The Pros and Cons of Inter-faith Dialogue

"Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, spoke of the benefits and the necessity of dialogue at the opening of the academic year of the Pontifical Theological Faculty of Southern Italy, reported L'Osservatore Romano today. 'Falling into syncretism' is the risk the cardinal warned against, though he said this danger is relative if believers use their reason to go deeper in their faith and can thus defend it. In that case, the risk becomes a grace, because 'it puts believers in a permanent state of spiritual vigilance and obliges them to be consistent and to witness.' The Vatican official acknowledged that interreligious dialogue can be particularly challenging for Christians because 'it presents the problem of how to reconcile our faith in Christ as sole mediator with appreciation for the positive values we find in other religions.' " For more on this Read Zenit.org.