Vatican City, Aug 19, 2011 / 11:55 am
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, urged Catholics and Muslims to strengthen their families and pass on moral values to their children, in a message for the upcoming end of Ramadan.
“Christians and Muslims, beyond their differences, recognize the dignity of the human person endowed with both rights and duties,” Cardinal Tauran said.
“This is why the transmission of such human and moral values to the younger generations constitutes a common concern,” he explained.
“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.”
Cardinal Tauran made his remarks in a letter to the Muslim community to mark the end of Ramadan, the traditional Islamic month of fasting which takes place this year from Aug. 1 – 29.
“The end of the month of Ramadan offers the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue
a welcome occasion for sending you our most cordial wishes, hoping that the efforts you have
so generously made during this month will bring all the desired spiritual fruits,” he said.
Cardinal Tauran noted that the council wanted to emphasize “the theme of the spiritual dimension of the human person” in its annual Ramadan greeting.
“This concerns a reality which Christians and Muslims consider to be of prime importance, faced as we are with the challenges of materialism and secularization,” he said.
“Christians and Muslims,” he noted, “are too often witnesses to the violation of the sacred, of the mistrust of which those who call themselves believers are the target.”
“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,” he underscored.
Cardinal Tauran concluded his letter by saying that the Catholic community is “spiritually very close to you, dear Friends,” and “asking God to give you renewed spiritual energy” as “we send you our very best wishes for peace and happiness.”
The letter was also signed by the council’s secretary, Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata.