Pope to gather with 200 religious leaders at interfaith meeting

Published: 2008-03-05

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When Pope Benedict XVI comes to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington for an early-evening interfaith meeting April 17 with Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims and representatives of other religions, space will be at a premium. There will be room for only about 200 people, according to Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. Of those, about 50 will be reserved for Catholics, he added, with the rest allotted to representatives of the non-Christian religions participating in what is expected to be a 45-minute meeting. Among those expected to be invited are representatives of major religious organizations that either work with the Catholic Church in areas of common interest or are in dialogue with Catholic representatives. Representatives of Sikhism, the world's fifth-largest religion, had planned to attend the meeting until the Secret Service for security reasons determined that Sikhs who wear kirpans could not take them into the meeting. The Sikh faith requires formally initiated members to at all times wear a kirpan, a miniature sword or dagger usually carried in a sheath and worn beneath clothing.

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