RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL LEADERS MUST MEET CHALLENGES TOGETHER

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
19.06.2009 19:09 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ His Holiness Catholicos Aram I of the Armenian
Church-Catholicate of Cilicia took part in the "4th Summit of
religious leaders on the occasion of the G8" on June 16-17, timed to
the forthcoming meeting of the "Great Eight" in Rome, press office
of the Catholicate of Cilicia told to PanARMENIAN.Net. Aram I opened
a summit and after greeting representatives of different religious
confessions held a keynote speech.

"Religious and political leaders must meet together challenges the
humanity faces today, since one-sided approaches cannot guarantee
the long-term solutions to the world problems," Aram I said. Issues
of the global economic crisis and security were discussed at the
summit. Italian prime minister Silvio Berluskoni made an address to
summit participants.

Religious leaders from more than 20 countries gathered in Italy. The
Summit started with a visit to L’Aquila, the central Italian city
severely damaged by an earthquake on April 6. Nearly 130 religious
leaders and diplomats, Catholics, Muslims, Protestants, Orthodox,
Hindus, Anglicans, Zoroastrians, Jews, Shintoists and Buddhists,
held two days of talks. This was the religious leaders’ fourth annual
meeting, following those held in conjunction with earlier G8 summits
in Moscow, Cologne and Sapporo.