Former papal envoy, Muslim leader awarded peace prize from UNESCO

Published: 2004-09-23

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A former papal envoy and a Muslim leader in the Balkans were awarded a UNESCO peace prize for their efforts in promoting interreligious dialogue and peace. French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray and Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric of Bosnia-Herzegovina received the 2003 Felix Houphouet-Boigny Award in a Sept. 21 ceremony at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Besides serving as head of several Vatican offices, Cardinal Etchegaray served as the pope's special envoy in urgent missions worldwide. He took part in negotiations to end the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank, in May 2002; he traveled to Iraq in 1986 and 1998, then again in February 2003 in a bid to avert the U.S.-led invasion of the country. He also led diplomatic missions in Iran, Mozambique, Angola, Sudan and Cuba. In an interview Sept. 22 with Vatican Radio, Cardinal Etchegaray said he felt proud because the Houphouet-Boigny Award "is a prestigious prize." Yet despite working to bring peaceful resolutions to many of the world's "hot spots," he said he felt his efforts have been dwarfed by the vastness of the world's problems.

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