Promoting Peaceful Coexistence and Common Citizenship

[ 6 ] — INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE FOR PEACE — our Holiness, Mr. Secretary General, Distin- guished Participants — first of all, I would like to express to the Secretary General of KAICIID the government of Spain’s deepest appreciation of the efforts that he is making in the develop- ment and direction of the Centre’s activities.The government of Spain also wishes to highlight the important commitment of Saudi Arabia who envisioned this project and to thank His Majesty, King Salman of Saudi Arabia, for his support of this Centre. Thank you also to Austria for hosting the initiative and to the Holy See as founding observer. The international community is now facing significant challenges. Globalization has brought a number of positive advantages, but it has also brought tensions through cultural and religious differences. Violent extremism and terrorism cannot and shouldnot be linked to any one religion, nationality, civilization, or ethnic group.This is not a clash of civilizations. It is a confrontation between civilization and barbarism. This phenomenon cannot be confused with Islam. The majority of the victims of the extremist groups are peaceful Muslims — Islammeans peace. Faced with such a situation, the international community cannot remain silent. The gov- ernment of Spain praises KAICIID for launching, in 2014, the pioneering initiative: United Against Violence in the Name of Religion, and for the relevant programmes and projects that have been implemented. The presence of high ranking religious leaders at this meeting is proof of their commitment to peace and the ending of violence. We need more interreligious dialogue. Religion is perceived by some as the origin of tensions. These perceptions misconceive the root causes of the problems, which are political or social but not religious. Religion is not the problem. On the contrary, it can contribute to the solu- tion— religion can be a peacebuilder and a peacemaker. We need platforms of religious leaders in favour of peace, espe- cially in conflict areas where action is urgent, and we need networks of local religious leaders who can reach diverse audiences, fostering peaceful coexistence. In this respect, KAICIID’s initiative of the regional dia- logue platform for religious leaders and institutions in the Y HE Belén Alfaro established, has worked to promote peace worldwide and to respect all human values, based upon our religion of Islam, which is the religion of science, ethics, and peace. Thanks to the support of King Salman Bin Addulaziz, our kingdom is moving forward by promoting tolerance and peaceful coexistence, based upon common citizenship as well as promoting human initiatives, which are aimed at disseminating peace and the spread of interreligious dia- logue without discrimination. Within this framework, we have been, and will continue to work on, increasing interna- tional efforts to prevent intervention in the affairs of other countries or attempts to destabilize them. We shall continue to do this until we eradicate all forms of extremism. For this purpose, we are participating effectively in initiatives, through the King Abdulaziz Centre for Charity, designed to meet the needs of all victims of wars and natural disasters. Distinguished Assembly — it is my honour to seize the opportunity to express the gratitude of my kingdom to the Republic of Austria for hosting this gathering and for host- ing KAICIID here in Vienna. Thanks are also extended to the Kingdom of Spain for its fruitful cooperation. Thanks to KAICIID, which has been able to translate noble visions into concrete actions. Additional thanks to our success- ful partners, the Vatican, and all religious and faith based organizations that have supported this noble mission and assumed full responsibility in order to promote common citizenship and peaceful coexistence. Finally, we look forward to achieving the objectives of this gathering, to create new approaches through the advance- ment of technology in order to endorse and strengthen peaceful coexistence and to be able to promote a human values-based system. Speech given on behalf of HE Ildefonso Castro, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Spain