By JoAnne Wadsworth, Communications Consultant, G20 Interfaith Forum
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The 2026 Annual G20 Interfaith Forum, “Resilient Hope, Shared Future,” takes place October 15 to 17 in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is the first in a short series introducing some of the people taking part. Future posts will feature government and policy participants, practitioners and humanitarian leaders, and voices from academia, media, and the private sector. Please note that the program is still being finalized, and the names below represent an incomplete list of the religious leaders expected to participate.
IF20 has convened annually in the G20 host country for twelve years, and each Forum draws religious leaders from across traditions and regions. This year’s gathering opens at the Historic Tabernacle at Temple Square, where senior figures from the Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, and Latter-day Saint traditions will offer welcome addresses. Others will take part in plenaries and working sessions across the three days. A selection follows.
Opening Ceremony, Thursday, October 15
The Most Reverend Gabriele Giordano Caccia serves as Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, a role to which he was appointed by Pope Leo XIV. Before that he spent nearly six years as the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations in New York. Born in Milan and ordained in 1983, he entered the Holy See’s diplomatic service in 1991 and has served as nuncio to Lebanon and to the Philippines. He will deliver a message on behalf of the Holy See at the opening ceremony.
His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon has held the See of Chalcedon, the senior metropolis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, since 2021. Born Emmanuel Adamakis in Crete, he served as Metropolitan of France from 2003 to 2021 and directed the Orthodox Church’s liaison office to the European Union for two decades. He has served as President of the Conference of European Churches and as a Co-Moderator of Religions for Peace, and has long carried the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s responsibilities in dialogue with Islam and Judaism. He will offer a welcome address.
Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa has served as Secretary General of the Muslim World League since 2016. The Makkah-based organization works across the Muslim world on humanitarian aid, interfaith dialogue, and countering extremism. Before taking up that role he served as Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Justice from 2009 to 2015, where he oversaw reforms in family law, humanitarian cases, and the rights of women. He has become one of the most widely traveled Muslim leaders in international interfaith settings. He will offer a welcome address.
His Virtue Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazadeh is Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Board and Sheikh-ul-Islam of the Caucasus, the spiritual leader of Muslims in Azerbaijan and the wider region. Elected to lead the Board in 1980, he has held the role for more than four decades. He is Secretary General of the Baku International Centre for Interfaith and Inter-Civilizational Cooperation, Co-Chairman of the Interfaith Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States, a Co-President of Religions for Peace, and a member of the Muslim Council of Elders. He established a collective fatwa authority under the Board reflecting Azerbaijan’s Sunni and Shia communities, and he is a professor of theology and author of numerous works. He will offer a welcome address.
Pujya Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati is Secretary-General of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, launched with UNICEF as the first alliance of religious leaders dedicated to water, sanitation, and hygiene. She is also President of the Divine Shakti Foundation, a Co-President of Religions for Peace, and Director of the International Yoga Festival. Originally from Los Angeles and a graduate of Stanford University, she was ordained into the order of sanyas in 2000 and has lived at Parmarth Niketan in Rishikesh, India, for nearly three decades. She will offer a welcome address.
President Dallin H. Oaks was set apart as the eighteenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October 2025, following 41 years of service as an apostle. Before his full-time church service he was a law professor at the University of Chicago, president of Brigham Young University, and a justice of the Utah Supreme Court. He has spoken and written extensively on religious freedom over many years. He will offer a welcome address in the church’s home city.
Rabbi Mark Dratch chairs the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, the umbrella body that represents world Jewry in formal dialogue with the Vatican, the World Council of Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate, and the World Evangelical Alliance. He served as Executive Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America from 2012 to 2024 and spent 22 years as a congregational rabbi. He is the founder of JSafe, an organization addressing domestic violence and abuse within Jewish communities. He will offer a welcome address.
Plenaries and Working Sessions
Elder Gerrit W. Gong has served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 2018. He holds a doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and his earlier career included service at the U.S. State Department, as special assistant to the U.S. ambassador in Beijing, and in senior roles at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He will speak on the Saturday morning plenary on AI and emerging technologies.
H.E. Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo is Chancellor Emeritus of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, which he led for more than two decades. An Argentine bishop and philosopher, he has convened Vatican gatherings bringing scientists, judges, mayors, and religious leaders together on human trafficking and modern slavery. He will take part in the Faith in Action session on human trafficking.
The Right Reverend Dr. Alastair Redfern chairs the Clewer Initiative, the Church of England’s response to modern slavery. As Bishop of Derby he sat in the House of Lords and served on the select committee that helped shape the UK Modern Slavery Act of 2015, and he later chaired the advisory board of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. He is a co-founder of the Global Sustainability Network. He will take part in the human trafficking session.
Bishop Brendan Cahill has led the Catholic Diocese of Victoria in Texas since 2015 and chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration. Ordained in 1990, he served as vicar for clergy in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston before his appointment as bishop. He will take part in the human trafficking session.
Rabbi Dr. Yakov Nagen and Rabbi Dr. Aharon Ariel Lavi lead the Jerusalem Interfaith Center as President and CEO respectively. Rabbi Nagen directs Ohr Torah Stone’s Blickle Institute for Interfaith Dialogue and its Beit Midrash for Judaism and Humanity, teaches as a senior educator at Yeshivat Otniel, and has written ten books on Jewish spirituality, Talmud, and interfaith relations. Rabbi Lavi’s recent work maps faith-based partnerships between the Jewish people and other communities. Together they will lead the session on the Abrahamic Family, a follow-up to the Jewish-Muslim Declaration of Fraternity that brings Judaism, Christianity, and Islam into conversation through panel discussion and joint study of sacred texts.
Elder Robert Gay is an emeritus General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having served from 2012 until 2021, including as Chairman of Self-Reliance Services and the Perpetual Education Fund Committee and as President of the Asia North Area. He holds a doctorate in business economics from Harvard University, co-founded Huntsman Gay Global Capital, and spent fifteen years at Bain Capital. With his wife Lynette he founded Engage Now Africa and Ensign Global College in Ghana, and the couple endowed the Ballard Center for Social Impact at Brigham Young University. He will take part in the session on linking international educational initiatives to G20 priorities.
More to Come
This is a partial list. Additional religious leaders are expected, several sessions are still being finalized, and the full program continues to develop ahead of October. Registration and program details are available at g20interfaith.org.
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JoAnne Wadsworth is a Communications Consultant for the G20 Interfaith Forum Association and Editor of the Viewpoints blog, IF20’s platform for commentary at the intersection of faith and global policy. She has covered the work of the Forum across multiple G20 cycles, producing summaries, articles, and editorial content that bring the voices of interfaith leaders and scholars to a broader audience. Her writing engages with topics spanning environmental governance, religious freedom, anti-racism, poverty and inequality, and the role of faith in multilateral policy processes.