The second day of His Holiness’ Belgium programme started with a formal reception organised by the Mayor of Huy, Mrs Anne-Marie Lizin, in honour of His Holiness’ fourth visit to Belgium. Thereafter, His Holiness attended a conference “Strategies for Peace and Mutual Understanding” at the Cultural Centre of Huy. The other participants to the conference were Cardinal Godfried Danneels, Rabi Albert Guigui, Mr Coskun Beyazgül, President of the Belgian Muslim Executive, and Mr Philippe Grollet, President of the Centre for Secularism.
At the invitation of the European Commission’s President Mr Jose Manual Barroso, His Holiness attended a dialogue “Fundamental rights and mutual respect” at the EC headquarters. Besides His Holiness, the dialogue was attended by the leaders of the major religious traditions – Christianity, Islam, Judaism and made their presentations in turns. His Holiness spoke at the concluding session of the dialogue in which He appreciated the nature of EU which stands for democracy, human rights and right to self-determination. His Holiness also remarked the importance of visiting the spiritual places of different religious traditions and make the best possible contribution for religious harmony. While promoting religious harmony, His Holiness also emphasized the importance of ecology, as many of the problems the world witnesses today are as a result of negligence in the maintenance of a balanced sustainable environment in this planet. His Holiness said that secular ethics is not a rejection of religious traditions, for promotion of human value, so importance should also be given to the non-believers of a religion.
All the participants paid their utmost attention to His Holiness’ remarks and the EC President Barroso highly appreciated His Holiness’ contribution and thanked for the presence. The EC President was joined by Mr Jan Figel, Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism; Mr Franco Frattini, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security; Mrs Margot Wallstroem, Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Institutional relations and Communication Strategy, and Mr Vladimir Spidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities.
This report edited by Bureau du Tibet, Brussels.
