VATICAN CITY (CNS): Two high-level Vatican officials, speaking at an interreligious summit in Moscow, called for the promotion of greater religious freedom in the world and more economic and social policies based on ethical values.
Head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Walter Kasper, and head of the pontifical councils for Culture and for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Paul Poupard, were part of a delegation representing the Catholic Church from July 3-5 at the World Summit of Religious Leaders.
The summit was organised by the interreligious council of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Moscow Patriarchate and brought together religious leaders from a variety of spiritual traditions to discuss how religions could help give a moral response to the challenges the world faces.
The leaders from 49 different countries drew up a final statement that they were to present to the heads of state from the Group of Eight industrialised countries, scheduled to meet this weekend in St Petersburg, Russia.
In his written address for the summit, Cardinal Kasper said there was not an easy answer to building a just, peaceful and moral world.
“But there are principles … proven by our millennial human experience and tradition” that could act as guidelines for today’s governments and societies, he said.
Because one’s religious calling and desire to seek the truth are so fundamental to human nature, full religious freedom in every society is needed, he said, and includes the “possibility of changing one’s religion or even professing oneself an atheist”.
In his written address, Cardinal Poupard underlined the concerns shared by many religious leaders and governments that are “primarily focused on economic power to the detriment of justice and solidarity”.
The disparity between rich and poor coupled with the lack of ethical foundations “can lead to resentment and translate into acts of violence”, including terrorism, the French cardinal said.
