Illustration: Iftar at the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey
Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue’s Message of Good Wishes
to Muslims around the world for Ramadan
from
Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad (Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue )
has sent message of good wishes to Muslims around the world.
Dear Muslim brothers and sisters,
I am pleased to address you on this occasion during the month of Ramadan,
which culminates in the Feast of the Breaking of the Fast, or Eid al-Fitr.This important annual observance gives me the opportunity to express my closeness, solidarity and respect for you, believers in God.
“God is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has also spoken to humanity” (Second Vatican Council, Declaration Nostra Aetate, October 28, 1965, 3).
This year, through a providential convergence of calendars, Christians are observing this period of fasting and devotion alongside you, during Lent, the holy season that leads the Church toward Easter.
During this spiritually intense period, we strive to follow God’s will more faithfully.
This shared journey allows us to acknowledge our inherent fragility and confront the trials weighing upon our hearts.
When we suffer trials — whether personal, familial or institutional —
we often believe that understanding their causes will reveal a clear path forward.
Yet we frequently discover that the complexity of these situations exceeds our strength.
In an age marked by an overload of information, narratives and competing viewpoints, our discernment can become clouded, and our suffering even more acute.
At such moments, a question naturally arises: how can we find a way forward?
From a purely human perspective, the answer may appear elusive, leaving us with a sense of helplessness.
It is precisely at that time when the temptation to yield to despair or violence can emerge.
Despair may seem like an honest response to a broken world, and violence may seem like a shortcut to justice that bypasses the patience required by faith.
However, neither is ever an acceptable path for believers.
A true believer keeps his or her gaze fixed on God, the invisible Light, the Almighty, the Most Merciful, the only Just One — who “rules the peoples with fairness” (Psalm 96:10).
Such a believer strives, with all his or her strength, to live according to God’s commandments, because in God alone are found the hope of the world to come and the peace so deeply desired by every human heart.
Indeed, we — Christians, Muslims, and all people of good will — are called to imagine and to open new paths by which life may be renewed.
This renewal is made possible through a creativity nourished by prayer, the discipline of fasting that clears our inner vision, and concrete acts of charity.
As the Apostle Paul exhorts us, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
Dear Muslim brothers and sisters,
Especially those of you who are struggling or suffering in body or spirit because of your thirst for justice, equality, dignity and freedom: please know that I am spiritually close to you, and that the Catholic Church stands in solidarity with you.
We are united not only by our shared experience of trials, and by our sacred task of restoring peace to our broken world.
As Francis wrote in his encyclical Fratelli Tutti on October 3, 2020, “We are truly all in the same boat.”
Peace is my fervent wish for each of you, for your families, and the nations in which you live.
This peace is not illusory or utopian, but rather, it is born from the “disarmament of heart, mind, and life,” as Pope Leo XIV emphasized in his message for the 59th World Day of Peace on January 1, 2026.
Such peace is a gift received from God nurtured by defusing hostility through dialogue, practicing justice, and cherishing forgiveness.
During this shared season of Ramadan and Lent, may our inner transformation be the catalyst for a renewed world, where t courageous peace replaces the weapons of war.
I pray that the Almighty fills each of you with His merciful love and divine consolation, given these sentiments.
From the Vatican, 17 February 2026
Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue
Msgr. Indunil J.K. Kodithuwakku, Secretary, of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue
