ASIA/INDIA - LEADERS OF HINDU MOVEMENT REACH OUT TO CHRISTIANS ANXIOUS TO BUILD BROTHERHOOD AND UNIVERSAL FAMILY, REMOVING BARRIERS WHICH DIVIDE HUMANITY

Friday, 2 May 2003

New Delhi (Fides Service) – Not only tension between Hindus and Catholics in India. Although in some states there are still attacks on Christians and Christian institutions by extremist Hindu groups, there are many groups and associations as well as large bands of the population will disposed towards Catholics and who try to develop good relations.
We received recent news from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue of positive relations between Hindus and Christians in India. It is reported that on Good Friday this year, April 17, in various Catholic parishes, with great respect Hindus, mostly members of the Swadhyaya movement which has more than 2 million followers, joined Catholics for the moving and silent pray of adoration of the Cross.
Moreover Hindu leaders addressed an Easter message to Catholics in India, in which they say: “Good Friday is the day of holy memory of Jesus Christ, Incarnation of God. The Divine Messenger of God showed selfless love for the whole world. Today, as shadows of decadence, hostility and fear gather over the earth, the life of as great a soul as Jesus Christ, is a source of light for all humanity so that it may move in the direction of reciprocal love and forgiveness”.
The message recalls that Pandurang Shastru Athavale, founder of the Swadhyaya movement, always considered Jesus Christ as “an icon of the love and grace of God not only for Christians but for all humanity”. This is why the present leader, Didi offers homage to Jesus Christ in order to “establish brotherhood and a universal family, removing the barriers that divide humanity”. (Fides Service 2/5/2003 EM lines 29 Words: 300)


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