(M. Chiara Biagioni, SIR’s correspondent in Brussels/Malines) Great expectations for the meeting that will take place in the Vatican on 4th and 5th November with the 138 authors of the Letter "A common word", because "it is important for the voices in favour of dialogue to be heard in a society in which the professionals of fear and the spreaders of violence and hatred speak a lot and are listened to much more easily". This was said by the imam Azzedine Gaci, director of the Regional Council of the Muslim Cult of the French region of Rhone-Alpes, where many Muslims live. "It is clear adds Gaci during the European Islamo-Christian Conference of Ccee and Kek which is under way in Brussels that in Europe there is renewed interest in inter-religious dialogue, in the encounter of the religious communities. It is absolutely essential for the Christian and Muslim religious leaders to take their responsibilities, make their voices heard and promote a reconciled world". Gaci thinks however that such institutional initiatives then "must have an impact on the grass-root level. What matters in the end is what the imam will say during his Friday preaching in the mosque and what the priest will say at Mass on Sunday. So these institutional meetings are welcome but we must work at grass-root level and build opportunities for Christian and Muslim families to meet and share their life experience on a daily basis".
