PRESS STATEMENT

My dear Muslim brothers and sisters,
I am filled with great joy as I offer you our most cherished and esteemed heartfelt greetings of congratulations as you conclude the month of Ramadan and so celebrate the feast of Eid al-Fitr.

Being an occasion that officially breaks and thus closes the period of Ramadan fast, you and your loved ones feast and rejoice and offer thanks to the Almighty for the blessings bestowed on humanity.

In his very first Eid al-Fitr message which he personally signed, Pope Francis maintains that “I am aware that family and social dimensions enjoy a particular prominence for Muslims during this period, and it is worth noting that there are certain parallels in each of these areas with Christian faith and practice.” Recognizing the full significance of this, permit me to say therefore that we are a family. And as your Christian brothers and sisters, we are part and parcel of whatever you celebrate especially in a period such as this.

Consequently, we all are aware that our society today faces very serious and dangerous challenges that threaten our peaceful co-existence and solidarity. As believers in the one Almighty God, we must therefore place all hands on deck to jointly work towards eradicating these dangers especially those of insecurity, corruption in public life, wrong attitude to work or to the good of the country, and discrimination towards people because of their ethnic background, religion or sex. Working to put an end to these can help us achieve our desired goal with regards to the question of human dignity.

Moved by the values we share as Christians and Muslims and bound by our sentiments of sincere and authentic fraternity therefore, I invite us to work together to build the bridges of peace and reconciliation in our country so that justice and respect for the rights and dignity of every person will be ensured and preserved.

We all know that working together is the only and surest way for achieving this. I am therefore hopeful that we shall make this our project.

Once again, I send you my friendly best wishes during this great period of thanksgiving. Eid Mubarak!