MEETING IN SYRIA OF COUNCIL FOR INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE

VATICAN CITY, JUL 14, 2003 (VIS) - The Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue organized a meeting for its members, consultors and some guests which took place from July 7 to 9 at the Convent of St. Thomas of the Greek-Melkite Patriarchate of Saydnaya, Syria. Participants in the meeting came from Lebanon, Jordan, the Holy Land, Turkey, North Africa, France and Canada.

Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, council president, led the workshops. The following prelates attended the opening ceremony: His Holiness Ignace Zakka I Iwas, Syrian-Orthodox patriarch, Their Beatitudes Gregory II Lahham, Catholic Greek-Melkite patriarch, Ignace Pierre VIII Abdel-Ahad, Syrian-Catholic patriarch, Jean Pierre XVIII Kasparian, patriarch emeritus of the Armenian Catholics, and Archbishop Diego Causero, apostolic nuncio in Syria. His Beatitude Ignace IV Hazim, patriarch of Antioch of the Greek-Orthodox, was represented by Msgr. Ghattas Hazim, patriarchal vicar.

A communique made public today notes that on the first day of the meeting there were three conferences on "Inter-religious dialogue and social development," "Inter-religious dialogue and human rights," and "Inter-religious dialogue and the search for common values."

Participants in the meeting presented various reports on the situation of Islamic-Christian relations in their respective countries and expressed their appreciation for "the position of John Paul II, Catholic leaders and leaders of other Churches in the world, on the Middle East especially, on peace in the world, the condemnation of the war against Iraq and the request for a just and global peace for the Middle East, especially in Palestine."

The communique ends by noting how the participants in the meeting in Saydnaya underscored the "importance of the work carried out by the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue and its role in the promotion of fraternal relations with Muslims throughout the world, something which has become even more important and urgent after the events of September 11, 2001, the war in Iraq and the deterioration of the situation in Palestine."

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