Vatican City - Top Muslim, Jewish and Druse religious leaders in Israel have met with Pope Benedict XVI for the first time and said they reject all violence in God’s name.
The delegation from the Council of Religious Leaders in Israel also called Thursday for authorities to guarantee access to holy sites for all the region’s believers.
The council was established in 2007 in Jerusalem to bring together Christian, Muslim and Jewish representatives to promote peace and interfaith cooperation in the Holy Land.
Israeli chief rabbi Yonah Metzger praised the “historic” nature of the audience with the German-born pope and noted that it fell on the anniversary of the Kristallnacht, or “Night of the Broken Glass,” the Nazi’s 1938 anti-Jewish pogrom.
