NEWS ABOUT BENEDICT

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful


In his blog today, Sandro Magister calls attention to two articles written by Muslim scholar and Jesuit professor Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, in this month's issue of Mondo e Missione, the official organ of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME from its Italian acronym). The first is his analysis of the Pope's response to the letter of the 138 Muslim scholars last October. Here is a translation:

The Pope's response to the 138:
Deceptively brief, but profound
By Samir Khalil Samir, SJ

To a letter almost 30 pages long, Benedict XVI responded with one that had less than 400 words. It may seem a discourtesy, but instead, the reply goes deep.

It starts with a "deep appreciation...for the positive spirit which inspired the text and for the call for a common commitment to promoting peace in the world." And Pope Benedict has often called on everyone to condemn violence without ambiguity.

It continues: "without ignoring or downplaying our differences as Christians and Muslims, we can and therefore should look to what unites us". This is typical of this Pope, who has a positive vision that is never partial. Differences should not hide what unites us, but neither should these hide what the differences are. A word of truth (qawl al-haqq), as the Koran says (sura 19,34) of Christ: "He is the word of truth."

The Pope enumerates three common elements: belief in one God, who is both provident Creator, and the second element, universal judge, who at the end of time will judge everyone according to his actions on earth; and third, that we are all called upon to dedicate ourselves totally to him and to obey his divine will.

In order that these should not remain merely 'pious intentions', the Pope therefore proposes the most important thing in the letter: an invitation for a working session between a group of the letter's signatories chosen by its principal sponsor (Jordanian Prince Ghazi) and a group of Catholic specialists.

The aim is to concretize good will and make it lasting. and the Pope proposes four areas of discussion.

The first is "effective respect for the dignity of every human being". In the letter of the 138, there is no clear reference to this point. dignity presupposes respect for freedom of conscience, equality between men and women, between believers and non-believers, distinguishing between religious authority and politicalpowe4r.

Some of the signatories to the Muslim letter are of the thinking that "The ethical-social dialog is already tasking place every day, through institutions which are completely secular. Therefore, many Muslim theologians are not interested at all in an ethical dialog about culture and civilization."

But for the Pope, who told the Roman Curia in his December 2006 address that "It is necessary to grasp the true conquests of the Enlightenment - the rights of man, especially freedom of faith and its exercise, recognizing elements in these rights that are also essential for the authenticity of religions."

For Benedict, "the content of the dialog between Christians and Muslims should be, at this time, above all a common commitment to finding the correct solutions" and together, to be committed "against violence Adan for the synergy between faith and reason, between religion and freedom."

In dialog, the Church is inspired by the Gospel, but does not use it as the basis in order not to exclude anyone. Instead, the basis is "the dignity of every human being', as expressed in human rights.

The second point is an objective knowledge of each other's religion. In fact, Christians have no serious knowledge of Islam, and vice-versa. This implies changing all the school books as well as the discourses in churches and mosques. This is a vast and long but essential program.

The third point: to share the religious experience. Faith is experiencing God, not something intellectual nor ideological. And to dialog is to share this profound experience with each other.

The last point is focused on the young. A new generation must be raised that promotes respect and reciprocal acceptance. Because it is the young who most risk being carried away by the ideology of violence.

Benedict XVI's reply points to a passage from mere good will to a concrete plan to build the peace, starting with the young.



Fr. Samir's second article was about Saudi King Abdullah's visit at the Vatican. Here is a translation:

Dialog between the Pope
and the Saudi King:
'Even moral values and the family
should be kept in mind'
By Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, SJ





The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia does not have diplomatic relations with the Holy See. The visit of King Abdullah II to the Vatican last November 6 - the first of its kind - was therefore a historic event.

Arabia today represents the most recognized authority in the Sunni Muslim world, for historical reasons (Islam was born and developed there), as well as socio-economic (it gives financial aid to almost all the Muslim countries). And the continuing increase in the price of oil contributes to widen and strengthen this power.

The meeting between the Pope adn the King lasted half an hour. The Vatican communique about it was brief but dense: "The conversations took place in an atmosphere of cordiality which allowed a discussion of the subjects of greatest interest to both sides. In particular, they reaffirmed a commitment in favor of inter-cultural and inter-religious dialog, aimed at a fruitful and peaceful coexistence among men and peoples, and the value of collaboration among Christians, Muslims and Jews for the promotion of peace, justice and spiritual and moral values, especially those that support the family."

Four points deserve reflection.

The first: As in all encounters with Muslims, dialog is always inter-cultural and inter-religious. It is impossible to separate religion and culture, as it is impossible to separate religion, politics and society.

That is one of the reasons that made Benedict XVI temporarily place the Pontifical Councils on culture and on inter-religious dialog under one head, even if they now have separate presidents once again.

What the West and the Christian world consider in the category of culture - like dress, food, language, physical fitness, customs.. -constitute, for most Muslims, the essence of religion, This, the veil for women, food which is 'halal', Arabic for prayer, purifications...

The second point: 'Fruitful and peaceful coexistence' refers to the relatively recent but persistent phenomenon of violence, especially if done in the name of religion, culture or politics.

The official Saudi news agency wrote: "Both sides underscored that violence and terrorism have nothing to do with religion." Surely, Arabia is completely against terrorism, as is the majority of Muslim governments. [Is that a straight statement, or intended to be sarcasm? If it is straight, how? Since when?]

It is not surprising, therefore, that the Saudi newspaper Arab News wrote: "The King and the Pope underscored that violence and terrorism do not have a homeland nor a religion... All nations and all peoples should work together to eradicate terrorism (cfr Asia News of November 7).

Still, the problem remains and is double-bladed: On the one hand, the Muslim countries justify violence when their religion is at risk. On the other hand, they do not connect religious radicalism (which is what the Wahhabi doctrine of Saudi Arabia is) to violence and terrorism.

The third point: collaboration among Christians, Muslims and Jews. The mention of the Jews is very important indeed: King Abdullah's realism has brought him to this position, and we must acknowledge this. Some Arab newspapers omitted any mention of the Jews, which is equally significant. The Vatican, for its part, alluded to the problem of religious freedom, a subject that requires much deeper examination by itself.

Finally, the two agreed that the aim was "the promotion of peace, justice and spiritual and moral values, especially those that support the family".

Three elements: peace, justice, ethics. The first two are clear: "There is no peace without justice," John Paul II used to say. For the Arab world, this principle is the basis of all debates over Palestine, where injustice is flagrant. [This is a biased, one-sided opinion, if what he means by justice is that all Palestinian political demands must be met, which, in turn, would create injustice for Israel. Even the 'fence' to keep out Palestinian terrorists from killing Israelis is the Israeli government's exercise of its right and duty to defend its own citizens.]

But the most interesting is the third element: to promote 'spiritual and moral values'. The general criticism by Muslims of the West (which for them is Christian) is the loss of 'spiritual and moral values, especially those that support the family".

The widespread practice of abortion, divorce, sexual liberty (pre-marital as well as intra-marital), homosexuality, de facto unions, etc. are seen as proof of the decadence of Western civilization, despite all the progress obtained through science and technology.

One of the fundamental causes of the Islamic battle against the West - which is seen as the great Satan - is this excessive freedom. Perhaps their analysis deserves reflection.

Mondo e Missione n.10/2007