Inter-faith delegation to meet pope*

 From correspondents in Vatican City

January 30, 2007 05:07am
Article from: Agence France-Presse

POPE Benedict XVI will meet an inter-faith delegation led by a Muslim
dignitary, Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, this week, the ANSA news
agency reported today, citing Vatican sources.

The pope will make a "significant speech" on the occasion on Friday,
nearly five months after he sparked outrage in the Muslim world with
remarks that were seen as linking Islam with violence, the Italian news
agency said.

The prince, who is the uncle of the Jordan's King Abdullah II, will lead
a group from the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural
Research and Dialogue, which includes joining Christians, Jews and
Muslims in a world religious unity.

It was launched in Geneva in 1999 with the support of the pope when he
was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Benedict has made repeated gestures of goodwill towards Muslims since
the uproar over his speech in Regensburg, Germany, in September.

The most stunning gesture came in late November, when he assumed an
attitude of Muslim prayer at Istanbul's Blue Mosque accompanied by a
Muslim dignitary.

Yesterday, the pontiff returned to the theme of the marriage of faith
and reason that underlay his speech in Regensburg.

He said he considered the 13th-century theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas
to be "still relevant today as a master of dialogue between cultures and
religions" who offered "an admirable synthesis between reason and faith".