Madrid, Apr 19 (EFE).- Cardinal Carlos Osoro has participated this Tuesday in a breaking of the fast at the Islamic Cultural Center of Madrid, known as the M30 Mosque, the first time that this has happened with an archbishop of Madrid who has described the experience as «wonderful» and «a great example of interreligious dialogue.»
Madrid, Apr 19 (EFE).- Cardinal Carlos Osoro has participated this Tuesday in a breaking of the fast at the Islamic Cultural Center of Madrid, known as the M30 Mosque, the first time that this has happened with an archbishop of Madrid who has described the experience as «wonderful» and «a great example of interreligious dialogue.»
Osoro, Archbishop of Madrid and Vice President of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, has shared an interreligious iftar precisely in the last week of Ramadan, the most important of the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, together with the director of the Islamic Cultural Center of Madrid, Hussam Khoja, and the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE), Isaac Benzaquén.
In statements to EFE, Osoro has been «delighted» by the invitation received, noting that it is «a great example of interreligious dialogue» and describing the experience as «wonderful.»
In his welcome, Hussam Khoja stressed that this pioneering initiative of the institution is in line with the objective of the Islamic World League, to which the Islamic Cultural Center of Madrid belongs, of «opening up more to brothers of other religions», right «at the most important time for Muslims».
Osoro and the rest of the participants visited the prayer hall, the largest in Spain and the second in Europe after Rome, which shortly after was packed with faithful who came for tarawih, a daily nightly Ramadan prayer.
There, the cardinal was interested in how the Muslim community lives this month and in its most important aspects, listening to the message that the center’s authorities have sent him: «There are more things that unite us than separate us.»
The cardinal, accompanied by Francisco Conesa and Rafael Vázquez, president and secretary of the subcommittee on ecumenism and interreligious dialogue of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE), participated after breaking the fast by drinking milk and eating Saudi dates because, as he said the director of the center, «we need some energy» after 14 hours of fasting.
And after the Muslim authorities were absent for a few minutes to comply with the mandatory prayer, Osoro, Benzaquen and the rest of the guests shared an iftar in the center, but not before highlighting the milestone that this year has coincided in time Week Holy, Ramadan and Pesach (Passover). EFE