TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday offered his condolences over the demise of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, a top Vatican diplomat and expert in interfaith relations who on July 5 died at the age of 75.

In a message to Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states, Zarif expressed deep sorrow over the passing away of Cardinal Tauran, who was also the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (PCID).

“This cultivated person (Tauran), who was one of the scientific and religious figures of ‘the Holy See’, endeavored to create a solidarity between all the followers of monotheistic religions and interfaith dialogue…,” he said, Tasnim reported.

MH/PA