The president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue says that the letter contains “new elements” and is “a positive signal” to be taken up.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The Vatican will “certainly” respond to the open letter to Christian leaders, foremost to Pope Benedict XVI,  signed by 138 Muslim scholars, this according to Card Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.

“We shall certainly respond,” he said in an interview to Vatican Radio, “because it is a positive signal sent to Christians. As I have said before there are some new elements. For example, when they mention Jesus they quote the New Testament, not the Qur’an. The text itself is not polemical and contains many positive aspects.”

“There is a willingness to collaborate on peace through religion,” the prelate added. “The letter says that Muslims and Christians represent 55 per cent of the world’s population and this has great potential to contribute to peace in the world. The positive elements in this message must be taken up.”

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