Vatican Cardinal Koovakad announces that “every religion is bound to God and to peace”.
Representatives of nine world religions gathered at Westminster Cathedral Hall in London on 17 October to sign a pledge to work together for peace based on [the buzzword] “human dignity”.
Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, spoke about how the Church has worked for 40 years to keep the spirit of Assisi alive through interreligious dialogue and collaboration.
He said: “Among the various etymologies of the word ‘religion,’ the one perhaps closest to us is religare – ‘to bind.’ Every religion, in its most literal and central sense, is bound to the Divine or to a Transcendental reality. Consequently, it is bound to the characteristics of peace, love, and justice. These form the core virtues of every religion and the very foundations of our faiths.”
“Prayer in any religion unites in fellowship to ‘one God and Father of all’”
On Sunday, Cardinal Koovakad celebrated the Eucharist at Westminster Cathedral and gathered with Jews and other Christians in the cathedral hall for prayer.
There, he said: “Our being in prayer for peace wherever we are – in keeping with our faith traditions – besides enhancing our unique beauty in diversity, unites us in fellowship as brothers and sisters in reference to the ‘one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.’”
Cardinal Koovakad called the diversity of contradicting religions “a great blessing when it is accompanied by mutual respect and commitment to the common good.”
From 19–21 October, he is making fraternal visits to Hindu, Jain and Sikh communities.
Picture: Press picture, cbcew.org.uk, #newsPvfzghmwan