The Community of Sant'Egidio expresses sorrow and condolences for the passing of Msgr. Henri Teissier, who was the archbishop emeritus of Algiers. He died in Lyon, France, at age of 91, at dawn on Dec. 1, which is the feast of Blessed Brother Charles de Foucauld. With Teissier's death comes the passing of one of the greatest figures of the Church in the land of Islam.
One of his books is titled Église en Islam. It is about the experience of the Church of Algeria. In particular, since he spent more than 60 years of his life in Algeria, he was committed to interreligious dialogue and peaceful coexistence. Moreover, he was the successor to Cardinal Léon-Etienne Duval in the Algiers cathedra; thus, Msgr. Teissier had experienced the fate of the Church in the newly independent Algeria (a new Muslim country that is independent of France).
His relationship with the Community of Sant'Egidio, specifically with Andrea Riccardi and Marco Impagliazzo, dates back to the 1980s. The connection occurred thanks to their joint commitment to dialogue and peace and in favor of mutual understanding between Christianity and Islam during difficult times, mainly during those moments of serious crisis and the internal Algerian conflict of the late 1990s. His friendship with the Community had led him several times to participate in Sant'Egidio's interfaith initiatives and, most recently, in the Prayer for Peace in Madrid in September 2019.
He has been a guest speaker several times at the Community's prayer at Santa Maria in Trastevere. In fact, he participated in the one that took place in May of that year. On that occasion, when it comes to the Church-Islam relationship, he had said, "we are all children of God and we need to make peace, which is the central thing of our mission." His last message to the Community was last October, specifically during the Prayer for Peace in the Spirit of Assisi at Capitol Hill, which he had been unable to attend because of the pandemic. He wrote this message:
"Dear friends,
In the current context in France, the Day of Prayer for Peace will be a happy contribution to a return to the 'Fraternity', which Pope Francis invites us to live in his latest Encyclical Brothers All. In Communion. Henri Teissier."
With Msgr. Teissier goes one of the vanguards of dialogue with Islam, especially during a time that is marked by conflict and crisis. He was always in search of a sincere encounter, which is far from what Brother Christian de Chergé called in his testament "the caricatures of Islam." The Community of Sant'Egidio is close to the Church of Algeria, to the family, and the friends of Msgr. Teissier, in the belief that together we can -as Brother Christian said- immerse our gaze in that of the Father "to contemplate with Him, His children of Islam as He sees them. They are illuminated by the glory of Christ, which is the fruit of His Passion. They are invested with the gift of the Spirit, whose secret joy will always be to establish communion, by playing with differences."
Rome December 1, 2020 - Feast of Blessed Brother Charles de Foucauld
