A "Council of sages, of the exponents of the most important religions, to be set up at the general secretariat of the United Nations, in New York (Council for Religions)": they talked about that in Moscow today, during a meeting between the secretary general of UNO, Ban Ki-moon, at his second day of official visit to the capital of the Russian Federation, and the highest representatives of several religious faiths. The meeting took place before the meeting of the UNO secretary and Patriarch Alexius II. SIR was told about that by Apostolic Nuncio Msgr. Antonio Mennini, who took part in the meeting. Metropolitan Kirill from the Moscow patriarchate, the Grand Mufti of Azerbaijan, and the leader of the Lutheran Church, Huber, participated in the meeting, too. "However, owing to the short times in which the meeting was decided commented Nuncio Mennini, it was not possible for some exponents to take part in it, such as the Grand Rabbi of Israel and some exponents of the Protestant Churches, who nevertheless sent a message of adhesion". Msgr. Mennini talked about "a frank and friendly meeting, which acknowledged the contributions which religions may pay to dialogue and peoples’ pacification"; however, he did not hide that "a long path has still to be followed". (To be continued)” “
