Interreligious dialogue is not a compromise of Catholic identity but a necessary path forward in a divided and darkening world, said Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, the new prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue. Otherwise, we take the opinion of other people and think that they are like that — we already give a label. At the same time, it was also one of the first major international missions under the new Holy Father. “It was a surprise for me that there was interest to meet — not me as a person, but their interest in the Catholic Church and in the Holy Father,” he said. “When conflicts and other problems are happening, those who are suffering are the poor, women, and children,” he said.