Vatican officials in India to meet inter-faith leaders

(November 07, 2011) Vatican’s top official for inter-religious dialogue on Sunday led a 30-member Catholic delegation to a 4-day Hindu-Christian meeting in the western Indian city of Pune, to follow up after Pope Benedict XVI’s inter-faith meeting in Assisi, Italy, on Oct. 27. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue along with Council secretary Archbishop Pierluigi Celata are on a trip to India until Nov 14, during which they will hold meetings with Hindus, Muslims, Jains and Sikhs in different parts of India. The Nov 6-9 Christian-Hindu meeting at Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth in Pune is on “Enhancing Hindu-Christian relations and collaboration for justice, peace and harmony.” Local Bishop Thomas Dabre of Poona said that this was a unique and historical event for the city and the first official meeting between the pope’s representatives and senior Hindu religious leaders to promote harmony. “However this is not just a dialogue for mere talks, we would actually be living and eating together to ensure that we believe in brotherhood and equality while we talk of it,” he said. The prelate said that the important aspect of the meeting would be to understand each other’s religions and recognizing the contribution made by religions to other faiths and society. “We would discuss the vital point of religion being used as an excuse for promoting violence or terrorism in the name of religion,” said Bishop Dabre. He said they would discuss many practical issues like female foeticide and why girls are not treated like equals. He said issues such as abortion, on which others may not share the Catholic view, need to be discussed on a common platform.