Physical Address
Indirizzo: Via Mario Greco 60, Buttigliera Alta, 10090, Torino, Italy
“Algeria’s policy is an example to follow”
dialogue The Archbishop of Algiers, Jean-Paul Vesco:
Speaking on the subject of interreligious dialogue in Algeria, the Archbishop of Algiers Mr. Jean-Paul Vesco declared that Algeria’s policy on interreligious dialogue is an ”example to follow”. The latter added that the recent meeting at the Vatican between the President of the Republic,
Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Pope Leo XIV “broke down many barriers”.
Still and on the subject of the meeting between the President of the Republic Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Pope Léon, the Archbishop of Algiers said that this meeting was first of all deeply human. She broke down many barriers. Pope Leo XIV knows Algeria well, he came there twice before his election. He has a sincere affection for this country and for its people. As for President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, he has always expressed his respect for the Catholic Church. This respect is fully reciprocal,” said Jean-Paul Vesco in an interview published the day before yesterday by the daily Horizons. Noting that it had been twenty years since any Algerian President had been received at the Vatican, the Archbishop of Algiers described the meeting last July as extremely important and “a strong sign of good relations between the Holy See and Algeria.” For him, these signs have already been “consolidated” during the visit of Mr Gallaghar, (the equivalent of the Pope’s Minister of Foreign Affairs) in October 2022, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two States, stressing that this dynamic “testifies to a real deepening of exchanges”. Asked about the spaces to explore to strengthen interreligious dialogue, Jean-Paul Vesco recalled that Algeria’s policy in this sense is an “example to follow”, stressing that Algeria, a Muslim country, has always reserved a place for minorities, including the Christian minority. The Church has been present in Algeria for a long time with Saint Augustine as an emblematic figure. After independence in 1962, Cardinal Duval encouraged religious to stay to bear witness that it was possible to live together, he said. Responding to a question relating to the rise of Islamophobia in the West and the means to remedy it, the Archbishop of Algiers indicated that this phenomenon “actually exists” and is fueled by “fear, ignorance and community withdrawal”, stressing that “Algeria, by its history and geography, finding itself at the crossroads of the Western world and the Arab-Muslim world, can play a role “bridge”. Addressing the question of colonialism, Jean-Paul Vesco considered that there is “a deep wound of memory linked to colonial history in Algeria”, specifying that “all colonization is violence” and that this violence has not been fully recognized.
Moncef Redha