Back in September, Jordan’s Prince El Hassan bin Talal
was at the Vatican on the same day as Shimon Peres, the former
president of Israel. President Peres was there to pitch his idea of
a United Religions. This would operate like the United Nations but
would be a gathering of religions instead of states. El Hassan bin
Talal was the Pope's next appointment. The topic probably did not
change much and was most likely centered around interfaith.
The Jordanian prince will be making a
return visit to the Vatican in December to discuss interfaith –
what else? This meeting he thinks should focus on international
citizenship. Global citizenship, global religion, sounds like Global
Babylon.
Jordan’s Prince El Hassan bin Talal to return to Vatican for interfaith talks
(Vatican Radio) Jordan’s Prince El
Hassan bin Talal will be coming to the Vatican in December with a
delegation of Muslim leaders to discuss initiatives in interfaith
dialogue. In Part II of a two part interview with Vatican Radio, he
said he thinks “the next meeting should focus on international
citizenship.” That’s something, he noted, which can mean
different things to people in the West and to people in the Middle
East. “After all,” he says, “if you can be a German and a
Bavarian and a European, why can’t you be an Arab and a Baghdadi
and an Iraqi?”
If the theme of international
citizenship is indeed taken up at the meeting under the auspices of
the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, participants are
likely to reexamine the Middle East’s Catholic Bishops’ call for
equal citizenship for the region’s Christians – an appeal
launched at their 2010 Synod in the Vatican.
Asked if it is possible for Christians
in the region to aspire to equal rights and to full religious
freedom, including one’s right to change his or her religion, the
Prince said, “if we cannot implement these justifiable hopes then
we have no future.”
He reflected, “we all talk about
‘internet’ – what about the ‘inner-net’ of building a new
understanding of the rights and responsibilities of men and women?
There, I think it’s a question of creating citizenship for a
region.” If a region “so prosperous with trillions of dollars”
had the will, he added, “to recognize the importance of regional
stabilization,” it “would encourage addressing all of these
issues.” Alas, he lamented, cyclical wars have prevented this from
happening.
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