Hawzah News Agency- Hujjat al-Islam Mohammad Hossein Mokhtari, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Vatican, met with Francesco Di Nito, the ambassador of Italy in the Vatican on Saturday, January 20.

The ambassador of Iran considered the problem of present world to be the lack of mutual recognition, especially among the followers of religions, and added,” Everyone should sit down and talk, away from violence; Divine religions provide a dialogue based on logical and rational principles and standards.”

Emphasizing that we have a duty to live a peaceful life by following the instructions of the divine prophets, he noted,” the approximation between religions is an academic and scientific work.”

Pointing out that what is happening in present world, including war and violence, is the result of ignorance and arrogance, he reminded,” Our duty is to create a basis for holding scientific and religious meetings between Christian and Muslim scholars, including Shia, so that they can have a dialogue with one another.”

He added,” The elite of the seminary should also be in contact with the Vatican, and it is necessary to increase the scientific communication of academics with the seminaries and universities of Iran.”

The ambassador of Iran noted,” It is essential to develop relations between Iran and the Vatican, and seventy years have passed since the beginning of relations between these two countries. We seek to expand these relations, and Iran's high officials welcome this issue, and the Pope and the Vatican are very important to us.”

He went on to say,” Scholars of Qom should come to the Vatican, and the Cardinals and Bishops of the Vatican visit Qom in order to have meetings with each other so that both sides are able to get to know each other's religious foundations, more contacts can be established in the field of interfaith dialogue and topics of interest to the parties. And we request His Excellency, as the Italian ambassador in the Vatican, to provide facilities for the exchange between religious scholars from both sides.”

In this meeting, while welcoming the development of inter-religious dialogue, the Italian ambassador considered this issue essential in getting to know the parties and added,” The Pope and the Vatican authorities will certainly welcome this issue and you can even have good exchanges with the Vatican universities in this area. The Italian embassy is also ready to cooperate in this regard.”