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Viewing cable 10VATICAN31, VATICAN-AFFILIATED CONFERENCE REVIEWS CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
10VATICAN31 2010-02-26 15:24 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Vatican
VZCZCXRO4414
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHROV #0031 0571524
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 261524Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY VATICAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1263
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0109
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0088
RUEHROV/AMEMBASSY VATICAN 1303
UNCLAS VATICAN 000031 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL KIRF IZ IS VT
SUBJECT: VATICAN-AFFILIATED CONFERENCE REVIEWS CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM 
COEXISTENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST 
 
REF: 09 VATICAN 95 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  Political, academic and religious leaders 
from the Middle East presented their views on Christian-Muslim 
coexistence in the region at a conference organized by the 
Vatican-affiliated Community of Sant'Egidio on February 22 in 
Rome.  The conference addressed, among other topics, the future 
of Christians in Iraq, inter-religious dialogue and 
globalization, and the role of the media in helping Arab 
audiences connect with the non-Arab world.  Conference 
participants repeated some tired arguments and did not break new 
ground on avenues for coexistence, but did discuss some new 
themes.  The conference also provided insights about ongoing 
challenges to getting the U.S. story out.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
2.  (U) In one of the panels, Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk 
lamented the exodus of Christians from Iraq.  He complained that 
the Iraqi Christian population, which has gone from an estimated 
800,000 before the war to an estimated 300,000 currently, often 
face a hostile environment.  If the situation does not change, 
he said, all Iraqi Christians may decide to emigrate.  Sako did 
not think that the March Iraqi parliamentary elections would 
change things much, but was encouraging all Christians to 
exercise their right to vote.  He opposed, however, mixing party 
politics with Christianity.  Religion, he said, is not an 
appropriate foundation for a political party or nation-state. 
 
 
 
3.  (U) Lebanese Minister of Culture Tarek Mitri spoke about the 
importance of inter-religious dialogue to increase intercultural 
understanding.  He said globalization has helped the Middle East 
substantially by fostering the growth of a middle class. 
However, globalization can lead to anxiety as flows of negative 
information increase worldwide.  Mitri stated that many Arab 
Muslims fear the takeover of their culture by the West and often 
link local Christians with Western values.  He stated that these 
fears are exacerbated by the presence of Israel in the region. 
 
 
 
4.  (U) Mhamed Krichen, from the Al Jazeera satellite TV 
station, spoke about the importance of information flowing into 
the Middle East.  Many in the West mistakenly assume that Al 
Jazeera covers only news that relates to anti-Islamic 
prejudices, he said.  Krichen used the Haitian crisis as an 
example of a disaster widely covered by the network.  The story 
helped Arab audiences step back from their preoccupation about 
how non-Muslims view Islamic culture. 
 
 
 
5. (U) Radwan Al Sayyid, from the As-Sharq Al-Awast media group 
of Lebanon, dismissed the notion that journalists should pay as 
much attention to nation-building efforts as to bombings, 
killings, terrorism, etc.  In places like Iraq, he claimed, 
reporting about U.S. nation-building efforts would amount to 
propaganda. 
 
 
 
5.  (SBU) Comment:  The Community of Sant'Egidio -- and other 
organizations at, and affiliated with, the Vatican -- continues 
to organize frequent inter-religious encounters.  They're 
needed.  The topic of this conference was "uniting factors 
present within monotheistic religions" - but it still brought to 
the fore many differences.  Several presenters repeated 
hackneyed (and occasionally implicit anti-American) arguments. 
Jewish leaders were excluded purposefully to focus specifically 
on Christian-Muslim relations.  Yet, speakers mentioned Israel 
many times in pejorative ways - generally linking Israel to the 
West.  Many more encounters, plus inter-faith action to address 
common concerns, will clearly be needed to chip away at such 
reflexive views.  More constructively, however, this conference 
did deliver some diversity of themes for an inter-religious 
dialogue gathering.  The emphasis on Haiti, for example, was 
salutary as it reminded the audience of the need for unity in 
confronting terrible tragedy.  This was the same theme 
Sant'Egidio covered in fall 2009 at its flagship annual event, 
held last year in Poland, where it took thousands of 
participants of all faiths together to visit Auschwitz and 
Birkenau (reftel). 
 
DIAZ