Pope Paul VI instituted the «Secretariatus Pro Non-Christianis» on May 19, 1964.
On Pentecost Sunday that year the Holy Father said to the faithful: «We are establishing precisely in these days here in Rome the Secretariat for Non-Christians, an organization which will have quite different functions but a structure similar to that for separated Christians.»
«No pilgrim, no matter how distant he may be religiously or geographically, no matter what his country of origin, will any longer be a complete stranger in Rome, ever faithful to the historic program that the Catholic faith has reserved to it as ‘patria communis,'» the Pope added.
The plenary assembly ends next Wednesday.
