Imam Hassan Qazwini visited Rome and attended a Conference held for five days of Catholic-Muslim talks focused on interfaith strategies for making peace. The conference, entitled “Abrahamic Perspectives on War and Peace”, brought together 50 scholars from around the world from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths.  The focus of this conference was to discuss interfaith strategies for making peace. The conference was sponsored by the American Catholic University and the International Peace Research Institute Center in Oslo, Norway.

Pope Benedict XVI also participated in the conference, at which scholars had the opportunity to meet with him.  Sayid Hassan was invited to meet the Pope at the Vatican during his weekly sermon that he delivers to the Christian congregation gathered in the Vatican. After the Pope finished delivering his speech, he met with Imam Qazwini. Sayid Hassan Al-Qazwini urged Pope Benedict XVI to help promote and encourage Muslim-Christian dialogue.  Imam Qazwini emphasized the significance of such a dialogue by reminding the Pope that Muslims and Catholics comprise more than half the population of the world.  Pope Benedict XVI replied to Imam Qazwini’s request by expressing his desire to encourage such dialogue.