Muslim clerics rally in Dhaka against Islamist extremism ?
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About 100,000 Muslim clerics and preachers rallied in the Bangladeshi capital on Thursday denouncing the growing threat of Islamic terrorism in the country. The rally at Dhaka’s national memorial was marking the 42nd anniversary of the Islamic Foundation, an organization associated with the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Organizers said the April 6 rally was staged to protest a violent "power grab" in the name of Islam in Muslim majority Bangladesh, where a rise in Islamist extremism has sparked international concern. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and senior clerics from Saudi Arabia addressed the gathering urging Muslims to fight extremism. The rally followed recent attacks by terrorists in the northeastern city of Sylhet and near Dhaka. Many, including last year’s attack on an upmarket cafe in Dhaka in which 22 people including 18 foreign hostages were killed, have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.&lr...
About 100,000 Muslim clerics and preachers rallied in the Bangladeshi capital on Thursday denouncing the growing threat of Islamic terrorism in the country. The rally at Dhaka’s national memorial was marking the 42nd anniversary of the Islamic Foundation, an organization associated with the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Organizers said the April 6 rally was staged to protest a violent "power grab" in the name of Islam in Muslim majority Bangladesh, where a rise in Islamist extremism has sparked international concern.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and senior clerics from Saudi Arabia addressed the gathering urging Muslims to fight extremism. The rally followed recent attacks by terrorists in the northeastern city of Sylhet and near Dhaka. Many, including last year’s attack on an upmarket cafe in Dhaka in which 22 people including 18 foreign hostages were killed, have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.
Hasina urged all Islamic countries to join hands to launch a concerted campaign to eliminate terrorism, saying, “Islam has nothing to do with terrorism.” “Islam is a religion of peace and does not support the killing of people.” She reiterated her solidarity with Saudi Arabia, saying " We will work together so that no one can undermine our holy religion.” She went on to bemoan that “Muslims are being killed by Muslims,” noting that arms manufacturers are the first to benefit from terrorism at the cost of Muslim blood. “Bangladesh is a Muslim majority nation, but people of other religions are living here in peace and harmony, which is the true spirit of the Islam,” she said.
“The killing of innocent people is a terrible sin in Islam,” said Saudi cleric Mohammad Bin Nasser Bin Mohammad Al Khuzaim of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque. “Islam never allows a Muslim to kill another Muslim, or an innocent person of any other religion. In Islam, it is the duty of a Muslim to protect the lives and property of the people of other religion in his country,” he said. Abdulmehsin bin Mohammad Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Qasim of the Prophet’s Mosque stressed that “Islam is a religion of peace.” “It teaches us to respect others,” he said.
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Pope Francis shared a stage with Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on May 12, 2023, to speak at a two-day conference on "The General State of the Birth Rate," held at Conciliazione Auditorium close to the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNARome Newsroom, May 2, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).The Vatican announced on Thursday that Pope Francis will speak at an event on Italy's demographic crisis as the country's birth rate sits at a historic low.Pope Francis will address "The General State of the Birth Rate" conference on May 10 at the Conciliazione Auditorium close to the Vatican.The two-day event organized by the Forum of Family Associations and the Foundation for Births seeks to address the 50 years of steady decline in births across Europe, and especially in Italy, and what can be done to reverse it. Births in Italy dropped to a historic low in 2023. Italy's national statistics bureau recorded 379,000 births last year, a 3.6% decline from 2022 and a 34.2% drop from 200...
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God "is our peace" and "prayer leads us to meet him," said the archbishop of Bogotá, Cardinal Luis José Rueda Aparicio. / Credit: Colombian Bishops Conference / ScreenshotACI Prensa Staff, May 2, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).The Colombian Bishops' Conference (CEC by its Spanish acronym) has called on all Catholics to join on May 3, Day of the Holy Cross, in a day of prayer for peace and reconciliation in the country."The call is made directly by the bishops and is based on recognizing the serious humanitarian crisis that multiple territories face amid armed conflict and other types of violence, as well as the complex sociopolitical panorama that the nation is experiencing today, permeated by division and polarization," the CEC announced on its website.Since Pope Francis' visit to Colombia in September 2017 and his meeting with victims of the armed conflict, the Church in that country has established a National Day of Prayer for Reconciliation and Peace to be celebrated every May...