（梵蒂冈电台讯）由天主教与伊斯兰教论坛主办在罗马召开的首届座谈会已经于6日圆满结束。会议所发表的最后声明是以“天主是爱”为根基撰写的，内容包含了生命的价值、对抗拒恐怖主义的承诺、以及尊重少数人社团等重要课题。
关于“天主是爱”，对基督信徒来说，“天主是爱”为人爱天主和爱近人的源头和榜样。对伊斯兰教徒来说，爱是一种超性而且不灭的力量，能引导人们互相尊重。爱也是建基在真诚对话上的互相认识的成果。关于这一点，宗座宗教协谈委员会主席托朗枢机见证说：“这几天的天主教徒与伊斯兰教徒座谈会中，双方的对话有了重大的进展，没有混乱，而是极其的坦诚。当一方面努力去认识对方并聆听对方时，便能够得到比同意对方更大的成果，而做到互相交谈、互相认识、互相敬爱。”
声明中指出，真正爱近人，就必须“尊重他和他所做的良心与宗教上的选择。”这包括了个人和整个社团私下与公开参与自己宗教生活的权利。少数人宗教团体的权利应该受到尊重，他们的形象、他们的信仰标志不可被嘲笑。任何宗教都不应该被排除在社会之外，所有的宗教都可以为整个社会做出贡献。
座谈会的最后声明也对人的生命作了肯定。声明说，人的生命“是天主赐给每一个人的宝贵恩典”，应该常常保护它。天主教徒与伊斯兰教徒都受召在信徒间也为全人类作爱与和谐的工具，弃绝所有形式的迫害、暴力侵犯、以及恐怖行动，尤其不可以宗教的名义来从事这类活动。
开辟这条和谐的道路，这次座谈会的成果也将做出贡献。意大利伊斯兰教社团副主席帕拉维奇尼说：“我们在这次座谈会中体会了非凡的经验，尤其是在坦率、诚实、深入的敏性、教义的专行各方面。我们体验了梵蒂冈方面的慷慨接待并对一个新的责任有了更清楚的认知。作为信徒，我们应该以爱神、我们共同的主，为最重要。要想认识这位赐予我们爱的神，最好的方法是认识我们的近人并尊重他。”
天主教与伊斯兰教论坛主办的这第一届座谈会的主题是“爱天主、爱近人”。与会的两个宗教的代表们于6日觐见了教宗本笃十六世。教宗勉励他们说，基督信徒与伊斯兰教徒要一同为保护和促进道德价值而努力。教宗又说，天主的名字必然是和平与友爱，正义与爱。
2007年10月13日，138位伊斯兰教领导人士写了一封有关的信给教宗本笃十六世，教宗于同年11月19日回信给他们，重申以尊重人性尊严为基础的对话的重要。随后，宗座宗教协谈委员会和伊斯兰教人士成立了天主教与伊斯兰教论坛。
以下为天主教和穆斯林团体代表联合声明的英文本：
The Catholic-Muslim Forum was formed by the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and a delegation of the 138 Muslim signatories of the open letter called A Common Word, in the light of the same document and the response of His Holiness Benedict XVI through his Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Its first Seminar was held in Rome from 4-6 November 2008. Twenty-four participants and five advisors from each religion took part in the meeting. The theme of the Seminar was "Love of God, Love of Neighbour".
The discussion, conducted in a warm and convivial spirit, focused on two great themes: "Theological and Spiritual Foundations" and "Human Dignity and Mutual Respect". Points of similarity and of diversity emerged, reflecting the distinctive specific genius of the two religions.
1. For Christians the source and example of love of God and neighbour is the love of Christ for his Father, for humanity and for each person. "God is Love" (1 Jn 4, 16) and “God so loved the world that He gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn 3,16). God’s love is placed in the human heart through the Holy Spirit.
It is God who first loves us thereby enabling us to love Him in return. Love does not harm one's neighbour but rather seeks to do to the other what one would want done to oneself (Cf. 1 Cor 13, 4-7). Love is the foundation and sum of all the commandments (Cf. Gal 5, 14).
Love of neighbour cannot be separated from love of God, because it is an expression of our love for God. This is the new commandment, "Love one another as I have loved you." (Jn 15, 12) Grounded in Christ’s sacrificial love, Christian love is forgiving and excludes no one; it therefore also includes one's enemies. It should be not just words but deeds (Cf. 1 Jn, 4, 18). This is the sign of its genuineness.
For Muslims, as set out in A Common Word, love is a timeless transcendent power which guides and transforms human mutual regard. This love, as indicated by the Holy and Beloved Prophet Muhammad, is prior to the human love for the One True God. A Hadith indicates that God’s loving compassion for humanity is even greater than that of a mother for her child (Muslim, Bab al-Tawba: 21); it therefore exists before and independently of the human response to the One who is ‘The Loving’. So immense is this love and compassion that God has intervened to guide and save humanity in a perfect way many times and in many places, by sending prophets and s criptures. The last of these books, the Qur’an, portrays a world of signs, a marvellous cosmos of Divine artistry, which calls forth our utter love and devotion, so that ‘those who have faith, have most love of God’ (2:165), and ‘those that believe, and do good works, the Merciful shall engender love among them.’ (19:96) In a Hadith we read that ‘Not one of you has faith until he loves for his neighbour what he loves for himself’ (Bukhari, Bab al-Iman: 13).
