Will Muslim leaders heed the call to stop the Islamic State?

Vatican officials have called on Muslim leaders the world over to condemn the "barbarity" and "unspeakable criminal acts" of Islamic State militants in Iraq, saying that a failure to do so would jeopardize the future of interfaith cooperation.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "The plight of Christians, Yazidis and other religious and ethnic communities that are numeric minorities in Iraq demands a clear and courageous stance on the part of religious leaders, especially Muslims, those engaged in interfaith dialogue and everyone of goodwill," said a statement from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

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"All must be unanimous in condemning unequivocally these crimes and must denounce the invocation of religion to justify them. Otherwise, what credibility will religions, their followers and their leaders have? What credibility would remain to the interreligious dialogue patiently pursued in recent years."

The statement noted that a "majority of Muslim religious and political institutions" have opposed the Islamic State's avowed mission of restoring a caliphate-a sovereign Muslim nation under Islamic (Sharia) law-to replace the Ottoman Caliphate which was abolished after the founding of Turkey in 1923.

The Vatican listed just a few of the "shameful practices" that the Islamic State's jihadists have committed, including "The execrable practice of beheading, crucifixion and hanging of corpses in public places."

Also: "The choice imposed on Christians and Yazidis between conversion to Islam, payment of tribute or exodus"

"The abduction of girls and women belonging to the Yazidi and Christian communities"

and "The imposition of the barbaric practice of infibulation," which is female genital mutilation.

"No cause can justify such barbarity and certainly not a religion," the statement continue.

"Religious leaders also are called on to exercise their influence with the rulers for the cessation of these crimes, the punishment of those who commit them and the restoration of the rule of law throughout the country, ensuring the return home of the deported. These same leaders should not fail to emphasize that the support, financing and arming of terrorism is morally reprehensible."

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