Headlines
Vatican urges dialogue with Islam
Vatican City, April 22
Dialogue is needed
with Islam "now more than ever", the Vatican said on Wednesday,
stressing that most Muslims abhor violent acts perpetrated in the name
of religion.
"Recent events have caused many to ask if there is
still room for dialogue with Muslims," the Vatican's interfaith dialogue
body said in a statement.
"The answer is yes - now more than ever," added the statement.
Recently,
a purported Islamic State (IS) video showed 30 Egyptian Christians
being beheaded and shot in the head on a beach in Libya.
"Sadly,
today, the world 'religion' is often associated with the word
'violence'," the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue stated.
"Killing in the name of a religion is not only offending god but is also a defeat for humanity," it added.
The
massacre of the Egyptian Christians was condemned by Pope Francis on
Monday, who said he learnt of their deaths "with great distress and
sadness".
IS militants beheaded 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in
Libya in February and gunmen from the Somali militant group Al-Shebab
allegedly singled out Christians in an attack in early April that killed
147 people at a university in Kenya.
Pope Francis has issued several statements condemning the targeted massacres of Christians.