Tehran, February 6, The Iran Project – In a meeting with visiting delegation of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, a senior cleric expresses Iran's readiness to enhance ties with the Vatican religious body, voicing concern over the situation of Syrian refugees in Europe.

Ayatollah Seyyed Hashem Hosseini Boushehri, who heads Iran’s seminaries, made the remarks during the meeting with Peter K. A. Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. During the talks, Ayatollah Bushehri noted Iranian seminaries' willing to enhance ties with the Christian religious authority, expressing deep concern over the situation of Syrian refugees in Europe and particularly over the plenty of children who went missing there.

He went on to say that corruption, cruelty, and anti-religious approaches are the common worries of both sides, criticizing the unreal portrayal of Islam in the West and adding that Iran can represent real image of Islam and Shia clerics through interaction and communication with Vatican.

"We condemn the measures of those who kill the innocents under the name of Islam," he underlined, saying that setting on fire the holy Quran by some Christians only spread pessimism and enmities among the believers in the world.

He also introduced the extremism, as the common challenge ahead of Islam and Christianity, once again expressing Iran's readiness to investigate the bilateral talks' conclusion through diplomatic ways.