Cardinal calls for more thrust on inter-religious dialogue
Jun 28, 2006
Cardinal Ivan Dias, archbishop of Mumbai, who takes on a coveted office in the Vatican today, stressed that the health, educational and social projects of the Catholic Church in India had "no ulterior motives of conversions".
(Indo-Asian News Service, 27 June, 2006) MUMBAI: Addressing a huge gathering at a grand farewell ceremony in Mumbai on Sunday night, the prelate said there was need for more thrust on inter-religious dialogue among people of diverse religious traditions to share ideas, experiences and to undertake common action for communal amity.
Cardinal Dias has been appointed the 37th Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, a crucial Vatican department, in the first such appointment of an Indian cardinal.
The authority of the Vatican department to be headed by Cardinal Dias extends to over five continents, with over 2,400 archbishops and bishops under his charge for various works of the church. He is known as the "Red Pope" due to the extraordinary authority and influence he would wield.
He stressed on the relief and rehabilitation work done in Raigad district of Konkan region and the over 100 houses handed over to tribal victims rendered homeless by the monsoon deluge there by the Catholic Church last year.
The prelate said it is his dream that Indians would "progress and flourish in human, humane and spiritual virtues".
"I have a dream that India may have an abundance of not only of political parties and politicians but above all, of statesmen and women, who will place the well-being of the whole nation before their personal, party and petty interests," said the cardinal.
"The politicians should be ever alert and ready to combat the three evils of communalism, casteism and corruption, which pose a constant threat to our beloved Bharat Mata (Mother India).
"I have a dream that politicians should be known for their noble intentions and selfless love for the poor and the marginalised. They should be outstanding in moral integrity.
"I have a dream that the thirsting India’s teeming millions should seek to be led ‘from untruth to truth, from darkness to light, and from death to immortality," he said quoting from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
Cardinal Dias is fluent in 18 languages.
"I have a dream that the wonderful megapolis of Mumbai and the whole of the Indian subcontinent may progress and flourish in human, humane and spiritual virtues," he said.
"Cardinal Dias gave a fresh impetus for inter-religious dialogue to bring about not only religious harmony but a deep appreciation of the other faiths," said Kala Acharya, director of K J Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskrit Peetham.
"He is a staunch defender of human rights and freedom of religious freedom," Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes, secretary general of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, the top body of 210 Indian bishops, said.
"He is one of India’s distinguished and prominent Catholic prelates, who challenged the political leadership to respect the lives of the unborn, the infirm and the unwanted," said Father Anthony Charanghat, editor of 157-year-old The Examiner weekly.
"In the stormy seas of moral and ethical turmoil, Cardinal Dias was fearless to be in the forefront against issues like abortion, euthanasia, contraception, illicit relationships and unethical scientific human engineering," he added.
In 1961, as a young priest, Dias was sent to Rome to study at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy for Vatican Diplomats. Since then, it has been a steady rise for him in the Vatican’s inner circle in various capacities, including as a high profile ambassador to various European, African and Asian countries during the reign of the charismatic and globe trotting Polish Pope John Paul II.
Known for his orthodoxy and as a staunch advocate of the traditional doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Dias is very close to Pope Benedict XVI and the inner coterie of the Vatican regime.
Cardinal calls for more thrust on inter-religious dialogue