Free Republic

Catholic Cardinal Kurt Koch, who heads the Vatican’s office for ecumenical relations, said that Christians “have a mission to convert all non-Christian religions’ people,” including Muslims, to Christianity, with the exception of those who follow Judaism because of its unique, familial relationship with Christianity: both religions “have the same roots.” For Muslims, he added, the “Islamic tradition” in terms of the Abrahamic religions “is not the same.” […] “It is very clear that we can speak about three Abrahamic religions, but we cannot deny that the view of Abraham in the Jewish tradition and the Christian tradition and the Islamic...

Vatican's chief ecumenical officer speaks about implications of this weekend's papal visitPope Francis and Ecumencial Patriarch Bartholomew will sign a joint declaration Sunday, confirming the growing relationship between the long-separated Churches of Rome and Constantinople. The Pope's visit comes just six months after he and Bartholomew met in Jerusalem and singed a Joint Declaration about their commitment to the search for Christian unity. Accompanying Pope Francis on the journey to Turkey is the head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, who said in a Vatican Radio interview this week that first of all ithe papal...