Interreligious dialogue can build peace, Vatican official says

Published: 2005-03-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Interreligious dialogue can contribute to peace in the world, a Vatican official told a gathering at Georgetown University Feb. 28. Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, described concrete cases in different parts of the world where interreligious dialogue is in fact contributing to peace by calming tensions and promoting new understanding and mutual respect among people of different religions. He related the principles and practices of interreligious dialogue to the four "pillars of peace" outlined in Pope John XXIII's 1963 encyclical, "Pacem in Terris" ("Peace on Earth") -- truth, justice, love and freedom. To those Archbishop Fitzgerald added a fifth -- prayer -- saying that when members of different religions are "standing together before God" in prayer it changes the way they view one another. His talk was part of Georgetown University's "Pacem in Terris" lecture series, but it was also part of the program of a three-day workshop for bishops, focusing on Islam and the building of Catholic-Muslim relations.

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