Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04VATICAN3581
2004-09-17 13:31:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Vatican
Cable title:  

Sant'Egidio Inter-Religious Conference Calls for

Tags:  PREL PHUM SOCI KIRF VT 
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UNCLAS VATICAN 003581 

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPT. FOR EUR/WE: LEVIN; DRL/IRF: INBODEN, HEWETT, ET AL.

E.O. 12958 N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM SOCI KIRF VT
SUBJECT: Sant'Egidio Inter-Religious Conference Calls for
Firmness Against Terror and Dialogue Among Religions

REF: A) 03 Vatican 4289; B) Vatican 3308

-------
Summary
-------

UNCLAS VATICAN 003581

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPT. FOR EUR/WE: LEVIN; DRL/IRF: INBODEN, HEWETT, ET AL.

E.O. 12958 N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM SOCI KIRF VT
SUBJECT: Sant'Egidio Inter-Religious Conference Calls for
Firmness Against Terror and Dialogue Among Religions

REF: A) 03 Vatican 4289; B) Vatican 3308

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (U) The Sant'Egidio Community brought together over
7,000 religious and political leaders September 5-7 in
Milan to promote inter-religious dialogue and understanding
as a means to combat terrorism and build peace. The shadow
of the Beslan massacre hung over the annual gathering,
reinforcing the Pope's call to conference participants to
"withstand the logic of violence, revenge, and hatred, and
persevere in dialogue." Recognizing the religious roots of
terrorism and many international conflicts, religious
leaders addressed their critical role in overcoming the
bitterness and misunderstanding that gives rise to terror
and war. Conference participants repeatedly and strongly
condemned violence in the name of religion, concluding that
those who resort to violence "curse the cause for which
they fight." Significantly, recalling September 11, the
Pope's message to the conference called for "firmness and
resoluteness" in the face of terror. The wide-ranging
meeting also covered Iraq, the Israel-Palestinian Conflict,
HIV/AIDS, and freedom of religion for Catholics in Russia.
Ambassador Nicholson and S/GAC Chief Medical Officer Mark
Dybul both spoke and outlined U.S. efforts to combat
HIV/AIDS and promote development in the developing world,
emphasizing U.S. support for the efforts of faith-based
organizations such as Sant'Egidio. End Summary.

--------------
Promoting Dialogue in the Face of Terror
--------------


2. (U) The Sant'Egidio Community's annual inter-faith
conference brought together over 7,000 representatives of
major world religions, governments, and NGOs to explore
ways that religious leaders can forge inter-religious
understanding and combat religiously rooted terrorism and
violence. Speakers, including the Pope (with a written
message),EU President Romano Prodi, Italian Foreign
Minister Franco Frattini, and Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona
Metzger condemned terrorism and urged both dialogue to
build understanding and action to address cultural, moral,
economic, and political roots of terror. The annual

conference is part of the Sant'Egidio Community's effort to
continue the dialogue launched at the Pope's 1986 World Day
of Prayer for Peace in Assisi and promote a "spirit" of
inter-religious dialogue that John Paul II has worked hard
to advance during his pontificate. The Community, with
40,000 members from 60 countries, is active worldwide in
conflict resolution, HIV/AIDS treatment, and inter-
religious dialogue, and mediated the 1991 Mozambique peace
accord.


3. (U) This year's conference, taking place in the days
after the Beslan tragedy, began with drama when the
Orthodox Russian Bishop of Beslan, Eparch Feofan Ashurkov,
who had been in Beslan during the hostage taking, described
his profound sadness at seeing children's bodies in the
wreckage. Asserting that "only devils masquerading as men
could carry out such deeds," the Eparch said the challenge
now was to stop this tragedy from breeding more of the
same. Society, he said, needed to "save people from
uncontrolled rage." Anthony Lobos, the Catholic Bishop of
Islamabad, caught the mood of the conference when he
asserted: "we cannot have this conference in a vacuum,
intellectually separate from the terrorist acts we are here
to combat."

--------------
Pope Recalls September 11; Calls for Firmness
--------------


4. (U) With the conference occurring on the eve of the
third anniversary of September 11, the Pope in his message
to participants specifically recalled "that terrible
September 11th, 2001 when death reached the very heart of
the United States." Noting that in the three years since,
threats and destruction from terrorism had increased, he
concluded that "the fight against the death-makers
doubtless requires firmness and resoluteness." He also
urged that every effort be made to eradicate the "misery,
the despair, the emptiness of heart" that has led to this
drift toward terror. In an implicit reference to his
opposition to the war in Iraq, the Pope also observed that


"war throws open the doors to the abyss of evil . . .
[which] is why war should always be considered a defeat."
The Pope also emphasized that religions have a critical
role to play in reminding people the world over that peace
is always possible and showing people the way to "eradicate
the seeds of bitterness and misunderstanding embedded in
culture and life." He rejected the attitude that a clash
of civilizations or religions is inevitable, and instead
called for religions to emphasize the "extreme dignity of
every man and woman."


5. (U) The Pope's point man for inter-religious dialogue,
Cardinal Walter Kasper, elaborated the Holy See's thoughts
on the role of believers in disarming terror. Kasper
called for a religious response on three levels: 1)
Recognition that all religions share texts that prohibit
violence, terrorism, and suicide. In this regard, Kasper
pointed out that according to Koranic principles, suicide
attackers should not be venerated as martyrs, but condemned
as criminals; 2) Efforts to make clear to believers of all
faiths that terrorism is a negation of the dignity of man
and an offense to God, and that efforts to justify terror
in the name of God are grave abuses that amount to
profanation; 3) Support for legitimate actions to defeat
terrorism.


6. (U) In explaining this last point, Kasper provided one
of the most detailed public descriptions to date of Vatican
thinking on how to combat terrorism. Because terrorism
today has become a threat to all humanity, he argued, "we
cannot defend the dignity of mankind and the peace only
with pious words; we have to defend them also with
actions." Specifically, he maintained that the fight
against terror required military and policy interventions.
"Democracies must be prepared -- even if it could mean the
loss of human life -- to defend liberty with force." At
the same time, he cautioned that democracies cannot employ
the same methods they condemn in terrorists. This means,
he explained, that we cannot employ torture, cannot launch
preventive wars that abolish the rules of just war, and
cannot use targeted assassinations without a fair process
that precedes them. "The barbarism of terrorism," he
cautioned, "cannot make us turn backward in respect to the
advances of the civilized world and respond with
barbarism." Kasper also called for actions that address
the conditions that favor the expansion of terror, whether
social, economic, or political. Finally, he called on
religions to use all of their spiritual resources to resist
terror by clearly and publicly distancing themselves from
terror, and unmasking the religions faade of terrorists.

--------------
Iraq: U.S. in the Crosshairs
--------------


7. (U) The session on Iraq predictably generated sharp
criticism of the U.S. Although most panelists agreed that
Iraqis were glad to be rid of Saddam Hussein and welcomed
the opportunity to pursue democracy, they also maintained
that Iraqis are growing more suspicious of the U.S.-led
coalition and frustrated by the lack of security.
Auxiliary Bishop of Baghdad Shlemon Warduni said the
continued fighting, lack of essential services, and heavy-
handed behavior of the coalition forces have fueled the
impression that U.S. oil interests -- not concern for the
Iraqi people -- had been behind the invasion. To applause
from the largely European audience he said: "take the black
gold, we don't want it, we want peace, we want a future for
our children." Muhammad Bashar Sharif, spokesperson of the
Sunni Iraqi Council of Ulema, similarly expressed anger at
the U.S. government for describing Iraq as a "crusade," and
concluded, "this is a dirty war," which he said was
"polluted by U.S. unilateralism, exaggeration of a WMD
threat, and oil interests." These statements were echoed
later in a conversation with an Irish Nobel Laureate, who
told PolOff, "of course we all know the war was about oil."


8. (U) Shortcomings of the U.S-led occupation of Iraq
formed a consistent theme, with speakers criticizing the
lack of security and a perceived denial of freedom of
speech and press. Bishop Warduni focused on human rights,
suggesting that the U.S. was denying Iraqis their "human
right to safety and security." Ahmad Al Tayyib, rector of
Al-Azhar University in Egypt, accused U.S. forces of
repressing legitimate Iraqi dissent, and "using the tactics
of terrorists." When an audience member suggested that
under Saddam the panelists would not have been allowed to


speak at an inter-religious conference in Milan, he was cut
short by Vatican Cardinal Moussa Daoud, Prefect of the
Vatican Congregation Eastern Churches. While refraining
from mentioning the U.S. by name, UAE presidential advisor
Ibrahim Ezzedine evoked another round of applause when he
asserted that: "we all know that the occupation is
responsible" for the uprising and violence. Beyond their
complaints about the U.S., panelists had few suggestions or
solutions for ending the violence in Iraq.

--------------
HIV/AIDS
--------------


9. (U) Against the difficulties in Iraq, the panel on
HIV/AIDS helped focus attention on the good news of U.S.
efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Ambassador
Nicholson discussed HIV/AIDS as a moral, political and
economic challenge, emphasizing that "HIV/AIDS and other
health threats such as tuberculosis and malaria are
damaging social cohesion and economic strength, blocking
the very development goals the countries and concerned
members of the international community are seeking to
promote." The Ambassador continued by placing the
administration's efforts to fight AIDS in the context of
broader U.S. humanitarian efforts to prevent hunger, combat
poverty, and promote development. Dr. Mark Dybul, Chief
Medical Officer in the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS
Coordinator, said that by pledging $15 billion over five
years, "no leader or country has shown such extraordinary
leadership and action in the global fight against HIV/AIDS
as President Bush and the American people."


10. (U) Both the Ambassador and Dybul promoted U.S.
humanitarian aid partnerships with faith-based
organizations. As Dybul observed, "the Emergency Plan
cannot succeed in treatment, prevention and care, and in
building local capacity without the faith community." This
linkage tied in with Concepcion Valls' discussion of
Sant'Egidio's DREAM HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment
program in Mozambique. The project, which is indirectly
receiving some U.S. funding and is seeking more, has
provided medical care to 5,000 HIV-positive patients, and
counseling and AIDS tests to 11,000 more. On September 10
Sant'Egidio's DREAM program was awarded the USD 1.6 million
Balzan prize, which will likely fund the full extension of
the program to Malawi and initial stages of expansion to
Nigeria and Tanzania.

--------------
Boosting Relations with Orthodox
--------------


11. (SBU) One of the central fronts of inter-religions
dialogues for the Holy See and Sant'Egidio has been
Catholic relations with the Orthodox world. With an
extensive Orthodox and Vatican presence, much of the
dialogue took place on the margins of the conference.
Cardinal Kasper, who recently returned from a trip to
Moscow to return the Kazan icon (ref b),told the
Ambassador that he had been very pleased with the
atmosphere of his visit. He said he was surprised to be
greeted by a smiling Russian Patriarch Alexei, who embraced
him as a brother. Kasper stated that their traditionally
difficult personal relationship was improving, as was the
broader Catholic-Orthodox relationship. He believed that
"the Orthodox are isolated and need [the Vatican] to reach
Europe." Significantly, Kasper told the Ambassador that
the religious freedom situation for Christians in Russia
was improving: Catholic priests are getting visas, and in
August a second Catholic diocese, Suratov, was given full
legal status by the Russian government.

--------------
A U.N. for Religions in Jerusalem?
--------------


12. (U) One of the more intriguing ideas to emerge from
the conference was a proposal from Israel's Chief Rabbi
Yona Metzger for the establishment of a "United Nations of
Religions" -- a permanent assembly of religious leaders
where representatives of world religions could meet and
make common agreed statements on international
developments. Rabbi Metzger suggested that such an
institution could help demonstrate the common values shared
by different faiths -- particularly the sacredness of every
human life -- and overcome growing perceptions of religious


division. Sant'Egidio's Claudio Betti commented to DCM
that the proposal was doubly significant as it represented
one of the first statements he could recall of a senior
Jewish leader discussing the possibility of Jerusalem
serving as host to "many religions."

--------------
Signs of Thaw in Israel-Palestinian Dialogue
--------------


13. (SBU) One of the Conference sessions that has
traditionally generated the most heated exchanges has been
that between Israeli and Palestinian representatives. "What
New Hope for an Old Conflict," the title of this year's
session, suggested that the parties are recognizing that
they need to rebuild the peace process. Abed Alloun
represented the Palestinian Authority, while Ehud Yaari, an
Israeli television commentator, and Abraham Friedman of the
Herzliya Center represented Israeli points of view.
Sant'Egidio's Betti said it was the most productive
exchange he had seen in recent years between the two
groups. "They didn't fight, and the participants didn't get
emotional," he noted, adding that both sides recognized
that the path of the past few years had led nowhere, and
that the time had come to rethink the way forward.

--------------
Comment
--------------


14. (SBU) Sant'Egidio's success in attracting increasing
numbers of religious and political leaders reflects a
growing recognition of the potentially critical role that
religious leaders can play in defusing sentiments of
religious conflicts that contribute to terrorism and
international and internal conflicts worldwide. What was
new this year, in the face of the Beslan massacre and
continued attacks and kidnappings in Iraq, was the clear
recognition on the part of religious leaders such as
Cardinal Kasper that "pious words" were no longer enough to
meet this threat, and that religious leaders needed to move
to the forefront to unmask terrorists who try to hide
behind a religious faade. Sant'Egidio is clearly in the
forefront of groups working to promote dialogue with the
Muslim world, but they have nevertheless been criticized
both for attracting only moderates to dialogue and for
engaging Muslim leaders who have made statements tolerating
terror. While acknowledging the continuing difficulty in
attracting more hard-line Muslims to participate in
dialogue, Betti defended the outreach to more radical
elements. "These are the people we need to reach. Unless
someone in the West reaches out to them with a voice of
sanity, they will continue to voice this craziness," he
warned. Just as St. Francis talked to the wolf, he said,
the West needs to talk to the radical voices.

NICHOLSON


NNNN

2004VATICA03581 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED