DUBAI (Agencies)
Pope Benedict XVI used his traditional Sunday prayer to send a "message of peace" to the Middle East while on a visit to southern Italy, while separately, Bahrain reiterated its commitment to interfaith dialogue.
"I would like to renew the Christian message of cooperation and peace among all people, especially... those of the Near and Middle East," he said in this city in the "heel" of Italy, jutting into the Mediterranean.
"It is indifference or non-intervention that causes the real harm," Benedict said, reiterating remarks he made at the U.N. General Assembly in April.
Meanwhile, Bahrain reiterated its commitment to interfaith dialogue as a means to promote world peace after its Foreign Minister, Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, held a meeting with a senior Vatican official.
Shaikh Khalid stressed "the significance of promoting dialogue between cultures and religions to ensure peaceful and fruitful co-existence,” Bahrain News Agency reported on Sunday.
Bahrain and the Vatican State established relations in 2000, following a landmark 1999 visit by King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa to the Vatican, where he was received by Pope John Paul II, UAE daily Gulf News reported.
It said about 80 Christian families live in the kingdom, which has 16 churches, including the National Evangelical Church, the oldest Christian institution in the Gulf.
Christians make up about one per cent of Bahrain’s native population. Alice Samaan, the vice president of the Shura Council (upper house), represents the religious community in the bicameral parliament.
Samaan made history in April 2005 by becoming the first Christian to chair a parliamentary session in the Muslim world, Gulf News said. |
