Interfaith dialogue is of the utmost priority for world peace, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said in an interview for Kathpress before leaving Vienna for Bahrain.
Together with 200 religious leaders and research scientists, the cardinal took part in the two-day “Bahrain Forum for Dialogue” at the invitation of the President of the Supreme Council for Islamic affairs, Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Khalifa, from 3-5 November.
All religions had three fundamental things in common, Schönborn recalled. They shared a common source, had a relation to transcendence and a common responsibility for justice and peace.
“Different cultures and different languages are, in the final instance, only a differentiation within one family”, Schönborn pointed out. Pope Francis had emphasised this in Fratelli tutti, his third encyclical, he recalled, but it had already been underlined in 1937 by Pope Pius XI in his encyclical “Mit brennender Sorge”, in which the Pope had sharply criticised all forms of racism.
All religions moreover related to transcendence which created a broad base for dialogue. And thirdly, they also had a common responsibility for peace and justice. “The idea that we will all finally have to take responsibility for our actions” was common to all religions, Schönborn recalled.
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With thanks to The Tablet and Christa Pongratz-Lippitt, where this article originally appeared.
