Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, and four Muslim clerics have called for a day of prayer on Tuesday 23 March, a national day of reflection marking the anniversary of the first national lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic.

Sheikh Muhammad Shahid Raza, Chair of the British Muslim Forum, Sayyed Ali Raza Rizvi, President of Majilis e Uluma Europe, Sayyed Ali Abbas Razawi, Director General of the Scottish Ahlulbayt Society, Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, Co-Chair of the Christian Muslim Forum and Cardinal Nichols have been conducting a dialogue together for more than five years. In 2017 they met with Pope Francis as a powerful symbol of hope and enhanced collaboration between Christianity and Islam.

They came together and released a joint statement following Pope Francis' recent visit to Iraq, during which he met with Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Sistani in Najaf. In that meeting, Pope Francis urged Muslim and Christian leaders to work together for peace and unity.

Excerpts from the Joint Statement:

“We welcome the designation of Tuesday 23 March as a National Day of Reflection to mark the anniversary of the first national 'lockdown'. We ask you all to make this not only a Day of Reflection but also a Day of Prayer. Prayer completes reflection. Reflection informs prayer. Prayer opens our life to its true horizon. Without prayer we live in a foreshortened world and are more easily swamped by its clamor and tragedy. Throughout this difficult year, so many have been inspired by prayer, so much effort sustained in prayer, in every place.

We reflect in sorrow on all those who have died, whether family members, friends or unknown to us personally. We pray for them, asking God to welcome them into their heavenly home, the destiny for which God first gave the gift of life.

We reflect with compassion on all those who have suffered during this last year, whether through illness, or stress, or family tensions, or financial disaster.

We reflect with thanksgiving for the generosity, inventiveness, self-sacrifice and determination shown by so many in this most difficult of times.

May this day be a great day of prayer that this pandemic comes to an end and that God's love and mercy will carry us forward to a new and better life, both here and in the world to come.”