The closing meeting of a “Christian-Muslim Summit” at the National Cathedral in Washington on Wednesday evening was notable for who wasn’t there. The public ceremony ended three days of talks between delegations from the Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches and Sunni and Shia Muslim clerics. The Vatican was represented by Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; the Episcopalians by Rev. John Bryson Chane, bishop of Washington. The Sunnis were led by Ahmad El-Tayeb, a professor from Al-Azhar, the Islamic university in Cairo. Two Jewish figures were included as observers, but did not speak.
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