Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) – “We take our distance immediately from the violent words pronounced by Imam Ibrahim Moussa of the Rome Mosque. Those words derive from Islam immigrated into Italy, they are not part of native Italian Islam. Italian mosques should have Italian Imams who are familiar with and understand social and cultural context of the country and who can affirm the universal ecumenical spirit of Islam”, Shaykh ‘Abd al Wahid Pallavicini, president of COREIS (Comunità Religiosa Islamica Italiana) in Milan said to Fides Service. Pallavicini, formerly official representative of Islam interreligious Meeting in Assisi in 1986, is the delegate for the Rome Mosque at the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.
Pallavicini says COREIS intends to promote an Islam “fully compatible with the Italian society and juridical order” and looks with favour on the “pact with Islam” proposed by the Interior Ministry “to refuse all forms of confessional exclusivism, ideological hegemony of Islamist matrix with regard to current policies of foreign states”.
CORREIS instituted in 1993 in Milan, around the figure of Shaykh ‘Abd al Wahid Pallavicini, will manage the mosque being built in Milan to hold about 150 people. Thanks to its excellent relations in the ministerial environment, the Community officially represents Italy at Muslim gatherings organised periodically by the King of Morocco, Al Azhar University in Cairo and the World Muslim League.
In February 1998 COREIS became a member of the national commission for inter-cultural education at the Ministry for Public Education and it organises re-fresher courses for Italian Muslim teachers all over Italy. PA (Fides Service 12/6/2003 EM lines 38 Words: 290)
