Inter-faith dialogue on Unity crucial to peace: Pope tells Muslim envoys
Pastor Dale Morgan
Monday September 25, 11:59 PM
*Inter-faith dialogue on Unity crucial to peace: Pope tells Muslim envoys*
Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim envoys here that a dialogue of Unity
between Christians and Muslims was vital to preserving peace and
stability in a world threatened by religious tensions.
"I should like to reiterate all the esteem and the profound respect that
I have for Muslim believers," the pontiff told the ambassadors and
charge d'affaires from 22 Muslim countries invited to his summer
residence outside Rome Monday.
The meeting was the latest step in an unprecedented diplomatic offensive
by the Vatican aimed at allaying Muslim anger over comments by the pope
in which he quoted from a medieval text that criticised some teachings
of the Prophet Mohammed as "evil and inhuman".
"I am profoundly convinced that in the current world situation it is
imperative that Catholics and Muslims engage with one another in order
to address the numerous challenges that present themselves to humanity,"
the pope said.
"Catholics and Muslims must learn to work together in unity... in order
to guard against all forms of intolerance and to oppose all
manifestations of violence," he added.
The meeting at Castel Gandolfo, heavily promoted by the Vatican as a
major step in reaffirming the pope's commitment to inter-religious
harmony and unity, lasted barely 30 minutes.
After his address, the pope shook hands and exchanged a few words with
the assembled envoys, some of whom expressed satisfaction with the meeting.
Iraq's envoy to the Vatican said later it was time to build bridges of
unity and co-operation between different faiths.
"I think it is time to put what happened behind us and build bridges
among all the civilisations," said Ambassador Albert Yelda, while
nevertheless defending the anger that had greeted the pope's comments
earlier this month.
"The pope emphasised his profound respect to all the Muslims around the
world. It was what we expected, it was what we had," said Yelda.
"Many Muslims around the world were offended," he said. "They expressed
their feelings and they were right to do so. They demonstrated anger.
Everybody has a right to express his feeling."
Mohamed Nour Dachan, the president of one of several Italian Muslim
groups who also attended the meeting, said the pope's message had been
"crystal clear".
"Dialogue is just as much a priority for Muslims as it is for
Catholics," he said, adding that as far his group was concerned the
chapter on the controversy surrounding the pope's comments in Germany
had already been closed before Monday's gathering.
A furore erupted in the Muslim world when the pope made a speech on
September 12 at the University of Regensburg in Germany, in which he
quoted a medieval Cathoic emperor who equated Islam with violence.
While insisting that the content of his lecture had been misinterpreted,
the pope sought to calm the situation last week, saying he was deeply
sorry for any offence Muslims might have taken from his comments.
His audience on Monday included envoys from Iran, Turkey -- which
Benedict is scheduled to visit on November 28-30 -- and Morocco, whose
Vatican ambassador had been recalled for consultations when the row over
the speech broke.
Dialogue and unity between different faiths "cannot be reduced to an
optional extra" the pope said, adding that it was rather "a vital
necessity" on which "in large measure our future depends."
The pope told the diplomats that he had called the meeting in order to
strengthen the bonds of friendship and solidarity between the Vatican
and Muslim communities, and offered his good wishes to Muslims worldwide
during the holy month of Ramadan.
The pope, speaking in French, referred briefly to the controversy. "The
circumstances which prompted our meeting are well known," he remarked,
stressing his desire to continue the task begun by his predecessor Pope
John Paul II in developing inter-religious dialogue of unity and
co-operation.
He said he wished that relations of confidence which had developed over
years between Catholics and Muslims "will not only continue but develop
in a spirit of sincere and respectful dialogue."
The pontiff also stressed the need for what he called authentic dialogue
"in a world marked by relativism, and excluding all too frequently the
transcendence of the universality of reason."
Pope Bendict called on religious authorities and political leaders to
assume their responsibilities in helping nations combat "all forms of
intolerance and resisting all manifestations of violence."