Washington D.C., Mar 5, 2008 / 20:38 pm
Sikh leaders have been excluded from an upcoming interfaith meeting with Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the United States because their ceremonial daggers were forbidden by the Secret Service, the Washington Times reports.
The April 17 meeting is scheduled to take place at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center near Catholic University in Washington. The meeting originally included Sikhs along with Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist guests. A list released on Tuesday by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops substituted followers of another India-based religion, the Jains, in place of the Sikhs.
Ten to 15 Sikhs were to attend the papal meeting. Most of them were veterans of a Catholic-Sikh dialogue begun in 2006.
Sikh leaders say that the Secret Service had forbidden them to wear the “kirpan,” a dagger that all Sikhs are required to wear. Sikhs have compared its importance to their faith with the Orthodox Jewish requirement that men wear a yarmulke.