CAPE TOWN, Dec 5 (AFP) - Religion will be vital to helping humanity meet the "tremendous challenges" of the coming century, former South African president Nelson Mandela told spiritual and religious leaders Sunday.

"We will have to reach deep into the wells of human faith," 81-year-old Mandela, who stepped down as president in June, told more than 3,000 delegates to the eight-day Parliament of the World's Religions here.

"Religion will have a crucial role to play in guiding humanity to meet the tremendous challenges we face," Mandela, who received numerous standing ovations, told the devotees of virtually every religious and spiritual strand on earth.

"We need to be able to draw on the resources of our spirituality," he said. "Religion can be instrumental in helping rid society of such problems as alienation, the abuse of women and children, and the spread of HIV/AIDS.

He warned that poverty was the "single most dangerous threat to society."

Mandela, who at the start of proceedings received awards from two religious organisations -- the Temple of Understanding and the World Movement for Non-Violence -- paid tribute to the role religion had played in fighting apartheid.

Religious institutions in the country, he said, had during white rule built schools and had helped educate black children -- including himself -- because the government of the day had refused to do so.

"Without religious institutions, I would never have been here today," said Mandela, who was hailed by the religious leaders as "South Africa's Mahatma Gandhi."

The former president added that religious leaders had helped sustain him during his 27 years in apartheid jails.

"It was them who gave us hope that one day we would come out (of jail)," Mandela said.

It was because of his deep respect for religious institutions, he added, that he had changed his plans to visit the United States at the beginning of December in order to address the religious parliament.

The gathering, which organisers estimate will have drawn some 10,000 people in all, will be formally closed on Wednesday by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

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