ROME (CNS): When a religion’s scriptures are used to promote violence, leaders of that faith must react publicly and forcefully to defend the call to peace and justice, said participants at a Vatican conference.
“The scriptures of each religion teach the path to peace, but we acknowledge that our various sacred writings have often been and continue to be used to justify violence, war and exclusion of others,” they said in a January 18 statement.
Three dozen leaders representing Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Zoroastrianism met on January 16-17 at the Vatican to discuss the “spiritual resources of religions for peace”.
The private meeting, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, was followed by a public forum in Rome on January 18.
The main talks at the forum were by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington and Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem.
However, a Vatican official read Patriarch Sabbah’s text for him because the patriarch, after being subjected to rigorous security checks by Israeli officials at the airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, did not get on the flight to Rome.
