July 18, 2008 Pope Benedict, Interfaith leaders meet Play video

(NECN/ABC) - In his meeting with Interfaith leaders in Australia, Pope Benedict XVI stressed on Friday that religion was a "fundamental right" of all people that transcended borders.

It could, he said, solve conflicts in a world threatened by sinister and indiscriminate violence.

The pontiff met with a group of leaders from other religions, including rabbis and Muslim clerics, at the gothic St. Mary's Cathedral in Sydney as part of the Roman Catholic church's youth festival.

In the crypt the pontiff said every element of the church's structure was important but all of them would "falter and crumble" without the cornerstone , Jesus Christ.