Peace is not final aim of dialogue, Vatican officials tell conference

Published: 2007-01-11

ROME (CNS) -- Dialogue between religions is necessary for peace, but that is not the final aim of the Catholic Church's commitment to dialogue, two Vatican officials said. "A Christian is one who opens himself to others," said Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, at the opening of a Jan. 11-12 conference at Rome's Pontifical Urbanian University. Cardinal Dias told the conference, which focused on dialogue in societies marked by growing religious and cultural diversity, that "otherness, plurality and diversity are a richness, not a threat." Because it knows that all people are created in the image of God, the Catholic Church engages in its mission to proclaim God's love to all people and sees dialogue as part of that mission, he said. French Cardinal Paul Poupard, president of the pontifical councils for Culture and for Interreligious Dialogue, told conference participants, "Only on the basis of values, which basically have a common source, can people live together peacefully without giving up their own faith and culture."

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