90th Birthday Celebration

Thekchen Chöling, Dharamsala, HP, India - This morning, His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote to His Holiness Pope Leo XIV extending his warmest greetings to him on his election to leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. “I am very happy to have met several of your predecessors and enjoyed friendly conversations with them,” he wrote. “Over more than four decades, I have also participated in meaningful exchanges with representatives of different religious traditions.”

Thekchen Chöling, Dharamsala, HP, India

“I am very happy to have met several of your predecessors and enjoyed friendly conversations with them,” he wrote. “Over more than four decades, I have also participated in meaningful exchanges with representatives of different religious traditions, my Christian brothers and sisters among them. With a firm belief in the oneness of humanity,

I consider promoting inter-religious harmony to be one of the principal commitments of my own life. Indeed, I was very moved to have taken part in the major inter-faith meeting organized by Pope John Paul II in Assisi in 1986.

“In a period when the world is witnessing so many challenges, your election brings new hope not just to the Catholic community, but to people everywhere who are seeking a happier life in a more compassionate, peaceful world.”

His Holiness concluded his letter with his prayers and good wishes.