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The Prince of Wales has said what needed to be said by a person of his standing on the world stage:
Prince Charles this week spoke again of his ”mounting despair” at the plight of Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities in northern Iraq and Syria.
Concerned at the deterioration of religious tolerance around the world, the heir to the British throne warned that “the very freedom on which society is built is threatened with destruction”.
The prince was speaking in a seven-minute video address for the launch in the House of Lords on Tuesday of the Religious Freedom in the World Report 2014, produced by the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.
In the video the prince praised the report and spoke of his “mounting despair” at the expulsion of Christians, Muslims and Yazidis from parts of northern Iraq by Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
“It is an indescribable tragedy that Christianity is now under such threat in the Middle East … [where] people of different faiths [have been] living together peaceably for centuries,” he said. “It seems to me that our future as a free society – both here in Britain and throughout the world – depends on recognising the crucial role played by people of faith,” he said.
Urging religions to engage in inter-faith dialogue, a process which he said required humility and maturity, the Prince of Wales cited Pope Francis, who in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, said: “Interreligious dialogue is a necessary condition for peace in the world.”
The prince also urged governments to honour their commitment to freedom of religion in the United Nations declaration of human rights, although noted that “even in the West this right is often challenged”.
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Let us not forget to pray to the Lord for the Prince and all of the Royal Family especially H.M. the Queen.
St. Isaac of Nineveh and St. Jacob of Saroug, pray for us.
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