ARCHBISHOP TAURAN ISSUES COMMUNIQUE ON VISIT TO IRAN

VATICAN CITY, MAR 8, 2001 (VIS) - Made public this morning was a communique issued in Teheran yesterday by Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States, who has been in Iran since Saturday, March 3. Following is the text of that communique, written in French:

"As I am about to leave the Islamic Republic of Iran I wish to thank the governmental authorities for their generous hospitality.

"The contacts and conversations of recent days have allowed me to better know the Iran of today, which is hopeful of making its own contribution to international life, in fidelity to its long multi-cultural and multi-religious history.

"I was also able to evaluate the conditions of life of the Christian community, in particular of the Catholic Church.

"The climate of dialogue promoted by Iranian authorities has made it possible to better define the measure of participation of the local Catholic Church and her institutions in Iranian society.

"Dialogue among civilizations and cultures, which Iran promotes, seems to offer in this regard promising prospects."

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