Vatican: Message for the end of Ramadan: The conscience is a sanctuary to be respected

The president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue has sent a message to Muslims around the world for the end of the month of fasting. Christians and Muslims "are too often witnesses to the violation of the sacred, of the mistrust of which those who call themselves believers are the target."

The president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal. Jean-Louis Tauran, has sent a message of good wishes for the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting to Muslims around the world. " Christians and Muslims, beyond their differences, recognise the dignity of the human person endowed with both rights and duties. They think that intelligence and freedom are indeed gifts which must impel believers to recognise these values which are shared because they rest on the same human nature, "writes card. Tauran, stressing that the transmission of these human and moral values to the younger generation "is a common concern."

He continues: " It is our duty to help them discover that there is both good and evil, that conscience is a sanctuary to be respected, and that cultivating the spiritual dimension makes us more responsible, more supportive, more available for the common good." The reference to freedom of conscience can easily be read as a reference to the difficulties that people in many Muslim majority countries encounter in changing their religion, abandoning Islam, and forced conversions to Islam.

The president of the Pontifical Council stresses that "too often, Christians and Muslims are too often witnesses to the violation of the sacred, of the mistrust of which those who call themselves believers are the target." In a world that also assists the manipulation of religion and the use of the name of God for violent purposes, the cardinal said, " We cannot but denounce all forms of fanaticism and intimidation, the prejudices and the polemics, as well as the discrimination of which, at times, believers are the object both in the social and political life as well as in the mass media".

Source: The Spero News (www.speroforum.com)