awaken: Our respective religious patrimonies can prove meaningful if we awaken the spiritual energy in our followers to cultivate a harmonious society. For that to happen, we must recover compassion, justice, simplicity, solidarity, and generosity.

3. Cooperate: Through charitable and educational activities, we can cooperate in building bridges, breaking down walls and sowing seeds of love, respect, and hope.

We express our gratitude to the organizers (the Holy See’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, the Hong Kong Taoist Association, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong) for facilitating this historic encounter. We thank the members of the Hong Kong Taoist Association and the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong for their generous hospitality. Encouraged by this colloquium, we have decided to continue to foster a harmonious society wherever we may be.

[00457-EN.01] [Original text: English]