Catholic World News News Feature

Italian cardinal addresses Israeli Knesset June 22, 2004

Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, archbishop of Milan, was received in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, on Monday, where he asked the representatives to step back from their current hardline positions in order to rediscover the path to dialog with the Palestinian people. It was the first time that an Italian cardinal had been received officially by the Israeli representatives.

"The complex reality cannot be simplified by the dreams of those who want peace. But the parties to this conflict must have the capacity on each side to reverse themselves, to move in the direction of dialog and reconciliation. To accomplish this, it is necessary to be more humble, more courageous, and wiser," the cardinal told the assembled representatives.

Cardinal Tettamanzi was in Jerusalem to take part in the "paths to peace" framework promoted by the Ecumenical Council of the Christian Churches of Milan (created in 1998 by the now-retired Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini). The cardinal also told the representatives, "In these past few days, I have encountered much suffering, but also many small experiences of peace and of reconciliation." He concluded, "It is imperative for us all to build peace in the world."

This same message of peace was repeated on Monday morning to the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah, by Gioacchino Pistone, president of the Ecumenical Council of Milan. The cardinal was not able to visit the Palestinian territory himself, because he was meeting at that time with the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, Kevork Khazoumian.