(©AFP) MUSLIMS IN PRAYER
The Vatican has published a message to Muslims on the occasion of Ramadan: “There is no life that is more precious than another”
VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
TURIN
“Christians and Muslims: Together to counter violence perpetrated in the name of religion”: this is the title of the message the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue sent to Muslims for the start of Ramadan. The wishes were sent by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council and the secretary, Fr. Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, “with Pope Francis”.
The Vatican underlined the gravity of the crimes committed against some ethnic and religious communities: “For some of you and also for others from other religious communities, the joy of the feast is shadowed by the memory of the dear ones who lost their life or goods, or suffered physically, mentally and even spiritually because of violence. Ethnic and religious communities in a number of countries of the world went through various and enormous unjust sufferings: killing of some of their members, destruction of their religious and cultural heritages, forced emigration from their homes and cities, molestation and raping of their women, enslavement of some of their members, trafficking of persons, commerce of organs, and even selling of cadavers!” “However, what makes them even more heinous” in the Vatican’s eyes, “is the attempt to justify them in the name of religion.”
“Needless to say, those who have the responsibility of security and public order have also the duty to protect their people and their properties from the blind violence of the terrorists. Besides, there is also the responsibility of those who have the task of education: families, schools, curricula, religious leaders, religious discourse, media,” the message reads.
“Violence and terrorism,” the text explains, “are first conceived in the mind of the deviated persons, thereafter perpetrated on the ground. All those are involved in the education of the youth and in the various educational spaces should teach the sacred character of life and the derived dignity of every person, regardless of his or her ethnicity, religion, culture, social position and political choice. There is no life that is more precious than another one because it belongs to a specific race or religion. Therefore, no one can kill. No one can kill in the name of God; this would be a double crime: against God and the very person.”