The scale of the challenge and the glimmer of new possibilities in interreligious understnading is on display at the 16-18 July international interfaith conference convened in Madrid by the Muslim World League.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus and author Peter Matthiessen are among those who have said they will attend an interfaith climate summit being organized by the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden in Uppsala in November 2008.

Leaders of the World Jewish Congress have endorsed a call by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia for more dialogue between Jews, Christians and Muslims worldwide to reinforce common values among the Abrahamic faiths

The leadership of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) has praised an initiative by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia for a reinforced dialogue between Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, from the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, has said religions should be prepared to ask tough questions. He says it is unrealistic to pretend there is only one global faith.

A small number of fficials from the Vatican and senior Muslims are holding a two-day meeting in Rome this week, with the intention of laying the foundations for a major global Catholic-Islamic exchange later in 2008.