VATICAN CITY - From Rome comes an appeal that resonates especially in the Middle East, the scene of conflicts and tensions, with a proposal arising from a meeting of bishops, rabbis and imams in Italy that would be "direct, non-conventional and non-confessional, to witness together to a shared responsibility."
Vatican News
"This appeal is based on the conviction that it is essential to support any initiative of encounter that will help to stop hatred, protect coexistence, purify language and create peace. It is the responsibility of individuals and social actors!" These are the words that begin an interfaith appeal launched today in Rome and supported by representatives of Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities from all over Italy.
The document was signed by Noemi Di Segni (Union of Italian Jewish Communities), Yassine Lafram (Union of Italian Islamic Communities), Abu Bakr Moretta and Yahya Pallavicini (Italian Islamic Religious Community), Naim Nasrollah (President of the Rome Mosque) and Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, President of the Italian Bishops' Conference.
Attention to the Middle East
The call will resonate particularly in the Middle East, the scene of increasingly tragic conflicts and tensions.
"Awareness of the dark times we are living through and the power of illusion to influence the tragedy unfolding in the Middle East calls us as leaders of religious communities, believers and citizens to denounce dangerous generalizations and harmful conflation of political, national and religious identities." The signatories go on to condemn "the abomination of propaganda that exploits naivety and emotional reactions, clouds sound judgment and trivializes the deep meaning of our own humanity," and fuels anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and opposition to Catholic Christianity and religions in general. "Security can never be built on hatred. Justice for the Palestinian people, as well as security for the Israeli people, can only be achieved through mutual recognition, respect for basic rights and a willingness to communicate."
Specific need
The text was written after a meeting of bishops, rabbis and imams in Italy: "A simple, direct, non-conventional and non-confessional meeting to witness together to a common responsibility", with the wish that religious communities could support local and national activities with the participation of institutions. "The duty to work for responsible coexistence leads us, as religious leaders, to the need to promote social cohesion on the basis of shared values", we read further in the appeal, which ends by thanking the witnesses received in the past weeks in Bologna, Milan and Turin as a sign of hope in a time marked by violence.
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