Cairo— French Cardinal of the Catholic Church Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran, is the President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in the Roman Curia. He was appointed as cardinal in 2003 and was the Cardinal Protodeacon from 2011 to 2014. Cardinal Tauran has served as the President of the Pontifical Council for Interfaith Dialogue since 2007. In this post, he is also in charge of the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims. Prior to that, he was named as Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, overseeing the Vatican Secret Archives and Vatican Library. Last February, Tauran headed the Al-Azhar-Vatican Interfaith Dialogue Council, holding preliminary meetings before the formal resumption of dialogue between the Vatican and Al-Azhar University, which culminated in the historic April 28, 2017 encounter between the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and Pope Francis. for the visit of Pope Francis in April.
Tauran was part of the delegation accompanying Pope Francis during his visit to Egypt last month, April 28. In an exclusive interview for Al-Bawaba News Portal, he confirmed, on the sidelines of the Pope's visit, that the Vatican recognizes the State of Palestine, and that the "Pope of peace" always prays for a swift resolution of the timeworn Arab Israeli conflict, pointing out that the indirect dialogue with ISIS members might be an auspicious start to turn them away from the path of terrorism.
