Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop Emeritus of Bombay, has called on India and Pakistan to find a path to enduring peace, amid tensions over the Kashmir region.
By Vatican News
As a ceasefire between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region continues to hold, the Archbishop Emeritus of Bombay has appealed to both sides to find a full and definitive agreement.
Tensions soared recently after militants carried out a terrorist attack in Kashmir on April 22, killing 26 civilians.
Both sides launched retaliatory attacks for four days until a ceasefire was agreed on May 10.
The next day, Pope Leo XIV welcomed the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, expressing hopes that “a lasting accord may soon be reached.”
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop Emeritus of Bombay, joined his voice to the Pope’s appeal, saying “it is time for peace.”
“It is time to put an end to ancient resentments,” he told the Vatican’s Fides news agency. “Ours is a heartfelt appeal for peace in Kashmir. We hope for a full and definitive agreement, which would be important not only for India and Pakistan but for peace in the world.”
File photo of Cardinal Oswald Gracias at the Holy See Press Office
Cardinal Gracias said Pakistan and India share a common heritage.
“We are brothers—same culture, traditions, thoughts, and feelings,” he said. “All the more reason to sit down face to face and try to address, through dialogue, the knot of the Kashmir region, which has caused us suffering since the time of independence.”
The dispute in Kashmir, added the Indian Cardinal, is “an ancient territorial dispute that has caused wars, mourning, and suffering.”
He warned about the two nuclear-armed nations descending into prolonged conflict, saying such a war could have devastating effects on the world.
Cardinal Gracias invited the international community to organize mediation and “an urgent diplomatic effort, one perceived by both parties as neutral.”
“Today,” he said, “it is the duty of leaders to abandon religious nationalism and promote peace with realism. This is our hope.”
