Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis' invitation of to promote "mutual respect through education" is "of vital importance" in India, where the local Church has sought to bear witness through thousands of schools and educational facilities open to students of every religious background, said Mgr Felix Machado, president of the Office for Dialogue and Ecumenism of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), as he commented the papal message at the end of Ramadan.
"The Church in India," the prelate said, "runs about 20,000 educational facilities: schools (15,000), colleges (300), nursing schools (125), hospitals and clinics (5,000), rehabilitation centres (2,000), technical institutes (1500), university hospitals (6) and two universities. Such places are the cradle of interreligious dialogue in which our Muslims are treated with dignity and respect. Many schools also have prayer rooms at their disposal."
In his message Pope Francis said, "we have to bring up our young people to think and speak respectfully of other religions and their followers, and to avoid ridiculing or denigrating their convictions and practices."
These "are the values we teach in our schools," Mgr Machado said. "Religious freedom is a vital aspect of the educational process; so is the transmission of the values of equality, justice and peace."
In expressing his best wishes "to our Muslim brothers in India, in Asia and in the world" for the feast of Id al-Fitr, which ends the holy month of Islam, the bishop pleaded for release of Fr Paolo Dall'Oglio.
The Italian Jesuit, who has worked for the restoration of Mar Musa Catholic monastery in Syria since 1982, went missing on 30 July and is thought to be in the hands of jihadist groups.
