Vatican official discusses Saudi king's idea to initiate dialogue

Published: 2008-03-27

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The importance of marriage and the family and the values needed to sustain family life can be an appropriate starting point for interreligious dialogue, said an official of the Pontifical Council for the Family. Franciscan Father Gianfranco Grieco described as "interesting" Saudi Arabian King Abdullah Aziz's idea to initiate a dialogue with Muslims, Christians and Jews to defend the family, moral values and the importance of religion. While Saudi Arabia is a strictly Islamic country where the public practice of any other faith is illegal, King Abdullah announced March 24 that he had been consulting Muslim religious leaders about the possibility of inviting "all religions to sit together with their brothers, faithfully and sincerely, as we all believe in the same God" to discuss "the crisis all humanity is suffering in the current time." The institution of the family has been "weakened and dismantled," a lack of faith and religious practice has spread and "there is a lack of ethics, loyalty and sincerity," he said.

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