JUNE 12, 2016, Vol 66, No 12

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SINGAPORE $0.70 CENTS / WEST MALAYSIA RM$2.10

SUNDAY JUNE 12, 2016

MCI (P) 009/08/2015

PPS 201/04/2013 (022940)

‘The meeting is the message,’ pope tells grand imam Pope Francis meets top Sunni Muslim leader VATICAN CITY Âą $IWHU Âż YH \HDUV of tension and top-level silence, Pope Francis and the grand imam of one of the most important Sunni Muslim universities in the world embraced at the Vatican on May 23. “The meeting is the message,â€? the pope told Ahmad el-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar University, as the religious scholar approached him just inside the door of the papal library. El-Tayeb’s spring visit was WKH Âż UVW PHHWLQJ EHWZHHQ D SRQWLII and a grand imam since the Muslim university in Cairo suspended talks in 2011. Established in 1998, the formal dialogue between al-Azhar and the Vatican started to fray in 2006, after now-retired Pope Benedict XVI gave a speech in Regensburg, Germany. Al-Azhar RIÂż FLDOV DQG PLOOLRQV RI 0XVOLPV around the world said the speech linked Islam to violence. Al-Azhar halted the talks altogether in 2011 after the former pope had said Christians in the Middle East were facing persecution. AlAzhar claimed that Pope Benedict had offended Islam and Muslims once more by focusing only on the suffering of Christians when many Muslims were suffering as well. In February this year, Bishop Miguel Ayuso Guixot, secretary RI WKH 3RQWLÂż FDO &RXQFLO IRU ,Q terreligious Dialogue, delivered a letter to el-Tayeb from Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, council president, inviting him to the Vatican to meet the pope. Cardinal Tauran and Bishop Ayuso welcomed the imam to the Vatican on May 23 and accompanied him to the papal meeting. Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the pope spoke privately with el-Tayeb for 25 minutes and the conversation included a discussion about

VOL 66

NO. 12

INSIDE HOME Celebrating vocation anniversaries Married couples, priests honoured

Pope Francis greets Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of Egypt’s al-Azhar University, during a private meeting at the Vatican on May 23. CNS photo

„ Page 2

ASIA On women deacons Cautious response from Indonesian Catholics „ Page 7

Church leader challenges Duterte Asks him to reveal ‘sins of churchmen’ „ Page 8

ÂłWKH JUHDW VLJQLÂż FDQFH RI WKLV Our Common Home and a peace new encounter within the scope medallion depicting an olive tree of dialogue between the Catholic holding together two pieces of a Church and Islam.â€? fractured rock. “They then dwelled upon the In an interview after the papal common commeeting, el-Tayeb mitment of the said the “circumThe conversation authorities and stancesâ€? that led the faithful of the included a discussion his institution to great religions for halt the dialogue about ‘the great world peace, the with the Vatican VLJQLÂż FDQFH RI WKLV “no longer exist,â€? rejection of violence and terror- new encounter within so the Vatican and ism [and] the situthe university can WKH VFRSH RI GLDORJXH “continue our holy ation of Christians in the context of between the Catholic mission, which is FRQĂ€ LFWV DQG WHQ the mission of reChurch and Islam. sions in the Midligions: ‘to make – Vatican spokesman people dle East as well as joyful their protection,â€? everywhere,’â€? by Fr Lombardi said in a statement. teaching them about God. At the end of the audience, Meeting Pope Francis, “the Pope Francis presented the grand Âż UVW LPSUHVVLRQ ZKLFK ZDV YHU\ imam with two gifts: a copy of his strong, is that this man is a man encyclical Laudato Si, on Care for of peace, a man who follows the

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teaching of Christianity, which is a religion of love and peace,� the imam told Vatican Radio and L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. Religious leaders today, he said, have a “heavy and grave� responsibility to teach people the true path to happiness and peace. Al-Azhar, as a reference point for many Sunni Muslims around the world, is engaged in an ongoing programme to clarify the meaning of classical Islamic texts and make clear to Muslims, including schoolchildren, that groups claiming to base their violent actions on Islam are promoting “a deviant understanding� of the faith. “Islam and Christianity have nothing to do with those who kill, and we asked the West not to confuse this deviant and misled group with Muslims,� the imam said. „ CNS

HK’s super long bread loaf Aim: to raise funds for elderly „ Page 10

POPE FRANCIS Pope to YouTubers: Help wipe out bullying, aggression „ Page 12

FOCUS Serving migrants in region Jesuit Refugee Service S’pore plays its part „ Page 17


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