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(Vatican Radio) The Islamic-Catholic Liaison Committee held its 19th Meeting in Rome, on June 18th and 19th, presided over for the Catholic side by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and presided over for the Muslim side by Prof. Hamid bin Ahmad Al-¬Rifaie, President of the International Islamic Forum for Dialogue. The theme of the meeting was ‘Believers confronting materialism and secularism in society’ and at the conclusion of the meeting the Catholic and Muslim delegations agreed upon the following six points: 1) Christianity and Islam affirm the inseparability and complementarity between the material and...

VATICAN CITY — After a season of apparent policy slip-ups, Pope Benedict XVI is shuffling top advisers and bringing in veteran diplomats closely identified with Vatican policy in Iraq and the Middle East. On Monday, Benedict restored an office that specializes in relations with Muslims, a year after he was criticized for disbanding it. He appointed French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's foreign affairs chief from 1990 to 2003, as president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, raising the office's profile. Tauran was one of the strongest Vatican opponents of U.S. plans to invade Iraq, saying a unilateral military...