They told me the Magi were from Iran

For my work in promoting good and peaceful Christian-Muslim relations the Government of Iran through its embassy in Manila honored me with a State-sponsored visit to Teheran. That was in January 2006. I just finished my term as president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (2004-2006).

I was welcomed at the airport by the officials of the Foreign Office and received personally by the Foreign Minister. I was billeted in a plush hotel. Then I was brought to the shrine of Khomeini the revolutionary hero of Iran.

On the second day of the visit I was brought to the holy city of Qum where I saw shrines of holy gurus with many devotees praying. I was also brought to a kind of theologate where students study to get doctoral degrees in Islamic theology. They invited me to speak on my work in interreligious dialogue. I was surprised and impressed to be informed that many of their doctoral theses in Arabic were on Catholic theologians like Karl Rahner, Henri de Lubac, Joseph Ratzinger and others. Then I had lunch with the professors who spoke good English.

They had planned to bring me to the city of the magi as mentioned in the gospel of St. Matthew. I forgot the name of the place now. But they informed that the magi were considered religious personalities and their place revered as holy shrines. In our bible we read that the magi were from Persia which is now Iran and are referred to as Persian Kings. They also informed me there is an organized pilgrimage from Rome every year to this shrine city of the Three Kings who are part of our celebration of the Feast of Epiphany on January 6 this year 2019.