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VATICAN CITY - Retired Pope Benedict XVI said dialogue with other religions is no substitute for spreading the Gospel to non-Christian cultures, and warned against relativistic ideas of religious truth as "lethal to faith." He also said the true motivation for missionary work is not to increase the church's size but to share the joy of knowing Christ. The retired pope's words appeared in written remarks to faculty members and students at Rome's Pontifical Urbanian University, which belongs to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Archbishop Georg Ganswein, prefect of the papal household and personal secretary to retired Pope...

SHAKEN, if not humbled by the destruction of old Catholic churches in the provinces of Cebu and Bohol after a powerful 7.2 quake hit Central Visayas last Tuesday, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle on Friday apologized for the sins of the Church against non-Catholics and even the poor. Tagle made his apology on the last day of the Philippine Conference on New Evangelization (PCNE) at the University of Santo Tomas, a 3-day event that sought to rekindle the Catholic faith. “In memory of Blessed Pope John Paul II and his collaborators before the year 2000, including Pope Emeritus Benedict...

(Vatican Radio) The death of several hundred migrants off the Italian island of Lampedusa this month has focused international spotlight on the broader, complex questions of EU policies regarding immigration and integration. According to one American Muslim leader, the United States model of integration has much to teach European countries at the present time. Syrian-born Imam Mohamad Bashar Arafat is founder and president of the Civilizations Exchange and Cooperation Foundation, which is based in Baltimore, in the United States. The organisation works to promote cooperation, rather than confrontation, between young people of different religions, cultures and backgrounds. He spoke to...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis, like Islam's Sufi mystic theologians and poets, "is trying to do good for the sake of the Good One, motivated by love and compassion," said the president of the Islamic Affairs Council of Maryland. Mohamad Bashar Arafat, a Syrian who has lived in the United States for more than 20 years, was visiting the Vatican and speaking to groups in Rome in early October as a guest of the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See as part of the U.S. State Department's international speakers program. In an interview with Catholic News Service, Arafat said...

Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton has written a pastoral letter urging Catholics in his diocese to reach out to Muslims. In the letter he quoted from the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on non-Christian religions, Nostra Aetate, which said: “The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions.” Bishop Conry wrote: “These words and sentiments are very important for our time, when latent suspicions and hostility can easily be brought to the surface again by tragic events like the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich.” He continued: “I am writing this on the...

Every bishop is called to be “a servant of communion” working tirelessly to overcome divisions so that differences become a treasure and not a source of conflict, Pope Francis has said. The Christian community should be “like a great mosaic in which every small piece joins with others as part of God’s one great plan”, the Pope said yesterdat as he celebrated the feast of Ss Peter and Paul and bestowed the pallium on 34 archbishops from 19 countries. snip Pope Francis said that when he gave the archbishops their palliums as a sign of communion, it was not a...

Israel is the center of the world “in so many ways,” the archbishop of Canterbury said Thursday in Jerusalem. He stressed Israel’s legitimacy and right to security, and also spoke, in the context of persecution of Christians by Islamists in the Middle East, about the Christian imperative to “love our enemies.” It was his maiden visit to the region since being appointed to one of the highest positions in the Protestant Church. The Most Reverend Justin Welby, who has a Jewish father, is the leader of the Church of England and of 80 million Anglicans worldwide. He was enthroned in...

(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...

An interfaith gathering in London to pray for peace has been pronounced a welcome first by the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. The event, held at Westminster Cathedral Hall on 13 June, was the highlight of a four-day visit by the cardinal, who told The Tablet that the gathering was uniquely British and "beautiful". The London gathering was inspired by the Day of Prayer for Peace convened by Pope John Paul II in 1986 at Assisi. Representatives of nine religions delivered prayers and reflections in their own tradition, then placed a pot of white...

Pope John Paul II encouraged inter-religious dialogue as a "sure basis for peace," as he met on May 15 in a private audience with the members of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, who were gathered in Rome for their plenary meeting. The Holy Father told the members that-- as they mark the 40th anniversary of the Pontifical Council's establishment-- that their work was a product of "the atmosphere of unity and hope that marked Vatican II so clearly." He predicted that the “coming years will see the Church even more committed to respond to the great challenges of...

Not In Our Name and the World Wide Terrorism WebBy Michael TremoglieFrontPageMagazine.com | March 19, 2003 In the run-up to this war, Not In Our Name became one of the major “peace” organizers and coalitions in the United States. Not In Our Name has spared no cost purchasing ads in newspapers around the world to publish its anti-American Statement of Conscience.  Its signatories include scores of Hate America bigwigs, like Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Gloria Steinem and Barbara Kingsolver.  Hollywood icons (and many more has-beens) like Danny Glover, Jessica Lange, Tyne Daly, Martin Sheen and Ed Harris have...

Although this Catholic Update often focuses on the two partners in an interchurch marriage, it is a valuable tool for all of us—family members, friends and fellow parishioners—as we reach out to support them in their faith journey. Many Catholics married to persons of other Christian denominations feel left out of parish activities because they don't fit the profile of the "normal" Catholic marriage. This Update can remind the whole Catholic community of the vital role interchurch couples can play in the working toward full unity of those whose common bond is Jesus Christ. That these marriages succeed is the...