August 2009

Vatican's PCID President Visits Rissho Kosei-kai

The president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID), Jean-Louis Pierre Cardinal Tauran, visited Rissho Kosei-kai in Tokyo on August 3 and conferred with Rev. Yasutaka Watanabe, chair of Rissho Kosei-kai's board of trustees, and Rev. Keishi Miyamoto, secretary-general of the Japanese Committee of the World Conference of Religions for Peace. Also present from the Roman Catholic Church were Archbishop Alberto Bottari de Castello, the apostolic nuncio to Japan; Msgr. Andrew Thanya-anan Vissanu, under-secretary of the PCID; and the Most Rev. Paul Yoshinao Otsuka, bishop of Kyoto. Rev. Kosho Niwano, president-designate of Rissho Kosei-kai, was also present.

On behalf of President Nichiko Niwano, who was in the United States for celebrations of Rissho Kosei-kai's 50th anniversary of dissemination in America, Rev. Watanabe welcomed the Roman Catholic leaders and expressed gratitude for the longtime exchanges between the Vatican and Rissho Kosei-kai. Cardinal Tauran was visiting Japan for the first time, and Rissho Kosei-kai was the first non-Catholic religious organization he visited in Japan. Speaking about the importance of religion's contributions to peace, he called for further cooperation between the Vatican and Rissho Kosei-kai on work for world peace.

Rev. Miyamoto expressed gratitude for the support and cooperation of Roman Catholic leaders at the Vatican and in Japan for the activities of Religions for Peace Japan. He declared his firm belief that interreligious cooperation will illuminate the path to world peace.

Cardinal Tauran emphasized the importance of religious education and interreligious dialogue at the grass roots, at home and in schools.