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Speech By H.Em. Cardinal Jean Louis
Tauran
Librarian & Archivist of the Roman
Catholic Church
Your Highness and Holinesses
Your Excellencies Distinguished
Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is a great
privilege for me to extend you cordial greetings from his
Holiness Pope John Paul11, who has also asked me to assure
you of his prayers for the success of your work. His
Holiness wishes also to extend special words of greeting to
his highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of
Qatar, who graciously arranged for this meeting to take
place. I also wish to express the gratitude of the
delegation of the Holy Sea for the generous hospitality
offered to it.
This meeting is in itself an eloquent
witness to the fraternity.
The sound of warfare, which
is heard not far from us will not prevent us from reflecting
upon our responsibility as believers, or from addressing a
message of friendship to all those willing to accept it.
Our meeting is the first of
our meetings as believers, since we acknowledge that we are
children of the same God, we can accept our differences and
together devote ourselves to the service of society with
respect for justice, moral values and peace. As a matter of
fact believers have a specific mission in society, since
they believe that God has entrusted them with stewardship of
the world.
They seek to strengthen
whatever brings people together to promote honestly and
integrity in human relations, since they believe that God
created the human beings, men and women. They support all
the legitimate initiative on behalf of the family and
education of the young. Since they believe that God is the
creator, they work together to save God’s beauty of nature
and quality of life.
However this meeting
will also be a dialogue between believers belonging to two
different religions in order to avoid any syncretism or
caricature of others, it is of utmost importance that each
persons remains loyal to his or her own faith.
Pope John Paul II
addressing a group of young Muslims in the stadium of
Casablanca on the 19th of August 1995 said and I
quote:”
We Christians and Muslims have many
things in common as believer and as human beings, we believe
in the same God, the One God, the
Living God, the God who created the
world’s and bring his creatures to their perfection, we are
God’s vessels on earth, and we are seekers of this God. The
Catholic Church regards with respect and recognizes the
richness of your traditions and spiritual teachings.
We Christians are proud too of our
religious traditions and teachings, but loyalty also demands
that we recognize and respect our differences. We must
respect each other and we must encourage each other in good
works
on the path of God”.
For these reasons freedom
of religious belief is important, even absolutely necessary,
as it touches the deepest realm of the human spirit, as well
as the reason and core of all remaining freedoms. Each
person expects to be respected for what she or he freely
believes.
Freedom of religion respects at the
same time both God and man, it is absolute and reciprocal,
extends beyond the individual to the community and has both
a civil and social dimension. Religious freedom thus
understood and lived out becomes a powerful factor for
building peace, since believers are conscious of being
members of one human family; believers considered themselves
as the brothers and sisters of all. They willingly take part
in the organizations that promote social justice based on
their belief, their culture and their civic
responsibilities; they work for peace and solidarity within
society and between people. As believers in the fact that
God grants life, they develop a sense of the dignity of the
human person and work to defend the weakest member of
society. They are the ones who are called peacemakers
because they prefer safe means that promote understanding
and reconciliation rather than violent ones; in particular
they advocate respect for international law.
One can say with
Pope John Paul II that religious belief brings people
together and unites them and makes them see others as
brothers and sisters, it is also makes them more
responsible, more generous and more committed to the common
good.
I would like to add another
consideration, which is that political leaders have nothing
to fear from true believers, on the contrary believers who
are recognized and respected for two they are, would be more
inclined to work together for their societies. True
believers are also the best antidote to all forms of
fanatism because they know that preventing their brothers
and sisters from practicing their religion and
discriminating against followers of other religions other
than their own, or even worse killing in the name of God,
are abominations despised by God, and there is no call or
authority, be it political or religious, that can ever
justify it. Therefore every society needs to initiate a
dialogue of trust between civil and religious authorities,
so that the rights and obligations of believers and their
communities will be firmly established and guaranteed, with
particular respect for the principles of reciprocity (equal
treatment), which insures for all people of the world and
every country the possibility to celebrate their belief in
mutual freedom and respect. No one can claim or obtain one’s
legitimate rights and freedom by trampling upon those of
others.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the name of Christians
present here this morning, I wished
To discuss with you these thoughts,
which will confirm the feeling that the Catholic Church has
the core of Islam and its determination to work together
with all who love peace. All of us believers know that we
are prepared for this peace, that we build and defend each
time we
Submit to God with sincere hearts, and
seek to accomplish His will in our daily life.
Here in Doha we can, or indeed we must,
pave the way for fraternity and peace.
I would like to mention as my parting words a Lebanese
saying, as I have served for many years in the Vatican
embassy in Beirut and have heard the Lebanese say that
mountains do not meet, it is people who meet. Let us stop
and pray in order that we live and act according to the will
of God in a free consent of man in heart on the pathway of
life.
Thank you for your attention.
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