Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni is in Barcelona to take part in the 14th Italian-Spanish Dialogue Forum. The issue of combating terrorism, while also protecting religious minorities, was the focus of his discussion with his Spanish colleague, Jose’ Garcia Margallo.
“Total alarm for religious minorities”
There is a state of “total alarm” over what is happening throughout the world to religious minorities in general and Christians in particular, said Gentiloni. “There are communities”, he continued, “like the Yazidis in Iraq, that risk being eliminated altogether”. To defend religious minorities, “actions that are symbolic but also concrete” are needed, he added.
From Barcelona, Minister Gentiloni will travel to Nairobi for a short visit, one week on from the bloody attack at Garissa University that saw the deaths of 148 people, most of them Christian students. Gentiloni will meet the Kenyan Foreign Minister, Amina Mohamed, and the following day will have a discussion with Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi.
