President Goodluck Jonathan Saturday at the Vatican conferred with
Pope Francis on the promotion of inter-faith dialogue in Nigeria and
other parts of the world to foster greater global peace and security.
Speaking to journalists after his private meeting with Pope Francis,
President Jonathan noted that the promotion of inter-faith dialogue was
a cause to which the Pontiff was very committed.
The President who said that his administration was already working in
close collaboration with Cardinal John Onaiyekan who was “the team
leader” for the effort to strengthen inter-faith dialogue in
Nigeria, assured the Pope of his administration’s continued commitment
to the promotion of religious harmony and the peaceful co-existence of
people of all faiths.
“My coming to see the Pope was to discuss issues, especially that of inter-faith dialogue which the Vatican has been promoting.
“Also the Pope has been advocating that the world should do more to
eradicate poverty and make sure that the ordinary people of this world
are in a position to live more decent lives. The Pope is very dedicated
to poverty alleviation and I also interfaced with him on how we can
collaborate more with the Vatican on what we are already doing in this
regard back home,” the President said.