“I actually hope that our meeting immediately in the Umayyad mosque will signal our dedication to advance interreligious dialogue between the Catholic Church and Islam. Both believe in a single, merciful God who on the last day will decide mankind (cf. Mar 22 Ivan Šubašić, Kingdom of Yugoslavia prime minister and last ban of Croatia (b. I thank particularly the minister of the Waqf and the grand mufti for their gracious greetings, which put into words the great yearning for peace which fills the hearts of all people of excellent will. Inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue is a necessity for building together this world of peace and fraternity ardently desired by all people of good will. People have this tendency to decor the mosque like a museum. I have already had occasion to dwell upon them in the course of the previous week. The Old Testament taught this, and from the earliest centuries Christians have accepted and applied this lesson, particularly on the occasions of Advent and Lent.

The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) fell into mythology centuries ago; the Aztecs believed that the first axolotl appeared in the lake system around modern day Mexico City when the highly effective underworld god Xolotl transformed himself right into a small, feathery amphibian to flee capture. “Interreligious dialogue is most effective when it springs from the expertise of ‘living with each other’ from day to day within the identical neighborhood and tradition. Indeed, though there have been attempts to have espresso categorised as a drink that should be disallowed for its results on the human, the Islamic culture performed a giant part within the rise of coffee. Genuine religion thus widens the horizon of human understanding and stands at the bottom of any authentically human tradition. When men and women allow the magnificent order of the world and the splendour of human dignity to illumine their minds, they uncover that what is “cheap” extends far past what arithmetic can calculate, logic can deduce and scientific experimentation can exhibit; it consists of the goodness and innate attractiveness of upright and moral living made known to us within the very language of creation. “As we make our way by means of life toward our heavenly destiny, Christians feel the corporate of Mary, the mother of Jesus; and Islam too pays tribute to Mary and hails her as ‘chosen above the girls of the world’ (Qur’an, 3:42). The virgin of Nazareth, the Lady of Saydnâya, has taught us that God protects the humble and “scatters the proud within the imagination of their hearts” (Lk.

“From this city, from Kazakhstan, a rustic that is an example of harmony between women and men of different origins and beliefs, I want to make an earnest name to everyone, Christians and the followers of other religions, to work collectively to construct a world with out violence, a world that loves life, and grows in justice and solidarity. By patterning their lives on these virtues and instructing them to the young, Christians and Muslims not only show how they foster the total growth of the human individual, but also how they forge bonds of solidarity with one’s neighbours and advance the common good. I am happy to welcome you to this gathering that I wanted to arrange as a way to strengthen the bonds of friendship and solidarity between the Holy See and Muslim communities throughout the world. Some New Age movements see him as an enlightened spiritual trainer who exemplified love and compassion.

In this explicit context, I ought to wish to reiterate at the moment all the esteem and the profound respect that I have for Muslim believers, calling to thoughts the words of the Second Vatican Council which for the Catholic Church are the Magna Carta of Muslim-Christian dialogue: “The Church appears to be like upon Muslims with respect. They worship the one God dwelling and subsistent, merciful and almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to humanity and to whose decrees, even the hidden ones, they search to submit themselves whole-heartedly, simply as Abraham, to whom the Islamic religion readily relates itself, submitted to God” (Declaration Nostra Aetate, 3). Inserting myself firmly inside this perspective, I have had occasion, because the very beginning of my pontificate, to express my wish to continue establishing bridges of friendship with the adherents of all religions, showing explicit appreciation for the expansion of dialogue between Muslims and Christians (cf. At the very best degree, the Pontifical Council of Interreligious Dialogue represents the Catholic Church on this activity. “It is on this context (of openness to God’s grace) also that we should consider the great problem of interreligious dialogue to which we shall nonetheless be dedicated in the new millennium, in fidelity to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council (Cf.