(18 Nov 08 - RV) The 2008 edition of the St Egidio meeting “Peoples and Religion”
closes Tuesday with the hope that Europe’s last divided community on the island of
Cyprus will soon be united in peace.
Over the last
three days the city of Nicosia in Cyprus has been home to Imams, Rabbi, Patriarchs
and Cardinals. Together they crossed the green line that divides this nation’s two
communities and together they have been discussing how religion, through constant
prayer, solidarity and dialogue can be a force for peace.
As a concrete example
of this, a delegation of the St Egidio community accompanied by religious leaders
met negotiators from both the Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot communities, who along
with the United Nations are working to resolve the question of Cyprus and to ensure
that religion is not exploited in what is a purely geo-political issue.
Archbishop
Emeritus of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a regular participant at these
global gathering, says they are important because they draw attention to the world’s
many forgotten conflicts:
“Sometimes the world does not focus on problems
which are in little corners of the world, such as this island in the Eastern Mediterranean.
So maybe we can get the United Nations more involved in this important crises which
has gone on for 30 years. Secondly, we all come to together to pray and I am still
convinced that this is the most important thing that we can do. ”
Prayers
not just for Cyprus, says Cardinal McCarrick, but for inter-religious harmony in India,
the Holy Land and Iraq.
The Archbishop of Baghdad Jean Baptiste Sleiman, is
another regular participant who this year hosted a special roundtable discussion with
fellow Iraqis, Ali Khalid Sarmad a Sunni Muslim and Abdul Hadi Kadhim Al-Hussaini
a Shiite who for years has worked to heal the rift between his nation’s communities. Cardinal
Walter Kasper, President of the Vatican’s Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity
and another regular participant at these meetings, praises their emphasis on ecumenical
dialogue: “We are on the right path…, the friendship between Catholic
and Orthodox bishops is increasingly strong…but it is also necessary that the lay
faithful are involved. We have made great headway in the last 40 years and can look
towards the future with hope”. The 22nd edition of these
extraordinary encounters concludes with the traditional message for peace read by
St Egidio Founder, Prof. Andrea Riccardi and with a very special testimony from former
FARC hostage and Colombian Presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, and with a particular
appeal for the poor, the true victims of the current economic crises.