To mark the end of Ramadan, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, President of the German Bishops’ Conference, dedicated his traditional annual greeting to the Islamic community, in which he expressed his view on the building of mosques. “I think it… important to repeat once again that the Catholic Church expressly recognises the right to religious freedom”. That “goes for Christians just as it does for Muslims, for those who believe in other religions and also for those who don’t believe”. This universal right “also includes the right of Muslims to build appropriate mosques in the areas where they are living”. The building plans for them, however, must be “tackled in the long term and prepared by proper discussions with the residents and the authorities”, with a “constructive exchange of views, based on mutual esteem, in which the problems linked to the choice of a suitable site and questions concerning architectural characteristics are also openly discussed”. It is indispensable to this end to continue the Christian-Muslim dialogue which “is of extraordinary importance” and is based on the presupposition of recognizing and accepting each other “as persons created by God and as the bearers of the same inalienable dignity of human beings and of universal human rights”.
