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Ärende: Vatican Information Service - Press Release
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                               VIS-Press releases

INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE: A VITAL NEED OF OUR TIME

VATICAN CITY, FEB 1, 2007 (VIS) - Today in the Vatican, Benedict XVI received a
delegation from the Foundation for Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Research
and Dialogue, led by their president, Metropolitan Archbishop Damskinos of
Adrianoupoli. One of the members of the delegation was His Royal Highness
Prince Hassan of Jordan.

In his address to the group the Pope, who as Cardinal Ratzinger was one of the
foundation's founding members, thanked Metropolitan Damaskinos for his gift of
the first fruit of their labors: a joint edition of the three sacred texts of
the three monotheistic religions, in chronological order and in the original
languages. "It was our first project," the Pope recalled, "to make a specific
and positive contribution to dialogue between cultures and religions."

"Jews, Christians and Muslims," he went on, "are called to recognize and
strengthen the ties that bind us together. It was this idea that brought us to
create the foundation, the objective of which is to discover 'the most
essential and most authentic message that the three monotheistic religions -
Judaism, Christianity and Islam - can communicate to the 21st century world,'
with the aim of giving a fresh impulse to inter-religious and inter-cultural
dialogue through the joint discovery and communication of the elements in our
respective spiritual legacies that contribute to reinforcing the fraternal
bonds between our communities of believers."

"The rereading - for some people the discovery - of texts that are sacred to so
many people enforces our mutual respect," said the Holy Father. "Men and women
today await from us a message of harmony and tranquillity, and the concrete
expression of our shared will to help them realize their legitimate aspirations
to live in justice and peace."

"The work of the foundation will contribute to raising ever greater awareness
of all the aspects of the various cultures of our time that correspond to
divine wisdom and serve the dignity of man. This will lead to greater
discernment, and to a rejection of all usurpation of the name of God and
denaturalization of man's humanity."

"Our respective religious traditions," Pope Benedict concluded, "underline the
sacred nature of life and the dignity of the human person. ... We, with all men
and women of good will, long for peace. For this reason I reiterate that
inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue and research are not an option, but
a vital necessity of our time."
AC/INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE/HASSAN:DAMASKINOSVIS 070201 (410)

SUMMARY

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