Cardinal Kurt Koch, who leads ecumenical relations for the Vatican, made the comments at an interfaith meeting in the United Kingdom, the Catholic Herald reported.

Cardinal Koch also said that Christians should not try and convert Jews and should view Judaism as a "mother".

"We have a mission to convert all non-Christian religions' people [except] Judaism," he said.

He reportedly added that this extended to jihadis responsible for persecuting Christians in the Middle East.

The cardinal said Christianity and Judaism shared a special relationship.

"It is very clear that we can speak about three Abrahamic religions, but we cannot deny that the view of Abraham in Jewish and the Christian tradition and the Islamic tradition is not the same," he said.

"In this sense we have only with Jewish people this unique relationship that we do not have with Islam."

On Monday, Pope Francis held a 25-minute meeting with Ahmad el-Tayeb, the grand imam of al-Azhar University in Cairo.

This was the first meeting between a Pontiff and the grand imam since the university suspended formal dialogue in 2011.

The university took exception to what it called Pope Benedict XVI's focus on Christian suffering in the Middle East when many Muslims were suffering too.

This was on top of Benedict's 2006 Regensburg speech which many saw as linking Islam with violence.

On Monday, Pope Francis sat to the side of his desk facing the grand imam rather than behind his desk as he customarily does when meeting with a visiting head of state.

Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, said the conversation between the two included a discussion about "the great significance of this new encounter within the scope of dialogue between the Catholic Church and Islam".

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• Express
• The Tablet
• Image: Catholic Herald

Cardinal Kurt Koch told a German Catholic website that Francis lays more emphasis than Benedict XVI did on strengthening ecumenical relationships through joint prayer, activities and encounters.

The reason for this is the Francis's "realistic view that theological dialogue alone will not get us any further", the cardinal said, according to a report in The Tablet.

Friendly relationships were an essential condition for even beginning to discuss difficult theological questions, Cardinal Koch said.

The Pope wanted an evangelising Church that would take the Gospel message out into the world and he "wants us [Christians] to do everything together that we can do together".

Asked if ecumenism had the same high priority for Pope Francis as it had had for his predecessors, Cardinal Koch replied, "Ecumenism has the highest priority for Pope Francis as it has had for all popes since the [Second Vatican] Council.

"Perhaps Pope Francis approaches it with a slightly different emphasis.

"He continually underlines that we cannot wait until we are one [Church].

"We must work together now; we must walk along the same path, bear the same witness and pray together.

"Sisterliness and friendship between the different Christian Churches and church communities as well as bearing witness are very high priorities for Pope Francis."

Cardinal Koch said that an important development appears to be the improving climate for dialogue with Pentecostal churches.

"There were those among the Pentecostals and Evangelicals who were pretty prejudiced against the Catholic Church and the papacy," he recalled.

"If these groups meet the Pope personally, and see that he is a good Christian, that can overcome many prejudices and open doors for new dialogue."

This is particularly important as Pentecostalism has become the "second-largest reality in Christianity after the Catholic Church" Cardinal Koch said.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Image: Soundings John Barker