Serious and honest inter-faith dialogue was the need of the hour, acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed pointed out in a statement in Nevada (USA), and added that Pope Benedict, being the leader of the largest religious organisation of the world, should be the one to initiate it by inviting leaders of major world religions and denominations to the Vatican.

The Pope reportedly said during his Jerusalem visit that "The particular contribution of religions to the quest for peace lies primarily in the wholehearted, united search for God."

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that religion is the most powerful, complex and far reaching force in our society, so we must take it seriously. The statesman further said that this proposed meeting of religious world leaders should take place after intensive deliberations, with a concrete plan about common religious concerns, such as human improvement, peace, ecological responsibility, social and economic development, etc in mind. Maybe this gathering could become an annual feature after that, he added.

Zed argued that in our shared pursuit for the truth, we could learn from one another and thus could arrive nearer to the truth. He said that this dialogue might help us vanquish the stereotypes, prejudices, caricatures, etc passed on to us from previous generations. “Dialogue has brought us reciprocal enrichment, so we should be spiritually richer than before the contact,” he said.

His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, heads the Roman Catholic Church, which is the largest of the Christian denominations. Hinduism, the oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents, and moksha, (liberation) is its ultimate goal.