Beirut, on June 08, 2010

The shepherd of Maronite Diocese in Canada, the Archbishop Youssef Khoury took the initiative to form a delegation for the Christian – Islamic dialogue, in the light of the Canadian Lebanese experience to visit the Vatican, where he made many meetings with the Pope Benoît XVI and a number of executives in the Vatican State.
The delegation included the representative of Dar El Fatwa in the Republic of Lebanon El Sheikh Said Youssef Fawaz, the representative of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council in Canada Mr. Nabil Abbas, the representative of Druze Sheikhdom in Canada El Sheikh Hassan Ezzeddine, also was among the delegation Georges Karam, Sami Aoun, Oussama Husseini, Mohamad Sawan, Nader Abou Chakra, Anwar Abi El Mouna, the informant Ahmad Bilal El Chami and Youssef Said Fawaz.

The delegation went towards Vatican Square to attend the weekly meeting of the Pope with the delegations and visitors coming from around the world. After hearing the homely of the Pope, the delegation shook hands with the Pope given that he welcomed them cordially and exchanged with them friendly words, confirming his big respect of Moslems.

Then, the delegation met the Minister of foreign Affairs and the assistant of Vatican state secretary the Bishop Dominique Mombarti, and they mentioned the Palestinian cause, Jerusalem issue and the Israeli violations that are taking place.
After that, the delegation went to the Lebanese Maronite School in Rome where he was welcomed by the school principal His Eminence Hanaa Alwan, the ambassador of Lebanon in Rome Melhem Mesto and his wife, the ambassador of Lebanon in Vatican Georges Khoury and his wife, Father Tony Gebran representing the Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, and a number of Lebanese Orders Superiors. In the occasion the Maronite school organized a lunch in the honor of the delegation.

The President of Eastern Churches Synod Cardinal Leonardo Sandri received the delegation, and exposed the activities of the Synod and the services it offered to the East Christians, as well as the cooperation and communication taking place with Islamic references. The responsible delegation concerned with the relations between other religions met in Vatican the Cardinal Jean-Louis Toran.

The delegation visited the museum and the church of Saint Peter, the inside of the government building of Vatican, and the external part of Vatican square as well as Rome Big Mosque. The delegation accepted a special invitation to lunch in the house of the Archbishop Joseph Khoury and a general evaluation of the trip was done, resulting in an agreement to form a follow-up committee and to prepare a future working plan to activate and increase the number of participants in this dialogue in order that it will continue in a positive way and build the inside of the immigration culture in Canada.

The Canadian delegation for the Christian – Islamic dialogue in Montreal issued a statement in which it confirmed that “it was agreed between the participants in this first central part to work hard to enlarge the membership and put a time schedule to work in Montreal and in the other remaining Canadian cities in order to stabilize and continue the dialogue.”
He declared that “the members of the delegation confirmed the privacy of the Lebanese coexistence experience, the review of its result and advantages, the overcoming of its disadvantages as well as the importance of giving the Christian – Islamic dialogue inside the Canadian and Quebec democratic civil experience a new force.”

He clarified that they discussed in order to enhance the Lebanese experience for the interaction between the Christians and Moslems that it means in the framework of enhancing the loyalty to the civil state which guarantees the rights of every citizen, in addition to the insistence to enhance the Canadian and Quebec sample, precisely based on the principle of equality in citizenship, individual and collective freedoms, the conscience freedom as well as the right to be different.”