Pope and Dalai Lama discuss "religious matters"
Vatican City (AsiaNews) The meeting between Pope Benedict XVI and the Dalai Lama was religious in nature. During the talks, the head of the Tibetan Buddhist community told the press afterwards, "we talked about human values, religious harmony and the environment". On such issues the two leaders see eye to eye.
As far as tensions between religions, the Dalai Lama said that a "few people who act badly are not representative of the religion to which they belong."
China was not discussed because "there, there are many Christians who face difficulties because of their faith".
To a question about human rights in China and Tibet the Dalai Lama said that many foreign delegations on visit to Beijing have raised the issue. "They must continue to do so," he added, "irrespective of the answers they get."
As for the Panchen Lama, the second highest leader in Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama said he "had no news about him," adding that "the Panchen is the youngest prisoner of conscience (he is currently 16-year-old) in the world and when we ask for news about him they say he is where he is."
The Tibetan leader said that, when Cardinal Ratzinger was elected to the papacy in April of last year and became Benedict XVI, he hoped to meet him. In his congratulatory message, he said he was looking forward to continuing the dialogue he had begun with John Paul II, waiting "for the honour and the pleasure to meet his Holiness [the new Pope] in the near future in a trip to Europe."
In that statement, he also said :"In my attempts to interact (with other religions) in the last 30 years, we Tibetan Buddhists have developed a special and close affinity with Christianity in general, and Catholics in particular".
He said that he admired John Paul II's efforts to develop better understanding between the faiths and remembered his nine meetings with the Pontiff between 1980 and 2003, including the one in India in 1986 and 'World Prayer for Peace Day' held in Assisi the same year.
The first talks between the Tibetan Buddhist leader and Benedict XVI received the same low-key media coverage as the last one with John Paul III. Not only no journalists were admitted, but it was neither announced beforehand, nor recorded in the Vatican's official news releases. The Vatican Press Office did however confirm that it had taken place as it did the last time the Dalai Lama met a Roman Pontiff.
"It was a short courtesy call whose content was exclusively religious," said on November 27, 2003, then Vatican spokesman Joaquín Navarro-Valls.
"A private meeting, a courtesy call, with a religious content," said today Fr Ciro Benedettini, deputy director of the Vatican Press Office.
A low-key affair that shows how concerned the Vatican is about complicating relations with China, whose regime systematically reacts with extreme aggressiveness to any government or public figure who meets the man Tibetans still consider their leader.
.png)
