Rebuilding bridges, defending principles

Pope Benedict XVI's meeting with Islamic ambassadors and representatives last Monday was considered a successful one. It helped the process of rebuilding bridges with the Muslim international community after the storm following the Pope's speech at the University of Regensburg on September 12. This was the fourth occasion which the Pope used in this regard.

The Pope expressed his deep respect for Muslims, pledged to continue dialogue, and said Islamic and Christian leaders should co-operate to curb violence. "Faithful to the teachings of their own religious traditions, Christians and Muslims must learn to work together, as indeed they already do in many common undertakings, in order to guard against all forms of intolerance and to oppose all manifestations of violence," the Holy Father said.

Addressing the Islamic nations' representatives at Castelgandolfo, the Pope alluded only briefly to the earlier speech. Instead, he focused on assuring Muslim communities that his Papacy was not backtracking on the dialogue opened by Vatican Council II and developed in large part by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

The Pope expressed his "esteem and profound respect" for Muslim believers and said he wanted to continue to build bridges, especially between Muslims and Christians. Productive dialogue, he said, will be based on mutual knowledge, which "with joy recognises the religious values that we have in common and, with loyalty, respects the differences."

Reaction to the Pope's talk was mostly favourable among the participants and mixed among other Islamic leaders. An Iranian diplomat assigned to the Vatican, Ahmad Fahima, said the encounter was "good and, as far as we're concerned, sufficient". Indonesia's ambassador to the Vatican, Bambang Prayitno, said the Pope's encouragement to dialogue should have positive effects.

On the other hand, Yahya Pallavicini, a Muslim cleric who is vice-president of the Islamic Religious Community organisation, welcomed the encounter with the Pope but said Islamic leaders wanted more than a papal speech. He suggested forming a commission of Christian, Muslim and Jewish experts to map out a new cycle of dialogue meetings. The Italian news agency ANSA reported that in Egypt, spokesmen for Al-Azhar University and the Muslim Brotherhood said they were still waiting for a clear apology by the Pope.

Yes, the Vatican has taken the matter seriously, recognising that the Pope's speech has triggered an international uproar with potentially huge consequences. One official at the Holy See judged that the uproar could build into "the biggest international crisis we have seen in the last 25 years". Still, it is important to notice what the Vatican has not done. There has been no apology for the Pope's speech. After all, many commentators believe that while it is obvious that the Pope did not intend to insult Muslims, he did hope to capture their attention, and issue a clear challenge.

The content of that challenge was clear enough: the Pope was telling the world of Islam that dialogue between religious faiths is possible only if both sides respect the rule of reason. As he went on, developing that theme, the Pope issued a much stronger challenge to the modern secular world, arguing that a form of reason that excludes religious faith is as dangerous as a faith that denies reason.

The Pope's challenge to the Islamic world has been heard. Now Muslim leaders must respond. Are they ready for inter-religious dialogue based on reason? Will they support those within their folds who renounce the use of violence and ostracise those who still foment violence?

On more than one occasion in the past months we referred to the Vatican's position that Christians living in Muslim countries should enjoy the basic liberties that Muslims enjoy in countries frequently associated with Christianity. There are many examples that this is not happening. Christian still find many difficulties and problems in several Muslim countries even though they are full citizens of that country. Religious freedom is far from respected in a number of Muslim countries.

Last week Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, president of the governorate of Vatican City, addressing the 61st session of the UN General Assembly. recalled the three most important fundamental rights: the right to life, the right to religious freedom and the right to freedom of thought and expression, "including freedom to hold opinions without interference and to exchange ideas and information and the consequent freedom of the press".

"We must acknowledge, however, that not all fundamental rights - and in particular the three which I have mentioned - are adequately protected in every nation, and, in not a few, they are openly denied, even among States sitting on the Human Rights Council," he continued.

One hopes that the controversy that resulted from the Pope's speech in Bavaria will help crystallise the debate and push it in the direction of more enhanced religious freedom where it is lacking.