Gathering at “a time of severe tension and conflict,” particularly in the Middle East, 24 Catholic and Muslim leaders and scholars have urged dialogue to promote greater respect and understanding and condemned all acts of violence committed in the name of religion.
The Catholic-Muslim Forum met at the Vatican from November 11 to 13 while newspapers continued to be filled with stories of ISIS forces committing violence against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria, and just days after violence erupted around the Jerusalem holy site known as Haram al-Sharif by Muslims and as Temple Mount by Jews.
The 12 Catholic and 12 Muslim participants in the forum “unanimously condemned acts of terrorism, oppression, violence against innocent persons, persecution, desecration of sacred places, and the destruction of cultural heritage,” said a statement released at the end of the meeting.
It is never acceptable to use religion to justify such acts or to conflate such acts with religion,” said the delegates, who were led by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, a professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University in Washington DC…Read More
Source and Original Content by Catholic Herald