H.H. the Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul II

[BluejayWay]

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, left, bids a fawell to Chief Priest Katsuji Toyama of the Meiji Shirne after visiting the Shinto shrine in Tokyo Friday, April 8. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)


TDalai Lama: Carry on pope's legacy of peace



OKYO (AP) — Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, arrived in Japan on Friday urging people to carry on Pope John Paul’s legacy of peace as the world prepares for the late Roman Catholic leader’s funeral. “Firstly, we lost a great human being, a leader of a great religion but also one very good human being,” the Dalai Lama said after arriving at Tokyo’s Narita airport. “Now it is important that we must carry all his messages and guidance with us. We must make every effort to fulfil his wishes,” the Dalai Lama said, listing peace, equality and promotion of spiritual value as qualities the Pope embodied. The Pope’s funeral was to take place later Friday at the Vatican.




http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/20...08/988031.html

[alexa]

BluejayWay are you sure about that link ? I found myself on a Canadian site.

[BluejayWay]

Sorry, I broke my own rule on this one--"always check that a link you've posted works!"


The AP story that I cut and pasted from was posted on that Canadian news site--honest!

Does anyone know--did Pope John Paul II and H.H. the Dalai Lama ever meet?

[alexa]

It's o.k. It happens.

John Paul II travelled a lot and met many people, so why not the Dalai Lama ? But I don't know for sure.

[Kaldayen]

BlueJay,

To answer your question :

from : http://www.tibet.com/DL/biography.html (9 Sept 97)

Contact with West and East
Since 1967, His Holiness initiated a series of journeys which have taken him to some 46 nations. In autumn of 1991, he visited the Baltic States at the invitation of Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis of Lithuania and became the first foreign leader to address the Lithuanian Parliament. His Holiness met with the late Pope Paul VI at the Vatican in 1973. At a press conference in Rome in 1980, he outlined his hopes for the meeting with John Paul II: "We live in a period of great crisis, a period of troubling world developments. It is not possible to find peace in the soul without security and harmony between peoples. For this reason, I look forward with faith and hope to my meeting with the Holy Father; to an exchange of ideas and feelings, and to his suggestions, so as to open the door to a progressive pacification between peoples." His Holiness met Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1980, 1982, 1986, 1988 and 1990. In 1981, His Holiness talked with Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Robert Runcie, and with other leaders of the Anglican Church in London. He also met with leaders of the Roman Catholic and Jewish communities and spoke at an interfaith service held in his honor by the World Congress of Faiths: "I always believe that it is much better to have a variety of religions, a variety of philosophies, rather than one single religion or philosophy. This is necessary because of the different mental dispositions of each human being. Each religion has certain unique ideas or techniques, and learning about them can only enrich one's own faith."

___
Kal

[Kaldayen]

More recent info :

from there : http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=9444&t=1&c=1 (April 02, 2005)

His Holiness has met the pope eight times with the first meeting between the two religious leaders taking place on 9 October 1980. His Holiness last met the pope during the Tibetan leader's visit to Italy in November 2003.

___
Kal

[BluejayWay]

Thank you, Kaldayen--I appreciate the information

[erinthegreat07]

His Holiness, the XIV Dalai Lama met with Pope John Paul II several times through the 80's. He was quoted, "I always believe that it is much better to have a variety of religions, a variety of philosophies, rather than one single religion or philosophy. This is necessary because of different mental dispositions of each human being. Each religion has certain unique ideas or techniques, and learning about them can only enrich one's own faith." He and the Pope mainly spoke about religion and world peace.