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Date: April 21, 2005
Location: Tampa, Florida, U. S. A.
The Hindu American Foundation
(HAF) (www.hinduamericanfoundation.org)
greeted the election of Cardinal Ratzinger to the papacy with
a degree of caution and concern. While HAF congratulated the
Roman Catholic Church on electing a new leader, many members
expressed apprehension over some of the most influential and
widely quoted statements given by Cardinal Ratzinger prior
to his papal election.
As head of the Congregation
for the Doctrine of Faith, Cardinal Ratzinger was the primary
impetus behind the Vatican document Dominus Jesus,
released in 2000. This document is uncompromising in its declaration
of the Roman Catholic religion as the only true path to salvation
and describes other religions, including other Christian denominations,
as “gravely deficient” and misguided pursuits.
HAF noted with strong concern
that the authors of Dominus Jesus called for a new
evangelism while disparaging pluralism as "indifferentism"
and "relativism." In a widely quoted interview given
in 1997, it was Cardinal Ratzinger who outraged many people
when he denigrated Hinduism as a religion of “false
hope” that guaranteed salvation based on a “morally
cruel” concept of reincarnation resembling a “continuous
circle of hell” and Buddhism as “autoerotic spirituality.”
“While we felicitate
Pope Benedict XVI as he assumes the leadership of Roman Catholics
throughout the world,” said Mihir Meghani, M.D., President
of HAF, “We sincerely hope that the pope will reconsider
his prior unfortunate reflections on other faiths that are
followed by billions throughout the world, specifically his
unequivocal rejection of religious pluralism — a concept
central to the Hindu ethos.”
The new Pope Benedict XVI
was a close confidant of the late Pope John Paul II. HAF members
were hopeful, that though Pope John Paul II had issued an
unfortunate call for the “harvest of souls” to
Christianity in India in 1999, the new pope would further
the spirit of Pope John Paul II’s statement in Colombo,
Sri Lanka on January 21, 1995: “Interreligious dialogue
is a precious means by which the followers of the various
religions discover shared points of contact in the spiritual
life, while acknowledging the differences which exist between
them. The church respects the freedom of individuals to seek
the truth and to embrace it according to the dictates of conscience,
and in this light she firmly rejects proselytism and the use
of unethical means to gain conversions.”
HAF called on the new papacy
to consider seriously the global repercussions that occur
when religious institutions exert claims of an exclusive hold
on truth. “Much conflict and suffering results when
religious leaders or traditions claim a monopoly on Truth
while denigrating other faiths,” said Pawan Deshpande,
member of the HAF Executive Council. “It is difficult
to uphold world peace and the brotherhood of all human beings
if our religions divide us into hostile camps of believers
and non-believers. As Hindus, we ask that Pope Benedict XVI
lead his Church to an enduring relationship with Hinduism
predicated on mutual respect and the precepts of understanding,
tolerance and pluralism.”
For further
information: Please contact
HAF.
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