By IINA
Vatican City – November 29, 2007– The Vatican plans to respond positively very soon to an appeal by Muslim scholars for an unprecedented dialogue between Christianity and Islam, Roman Catholic cardinals and Islam experts say. The Catholic Church, representing more than half the world’s two billion Christians, has not yet officially answered the call made last month and hailed by most other Christian leaders. But cardinals in Rome and Vatican officials told Reuters that many Catholic leaders wanted a serious dialogue with Muslim leaders to help overcome misunderstandings.
“The Vatican will respond positively, and quite soon,” said Dakar Cardinal Theodore-Adrien Sarr, whose homeland Senegal is 95 percent Muslim. “We will not miss this opportunity.” “Watch out for this week,” said a veteran cardinal, who asked not to be named. The prelates were in Rome for a ceremony to install 23 new members of the College of Cardinals. Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois said a serious and broad Christian-Muslim dialogue would help inter-faith relations in France, which has Europe’s largest Muslim minority.
It is noteworthy that several leading Christian leaders yesterday responded favorably to the open letter in October signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals from around the world. They said that peaceful relations between Muslims and Christians stand as one of the central challenges of this century. The Christian leaders also asked the Muslim world for forgiveness.
HA/IINA