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(ANSAmed) - MADRID, OCTOBER 10 - Allowing Muslims and Christians to pray together in the Mosque-Cathedral in Cordoba, currently consecrated to Catholic rites. The request presented by the Arab League secretary Amr Moussa at the OSCE conference against intolerance and discrimination of Muslims currently running in Cordoba, which reopens the controversial debate on the shared use of places of worship. During his speech yesterday at the conference, Moussa, quoted by the media, stated that "all the churches and mosques are built for praying, so that the devotees can use them" and assured that, in the case of the Cordoba Cathedral, "there does not exist any kind of religious clash, at the most the clash might be of political nature". According to Moussa, "shared prayer is the essence of the coexistence of different religions" and Cordoba, he explained, "is one of the most important places for tolerance". In 2004, the municipal group of Psoe and Izquierda Unida had supported the request presented by the Spanish Islamic Commission for a part of the Cordoba Cathedral to be reserved for the Muslims' prayer. Last December the proposal was rejected by the Vatican and that Cordoba Archbishop's office again voted it down yesterday. "It is the Catholic Church, owner of the building, which must decide on the use of the Cathedral-Mosque," Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos remarked. The chairman of the Spanish Islamic Council, Mensur Escudero, in statements reported by Europa Press, thanked Moussa for "presenting again the petition which we sent to the Pope last December and which was rejected". In any case, the reaction of the dioceses of Cordoba came quickly. A spokesman remarked that the position expressed by the Bishop Juan José Asenjo at the time "is still valid". The Bishop, "while underlining the relations of respect" between the two religions, believes that a shared use of the Cathedral "would not contribute to the peaceful coexistence" between Catholics and Muslims. (ANSAmed).