Pope receives global goodwill

China, which has long had strained relations with the Vatican in a dispute about authority over Catholics in the country, said it hoped the new leader of the Church would have a more open attitude.

“We hope that under the leadership of the new pope the Vatican will adopt a practical and flexible attitude and create conditions for the improvement of China-Vatican relations,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
Israeli President Shimon Peres welcomed the election of Pope Francis, saying he represented “holy modesty” and inviting him to visit the Holy Land.

“The newly-elected pope represents devotion, the love of God, the love of peace, a holy modesty and a new continent which is now awakening,” Peres said a day after the election of Argentinian cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the first-ever pontiff from Latin America.
“We need, more than ever, a spiritual leadership and not just a political one,” Peres said during talks with Polish Catholic clergy at his Jerusalem residence in remarks relayed by his office.

“Where political leaders may divide, spiritual leaders may unite – unite around a vision, unite around values, unite around a faith that we can make the world a better place to live. May the Lord bless the new pope.” Peres also invited Francis “to pay a visit to the Holy Land at the earliest possibility.”
“He’ll be a welcome guest in the Holy Land, as a man of inspiration that can add to the attempt to bring peace in a stormy area,” said Peres.

The president said relations between the Vatican and Jewish people were “now at their best in the last 2,000 years, and I hope they will grow in content and depth.”
Christian Orthodox Russia, which has also had difficult ties with the Catholic Church, sounded more optimistic.

The Russian Orthodox Church “counts on relations between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches developing in a positive way,” Patriarch Kirill’s office said. President Vladimir Putin said he was “convinced that constructive co-operation between Russia and the Vatican will develop further on the basis of the Christian values that we share.”

Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning, Al-Azhar, congratulated the world’s Catholics but said it wants “better relations” with the Vatican under Francis, the first pope from Latin America and the first from the Jesuit order. Mahmud Azab, adviser for inter-faith affairs to Al-Azhar imam Ahmed al-Tayyeb, told AFP that Al-Azhar “will resume the dialogue with the Vatican which was suspended in early 2011,” as soon as a new policy emerges. – AFP.