ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL
OF THE MANDAEAN RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY

Friday, 8 June 1990

Dear Friends,

It is with great joy that I welcome Shaykh Abdulla and the other members of the Supreme Council of the Mandaean religious community on this your first visit to the Holy See.

There are many points of contact between your religion and the Christian faith. You believe in the One God, the Creator of all. The high regard which you have for John the Baptist and the honour in which you hold the person of Jesus, the cousin of John the Baptist, is the reason why you are pleased to call us "your cousins".

It is auspicious that your visit comes during the season of Pentecost, when Christians centre their attention in prayer on the Holy Spirit. For in your tradition, as in the Gospel account, when Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit came down upon him in the form of a dove.

I am pleased to learn about the small but thriving community of Mandaeans living in Iraq and other nations. In your closely-knit community you place great emphasis on the family. At the present time, when the family is under threat from so many different quarters, this is a field of cooperation which could be very fruitful.

I am glad that you have been able to have conversations at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, and with other departments of the Roman Curia. I hope that the dialogue which you have begun will continue, and I pray to God that he will bless it with abundant fruit.

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