Great mosque of Paris Pope “meeting” between Christians and Muslims

The rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, Chems-Eddine Hafiz, was received this Monday, February 10 in Rome by Pope Francis. On this occasion, he proposed to the Sovereign Pontiff a “meeting for fraternity” between Christians and Muslims.

This event would be placed under the “high patronage” of Pope Francis to mark “the friendship of Christians and Muslims in Europe”. He could “be imagined in Paris this year 2025,” said the representative of the second religion of France in a letter.

This meeting could “refer to the name of Saint Augustine, a figure of convergence between the lands of East and West” and register “in the spirit of the inter-religious meetings of Assisi initiated on October 27, 1986” by Pope John Paul II, he said.

While recalling the “exceptional work of Catholics and their representatives”, the rector of the great mosque regretted that “in Europe, the fraternity between Christians and Muslims” is “threatened by indifference, dehumanization, the fear of the other and the next day. »»