VATICAN CITY (CNS): Writing to Buddhists on their principal religious feast, the Vatican’s top interreligious official said believers other than Christians have something to receive from Christ’s message. The start of a new millennium, marking the 2000th anniversary of Christ’s birth, “is a fitting time for each individual religious tradition as well as for all religious traditions together to take stock of the past and face the future with renewed vigour,” said Cardinal Francis Arinze, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
Released at the Vatican on May 4, the cardinal’s message was addressed to the world’s 354 million Buddhists for the feast of Vesakh, commemorating the principal events in the life of Guatama Siddhartha, Buddhism’s founder.
Even though Buddhists do not share Christian belief in Jesus, they can appreciate the example of Christ, who is “a model and a permanent message for humanity”, he said.
