The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, today called on Christians and Muslims to break down the fences of mistrust and contempt and urged them to "respect each other".
This message comes at a time when radical Islamists are endangering many Christians in the world, and Muslims are often mistreated in the West.
In a text addressed to "Muslims everywhere in the world" whom he called "dear friends", the pope called for "reflection", to "encourage mutual respect through education" and called on believers of the two faiths to "avoid unjustified and slanderous criticism" of others
For the end of the month of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, the Pope personally signed the annual message of the Vatican Council for Interfaith Dialogue, headed by French Cardinal Jean-Louis Toran.
"This year I decided to personally sign this traditional message, as an expression of respect and friendship for all Muslims, especially their religious leaders," the pope wrote.
Only Pope John Paul II did that in 1991.
In a text addressed to "Muslims everywhere in the world" whom he called "dear friends", Pope Francis called for "reflection", to "encourage mutual respect through education" and called on believers of the two faiths to "avoid unjustified and slanderous criticism" of others.
Cardinal Toran said that this was a completely personal initiative of the Pope and that the Pope wanted to show the respect he has for the Islamic faithful.
"In this context, he himself wanted to show that interfaith dialogue, especially with Islam, is one of the priorities of his pontificate," the French cardinal added.
For Islamic believers, the most important and holiest month of the Islamic faith - Ramadan - began on July 9, during which fasting is obligatory, which means complete abstinence from food, drink, bodily pleasures and, in general, from sin, from dawn to sunset.
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