World's religions meet in Rome

By Bruce Johnston in Rome and Luke Coppen AN HISTORIC meeting of the world's major religions ended yesterday with a plea for religions to be a source of peace, rather than a cause of conflict.
The five-day assembly, which drew over 230 participants from 20 faiths and 50 countries, concluded with a joint appearance by the Pope and the Dalai Lama, exiled leader of Tibetan Buddhists.
The participants pledged to co-operate on a wide range of issues, including justice and peace, discrimination against women, AIDS and violent conflict. The meeting was arranged by Cardinal Francis Arinze, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, in cooperation with the Vatican's Jubilee Committee.
Cardinal Arinze was presented with an Interfaith Gold Medallion on the eve of the conference. The award was given by the International Council of Christians and Jews for the Nigerian Cardinal's contribution to understanding between faiths.
Cardinal Arinze said that the assembly was taking place "in the spirit" of the Assisi meeting in1986, when the Pope called together leaders of the world's main religions to pray for peace. He said it was the Vatican's last major interfaith meeting of the century, called in response to the Holy Father's appeal for a meeting of religious leaders in his letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente.
But the cardinal emphasised that the present assembly would not contain "any kind of interreligious prayer, which could bring about insurmountable theological difficulties "and the danger of religious syncretism".
The Pope, he said, "has not stated that all religions are equal, because this would amount to relativism. He has said that all religions must work for peace."
The meeting's objective was rather "to unite religions in sharing responsibility for peace; not trying to resolve all our problems, but in order to send a signal" to the world.
The assembly opened on Monday with a speech by Theresa Ee-Chooi, Malaysian president of the International Catholic Union of the Press. She attacked so-called "footloose" companies, which she said sought "to control the world economy and which do not need to respond to any community or any specific country for what they do".
On Wednesday, the participants made a pilgrimage to Assisi.