Pope Benedict XVI

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Benedict XVI, Islam and the call to reason

A nun savagely killed in Somalia, flaming effigies of the pope, threats to conquer Rome — isn't there a bit of irony in the violent and flagrantly unreasonable reaction of some Muslims in the Middle East to a speech by Pope Benedict XVI about, well, reason? Unfortunately, Michael Medeiros' column (Oct. 18 overlooks the stunning paradox, not to mention the true crux of Benedict's sophisticated and thoroughly modern remarks.

Let's begin with the first issue that Medeiros raises: Did the pope actually malign the Muslim faith by claiming that Muhammad brought "only evil and inhuman" things? A quick review of the speech reveals that Benedict did not endorse this point of view. In fact, the much-contested quote falls squarely within an objective account of a conversation between the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologos and his Persian interlocutor. The pope hardly even hides behind the quote, going so far as to criticize the emperor for his "unacceptable brusqueness." Rather, Benedict recounts the exchange to elucidate a much larger claim — namely, that "not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature."

Medeiros isn't alone in missing the point. Indeed, many — including The New York Times editorial board — failed to realize that the pope was actually expounding on the decidedly undogmatic principle that God's revelation and commandments never contradict human reason. To accept blindly what contradicts reason — rather than what merely transcends it — constitutes fanaticism. It excludes the possibility of conversation through the sole universal language — human reason. In an age in which faith and reason are often seen to be in conflict with one another, Benedict's speech was intended to advance the ancient Christian belief that faith and reason are, as Pope John Paul II famously wrote, "like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth." Hardly the retrograde musings of a reactionary pontiff.

The second question that Medeiros raises is whether the pope is actually culpable for the retaliatory violence in the Middle East. Medeiros certainly thinks so. He claims that the Vatican's "ethnocentric attitudes" support the "old prejudice" that Islam is a religion of violence. It was really these "old prejudices," he implies, that drove Muslims to defend their faith through acts of violence. If you've been lost in the fuzzy logic of this inference, you're not alone. Rather than settle on the ultimately peripheral question of culpability, it's worthwhile to reflect instead on the Muslim response to the speech, for it becomes abundantly clear that many in the Middle East lack a constructive forum for voicing their dissent. For example, whenever the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, pledges to push Israel into the sea, Israelis don't react by burning the Qur'an or threatening to seize Mecca. For some Muslims to respond in this extreme fashion to an academic speech given before a small university audience reveals an unwillingness or inability to engage with the larger world, where dialogue is the norm, not the exception. By ignoring this fact, Medeiros himself subscribes to the ethnocentric presumption that Muslims in the Middle East are hopelessly captive to their religious passions and thus cannot be expected to resist their violent impulses. That Benedict's critics in New York and Princeton justify senseless acts of violence under this subtly patronizing and deterministic pretext is worrisome.

Pointing fingers thwarts positive dialogue, so I'd like to end this response to Medeiros' column by considering the role that the Catholic Church can and should play in the strained conversation between Islam and the West. As Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council's statement on non-Christian faiths, explains, the Catholic Church recognizes that Muslims "adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself" — that is, the God whom Christians believe to be the father of Jesus Christ. The document urges Catholics and Muslims to "to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote ... peace and freedom." Just as Benedict should continue to heed the Second Vatican Council's exhortation for dialogue, he should not shy away in the future from voicing concerns about Islam. In the absence of any large number of self-reflective voices inside certain Muslim communities and thoughtful critics in Europe's parliaments or America's universities, Benedict must stay his course. If the pope allows himself to be bullied into silence, opportunities for conversation — both supportive and critical — will quickly diminish. As Benedict said in his closing remarks, "It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures."

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Pope makes new call for religious dialogue

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI made a new call for religious dialogue on Thursday to paper over the cracks following remarks last month that angered Muslims, a Vatican statement said.

Speaking to the new Belgian ambassador to the Vatican, Franck De Coninck, he said that "the arrival of more and more immigrants and the increase of communities of different origins and religions make dialogue between cultures and religions absolutely necessary."

The Pope said he had stressed this during his recent trip to Bavaria, where a speech he made at the University of Regensburg sparked demonstrations in Muslim countries after he appeared to link Islam with violence.

He said later that he regretted the offence his comment had given, but did not explicitly apologise for or retract it.

He said on Thursday that immigrants should be welcomed in a manner that respected their dignity and religious convictions, calling for a policy of integration while avoiding exaggerated nationalism and xenophobia.

On Sunday the Pope had sent his "cordial greetings" to the world's Muslims on Eid al-Fitr, the feast day ending the holy month of Ramadan.

And on Friday the Vatican called for mutual respect between Christians and Muslims, in a message from the Church's top official for inter-faith dialogue.

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The latter, which Gibson dismisses as not new and not pertinent to reform and renewal, astonishes, especially as perhaps a theme-setting document for Benedict’s time in office. In the erotic love of husband and wife, the pope sees an image of the love between God and humankind, a hint of the presence of grace in the dark and threatening modern world. Given St. Augustine’s disgust with sexual love, this hopeful view of the human condition can hardly be described as Augustinian pessimism. It could provide a perspective through which, over the long run, Benedict and his successors could charm Europe back to the faith. The idea does not originate with Benedict. St. Paul clearly understood it. Moreover John Paul II in his early audience talks developed a similar theme. But the clear and lapidary style of Deus caritas est made it a document for the modern world.

Nor does Gibson consider Father Neuhaus’ cri de Coeur in First Things against Benedict’s failure to be more vigorous in ridding the church of homosexual priests and seminarians, especially if they are Jesuits. If First Things and even more conservative perspectives, represented by groups like the Remnant, are disappointed in the pope, there are grounds yet to suspend judgment.

The Rule of Benedict is a more sophisticated and nuanced analysis of the new pope than many others. Unfortunately, it does not leave room for the possibility that the papacy changes the man who occupies it, a prospect that Father Küng suggested a year and a half ago. Room should be left to consider that the data might fit such a model. For example, Benedict’s mix of discretion and firmness during his visit to Spain, where the government behaves as if the loyalists had won the civil war, suggests that the pope is not one who looks for fights (though his remarks about Islam at Regensburg – pulled out of context as they were – might better have been left unsaid). The returns, it seems, are not in yet. Perhaps they never will be. Benedict may always be an enigma. That wouldn’t be all bad.

Gibson’s least successful chapter is about the church in America. He subscribes to the media analysis that sees the church in this country as deeply polarized with only a small center remaining. But the polarization model fits neither the American nation as a whole nor the church in particular. The center still holds, and strongly. American Catholics are not divided between, say, First Things and Commonweal (alas, most U.S. Catholics have heard of neither).

While there have been some losses to the church in the last several decades, it seems impossible to drive out most of the laity, no matter how much the leadership tries. At every level-pope, curia, diocese, parish – the leadership does not understand the faith and the spiritual depth of its people. Hence the laity become an inkblot onto which those in power can project their personal opinions and biases. Social research might be a help, but who needs social research?

In a similar vein of empiricism, I would hope (perhaps foolishly) that as the pope and his colleagues ponder a long-term strategy for winning Europe back to the faith – a contest for which the church has enormous resources, if it would only recognize them – they might postpone faulting the laity for the decline of faith and reifying abstractions, such as secularism, materialism, relativism, Marxism.

Instead, they might begin, in prayerful and humble examinations of conscience, to wonder how they themselves or their predecessors might have contributed to the loss of Europe (should it really be lost). They might even ask quietly, “What have we done wrong?”

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Pope Benedict XVI Meets Italy's Ex-communist President

Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's first ex- communist president, arrived at the Vatican on Monday for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.

Napolitano was accompanied by Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema, also a former member of Italy's now defunct Communist Party.

Church and state relations were expected to feature high on the meeting's agenda.

Napolitano was elected president on May 11. His predecessor, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, met Joseph Ratzinger on May 3, 2005, shortly after his election as pope.

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Turkish Muslim wants Pope to say Islam peaceful

By Gareth Jones and Selcuk Gokoluk
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's top Muslim official said on Thursday Pope Benedict should state clearly during a planned visit to Turkey next week he believes Islam, like Christianity, to be a religion of peace.

Benedict infuriated Muslims worldwide in September with a lecture that appeared to portray Islam as an irrational religion tainted by violence. Benedict later expressed regret over the pain his remarks caused but stopped short of a full apology.

"I think the attitude the Pope should take is that neither Islam nor Christianity is a source of violence," said Ali Bardakoglu, who heads Ankara's Directorate General for Religious Affairs which controls Turkish imams and writes their sermons.

"If they ask me if Christianity has been the cause of violence, I would say no, that is not so ... We believe all prophets sent by God, from Moses to Jesus and Mohammad, are messengers of compassion," he told Reuters in an interview.

Violence committed in the name of religion was the fault of fallible and misguided human beings, he said.

"I believe the Pope shares this view and his saying this will be in the interests of all humanity," he said.

Bardakoglu, who meets the Pope next Tuesday at the start of the four-day visit, said in September Benedict must apologise for his remarks and should reconsider his trip to Turkey.

But he told Reuters it was now time to look to the future and said the Pope would receive a hospitable reception in the overwhelmingly Muslim country.

He said he would be happy to explain to the Pope the "unbreakable" link between reason and faith in Islam, citing the historic achievements of Islamic science and learning.

PROTESTS

Turkey plans tight security measures for the Pope, whose trip takes in the capital Ankara, the commercial and culture hub of Istanbul and the site where the Virgin Mary is believed to have lived and died near Izmir on the Aegean coast.

Bardakoglu said Turkey was a free country where people had the democratic right to protest.

"But any street protests will not reflect the mainstream hospitable attitude of Turkey," he added.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, a pious Muslim, said he expected the Pope to give positive statements that would improve ties between Christians and Muslims.

"I believe it will create a new climate," Gul told Reuters.

"He may make some good statements, saying we have only one God although we have different religions. We have sympathy for each other and we should not exploit the differences in a negative way."

The Pope is due to hold talks during his visit with the Istanbul-based spiritual head of the world's 250 million Orthodox Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew, who has complained of property and other restrictions his church faces in Turkey.

Bardakoglu defended Turkey's treatment of its tiny Christian community and of other religious minorities.

"If the Pope says Christians in Turkey are mistreated, I will tell him that he has been seriously misinformed," he said.

"For example, we give support to Christians settling in our holiday resorts when they want to build churches. We say this is their natural right and this is guaranteed by laws," he said, referring to a growing number of Europeans retiring in Turkey.

Bardakoglu also signalled he was ready to tackle the Pope over Turkey's bid to join the European Union. Before becoming Pope, Benedict spoke out against Turkey joining the EU, saying it did not belong there because of its religion and culture.

"The European Union as a Christian club would pave the way for other similar groupings that would seriously hurt the cause of world peace. For that reason, I think it important that the EU be based on common values rather than religion," he said.

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Vatican announces Pope Benedict XVI has written book on Jesus Christ

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI has completed his first book as pontiff, a work about Jesus Christ that he says is purely personal and not at all infallible, an Italian publishing house said Tuesday.

Announcements by the Vatican and the Rizzoli publishing house said the book "Jesus of Nazareth" will be released in the spring and that Rizzoli will negotiate worldwide sales.

Benedict, a theologian by training, has been a prolific author since his years as a professor in his native Germany.

The book, meant for general Catholic readers, will be the first of two volumes on Christ.

In a preface released by the Italian publisher, Benedict writes that the book is "absolutely not an act" of church authority and teaching but "an expression of my personal research into the 'face of the Lord.'"

"Therefore, everyone is free to contradict me," Benedict said.

Benedict's predecessor Pope John Paul II also was a prolific writer, whose works included the international best-seller "Crossing the Threshold of Hope."

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تشديد تدابير امنيتي در تركيه در آستانه سفر پاپ


در حالي كه يك روز بيشتر به سفر پاپ بنديكت شانزهم رهبر كاتوليك *هاي جهان به تركيه نمانده است، تدابير امنيتي ويژه*اي در شهرهاي آنكارا و استانبول اتخاذ شده است.



به نقل از خبرگزاري آسوشيتدپرس، هرچند تظاهراتي كوچك در اين دو شهر در اعتراض به سفر پاپ برگزار شده است، اما مقامات تركيه مي گويند تدابير امنيتي ويژه اي براي سفر پاپ اتخاذ كرده اند كه حتي از تدابير اتخاذ شده براي جرج بوش رئيس جمهور آمريكا نيز بيشتر است.

پاپ قرار است روز سه شنبه بعد از ظهر وارد فرودگاه آنكارا شود. وي بعد از ورود ديدار كوتاهي با رجب طيب اردوغان نخست وزير تركيه خواهد داشت.

پيش از اين در خبرها اعلام شده بود كه اردغان در سفر پاپ براي شركت در نشست سران ناتو در ليتواني خواهد بود.
گزارشات حاكيست حدود 3 هزار نيروي پليس در نقاط مختلف آنكارا مستقر خواهند شد.

پاپ به خاطر اظهارات ضداسلامي خود در چند ماه گذشته با خشم و اعتراضات جهاني مواجه شد.

اين مساله بخصوص براي مردم تركيه بسيار شديدتر بود زيرا پاپ از كساني است كه با پيوستن تركيه به اتحاديه اروپا نيز مخالف است.

انتظار مي رود پاپ در اين سفر با استقبال سرد مردم تركيه مواجه شود.

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Pope begins landmark Turkey visit

Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in Turkey on his first trip to a mainly Muslim country since acceding to the papacy.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met him at Ankara airport and they had a 20-minute meeting, despite earlier claims Mr Erdogan would not have time.

The meeting was clearly intended to calm tensions and set a positive tone for the visit, correspondents say.

The visit has been overshadowed by anger among many Muslims, enraged by comments the Pontiff made about Islam.

What our guest says, what he does and will do is important

Cemil Cicek
Turkish Justice Minister


Pope's delicate mission
Trip impact: Have your say
Tens of thousands protested on the streets of Istanbul at the weekend, calling on the Pope to stay away or apologise for his remarks.

Security is tight, with 15,000 police on guard. Snipers are in place and a decoy motorcade will be used during the four-day visit.

Turkey says security will be higher than for US President George W Bush's visit in 2004 - but officials insist he will not be in danger during his trip.

The trip was arranged in part so the Pope could meet the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christian Church, in Istanbul.

LECTURE ROW
Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached

Pope quoting Emperor Manuel II Paleologos of the Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire


Pope stresses Muslim respect
In Ankara, the Pope began his trip with a visit to the hilltop mausoleum of modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Flanked by an escort of ceremonial guards, he laid a wreath of red and white flowers.

While in Turkey, Benedict will become only the second pontiff to visit a mosque, and will also meet Islamic and Jewish leaders as well as the heads of Turkey's Christian communities.

The Pope told the prime minister he wanted to visit Turkey because it was a bridge between religions and cultures.

"I want to reiterate the solidarity between the cultures," he said. "This is our duty."

Words important

During his airport meeting with Mr Erdogan, the pontiff gave Turkey support for its bid to enter the European Union, the prime minister said.

PAPAL TRIP
28 Nov:
Arrives in Ankara, meets PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Visits mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern republic
Meets President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
29 Nov:
Goes to Ephesus to celebrate mass at site where Virgin Mary believed to have died
Goes to Istanbul to meet Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of the Orthodox Church, for first of series of encounters
1 Dec: Visits Haghia Sophia (6th Century Byzantine church converted into mosque in 1453, then transformed into museum in 1935) and Blue Mosque


Trip covers sensitive ground

Correspondents say that with membership negotiations on a knife-edge, there is extreme sensitivity about the attitude of the Christian West towards Turkey - and the Pope's visit may be a focus for those concerns.

Opposition to Benedict's visit also stems from comments the Pope made during a trip to Germany in September.

In a speech to an academic audience, the Pope quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterised Islam as a violent religion.

While the Pope insisted the remarks did not reflect his own views, the speech was widely reported and caused anger across the Islamic world.

Ahead of the Pope's arrival, one government minister said he hoped the papal visit could become a "turning point" in relations between Christianity and Islam.

"What our guest says, what he does and will do is important," said Justice Minister Cemil Cicek.

In 1981 a Turkish gunman, Ali Agca, wounded Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, in a Rome shooting.

Popes Paul VI and John Paul II visited Turkey in 1967 and 1979, respectively.

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The Pope News

Pope urges dialogue between religions

Benedict XVI calls for dialogue to end Mideast conflict, saying it weighs heavily on whole of international life.

Pope Benedict XVI began a fence-mending mission to Turkey on Tuesday, urging "authentic dialogue" between religions after angering Muslims worldwide with remarks seen as linking Islam to violence.


Both the pope and his Turkish hosts appeared anxious to put the controversy to rest, trading conciliatory gestures on the first day of the four-day trip, Benedict XVI's first to a Muslim country.


The pope, in a striking reversal of opinion, said he backed Turkey's bid to join the European Union. "We want Turkey to be part of the EU," Turkish prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan quoted Benedict XVI as telling him.


The pontiff, seen as a defender of Europe's Christian identity, had been dubbed the "anti-Turkish pope" for saying, when still Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, that EU membership for Ankara would be "a grave error against the tide of history".


For his part, Erdogan took the unusual step of personally greeting the pope as he stepped off his plane onto a red carpet at Ankara's Esenboga Airport, defying protocol that normally would have a minister of state serve this function.


He had initially refused to meet the pope, pleading scheduling conflicts.


Jitters over the pope's visit led to a security blanket even tighter than that laid out for US President George W. Bush when he visited during a 2004 NATO summit, according to Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.


The pope's itinerary took him from one end of town to the other and back again twice, leading to major arteries being closed to traffic for hours on end at the busiest times of day.


"Unbelievable," fumed one enraged woman motorist, leaning on her horn. "Is this how you greet the pope? By keeping people from their homes?"


After laying a wreath at the mausoleum of Turkey's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Benedict XVI had a cordial meeting with Ali Bardakoglu, secular Turkey's top religious official, who had slammed the pontiff for his remarks on Islam in September.


During a 15-minute public chat, the two men agreed on the need for dialogue between religions.


"Religions are for peace and reconciliation - they should not be interpreted otherwise," the pope said, stressing the need for dialogue.


"We too are for dialogue between religions," Bardakoglu said, "but this (dialogue) should have a solid basis."


Bardakoglu had accused Benedict of harboring "hatred in his heart" for Muslims and said in an interview Monday that the visit, although "a step in the right direction," would not suffice to heal the hurt his comments had caused.


In an address afterward at the religious affairs directorate, the pontiff called for "authentic dialogue between Christians and Muslims, based on truth and inspired by a sincere wish to know one another better, respecting differences and recognizing what we have in common."


Bardakoglu said: "We religious leaders must refuse to be instruments of the tensions of international politics and should contribute to the solution of social problems."


In a not-so-veiled reference to the furor over the pope's remarks in September, Bardakoglu lamented rising "Islamophobia," saying claims that Islam "encourages violence ... are the main support of those who perform erroneous acts in the name of religion, by exploiting religion."


Also Tuesday, the pope warned that the conflict in the Middle East "weighs heavily on the whole of international life."


Speaking to the diplomatic corps, he again called for dialogue "to arrive at lasting and acceptable political solutions."


He added: "I am thinking most especially of the disturbing conflict in the Middle East, which shows no sign of abating and weighs heavily on the whole of international life.


"I am thinking of the risk of peripheral conflicts multiplying and terrorist actions spreading," he said, according to a text of his address distributed to the Vatican press corps.


The pontiff also called on religious leaders to "utterly refuse" to sanction violence in the name of faith.


At the insistence of Turkey's secular officialdom, the pope was in Ankara as the Vatican head of state rather than spiritual leader of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.


Earlier Tuesday the pope went to the Presidential Palace for an official welcome and a private meeting with President Ahmet Necdet Sezer.


The pontiff heads for more familiar religious ground on Wednesday, flying to Ephesus, western Turkey, to say the first mass of his trip at the location where the Virgin Mary is believed to have spent her last years.


He then heads to Istanbul to meet Patriarch Bartholomew I, head of the Greek Orthodox Church - initially his main purpose for travelling to Turkey.


In Istanbul on Tuesday, the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate said it hoped the pope's visit would help convince Ankara to enhance the rights of its followers, who are a tiny minority here.


The church, seated in Istanbul since Byzantine times, and Bartholomew I are encountering "some difficulties, to say the least," Archbishop Demetrios of America told a news conference.


The pope will visit Istanbul's Blue Mosque, becoming the second pontiff to visit a Muslim place of worship after his predecessor John Paul II did so in 1979.

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Pope urges end to religious violence

ANKARA, Turkey -- Pope Benedict XVI urged leaders of all religions Tuesday to "utterly refuse" to support any form of violence in the name of faith, while Turkey's top Muslim cleric complained to the pontiff of growing "Islamophobia" in the world.

As he began his first visit to a Muslim country -- a four-day trip that has so far drawn extraordinary security but few onlookers -- Benedict sought a careful balance as he extended friendship and brotherhood to Muslims, hoping to end the outcry from many Muslims over his remarks linking Islam to violence.

He expressed support for Turkey's efforts to join the European Union, moving away from the opposition he voiced when he was a cardinal.

Benedict will meet in Istanbul with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians. The pope is expected to call for greater rights and protections for Christian minorities in the Muslim world, including the small Greek Orthodox community in Turkey.

Benedict's trip is a closely watched pilgrimage full of symbolism that could offer hope of religious reconciliation or it could deepen what many say is a growing divide between the Christian and Islamic worlds.

Seeking to ease anger over his perceived criticism of Islam, Benedict met with Ali Bardakoglu, who heads religious affairs in Turkey, warmly grasping hands.

"The so-called conviction that the sword is used to expand Islam in the world and growing Islamophobia hurts all Muslims," Bardakoglu said.

The comment appeared to be a reference to Benedict's remarks in a speech in September when he quoted a 14th-Century Christian emperor who characterized the Prophet Muhammad's teachings as "evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by thy sword the faith he preached."

The Vatican described the cleric's speech as "positive, respectful and non-polemical," applauding what the church sees as efforts for a true dialogue between faiths.

On Sunday, more than 25,000 Turks showed up to an anti-Vatican protest in Istanbul, asking the pope to stay at home.

But on the streets of Ankara, most people went about their usual business and only a tiny protest was held outside the religious affairs office hours before the pope arrived.