Appointment to Interreligious Council Reflects Priority
VATICAN CITY, JUNE 26, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran says his appointment as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue shows Benedict XVI's commitment to dialogue with Muslims.The Pope appointed Cardinal Tauran on Monday, thereby separating the presidencies of the Pontifical Councils for Interreligious Dialogue and Culture, both of which were held by Cardinal Paul Poupard.
Cardinal Poupard is still the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.
Cardinal Tauran told Vatican Radio: "I think it is a sign of the importance that the Pope gives to dialogue among religions, in particular with Islam. Therefore, he desired that this council recover its autonomy, in order to be a more effective instrument in the service of this dialogue among religions."
Cardinal Tauran says there is a link between his appointment and the uproar over a misinterpretation of the Holy Father's speech in Regensburg, Germany, last September.
"I think it had a decisive influence, because thanks to the reactions, the Pope was able to clarify his words," the cardinal said. "By reading the Pope's speeches to the ambassadors of Arab countries, and also to those who have come from Asia to present their credentials, you can see a common thread in the thought of the Pope, who thinks that interreligious dialogue is important for peace, and that religions are at the service of peace."
Expertise
Cardinal Tauran spent some four years in Lebanon in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He was also the Vatican secretary for relations with states for 13 years.
"From what the Holy Father has told me, I think that the experience I have of the problems of the Middle East and what I know of the Arab world, enable me to bring my contribution to the building up of dialogue among religions," the 64-year-old cardinal affirmed.
Cardinal Tauran explained his objectives for the council.
"I would like to create a plan, for example, involving the pontifical council, the second section of the Secretariat of State, the Congregation for Eastern Churches, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, in such a way that we can all have a complete vision of the problems in interreligious dialogue," he said.
The cardinal also affirmed that resolving the situation of conflict in the Middle East is imperative for interreligious dialogue to advance.
"In fact," he said, "I remember that the Pope said recently in Bologna that dialogue with Muslims, for example, is not a passing thing, but belongs to the Church's action, because the Church is dialogue in its essence -- inasmuch as Christ is the Word of God and therefore the Church is, in its essence, the word and conversation and dialogue."
ZE07062605 - 2007-06-26