Pope to Muslims: C'mon Down (Official Response to 138 Muslim Scholars - Full Text)

WITL ^ | November 29, 2007 | Rocco Palmo

[NYer]

Last month, a group of 138 Muslim leaders released an open letter to Pope Benedict in response to the pontiff's September 2006 lecture at Regensburg.

Writing that his "is arguably the single most influential voice in continuing to move" Christian-Muslim relations "forward in the direction of mutual understanding," the group said it joined Benedict's "desire for frank and sincere dialogue and recognize[s] its importance in an increasingly interconnected world."

In that light, the writers said their letter was also intended to "point out some errors in the way [Benedict] mentioned Islam as a counterpoint to the proper use of reason, as well as some mistakes in the assertions" advanced by the Pope in the controversial address at the German university.

Presented in London and Washington, the group's letter attracted a significant amount of attention in the global press, as a Vatican response was awaited. The note even came up at last week's pre-consistory meeting of the college of cardinals.

Earlier this week, the newly-elevated Senegalese Cardinal Theodore-Adrien Sarr of Dakar indicated that a "positive" response was at hand. Noted for his own good relations with Muslims -- who comprise 95% of the population at home -- Sarr told Reuters that the church "will not miss this oppportunity."

And this morning, a late announcement from the Holy See revealed the response, signed by the Cardinal-Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone. The letter was addressed to Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, a Jordanian academic thought to be the leader of the effort.

Fulltext:

From the Vatican, November 19, 2007

Your Royal Highness,

On 13 October 2007 an open letter addressed to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and to other Christian leaders was signed by one hundred and thirty-eight Muslim religious leaders, including Your Royal Highness. You, in turn, were kind enough to present it to Bishop Salim Sayegh, Vicar of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in Jordan, with the request that it be forwarded to His Holiness.

The Pope has asked me to convey his gratitude to Your Royal Highness and to all who signed the letter. He also wishes to express his deep appreciation for this gesture, for the positive spirit which inspired the text and for the call for a common commitment to promoting peace in the world.

Without ignoring or downplaying our differences as Christians and Muslims, we can and therefore should look to what unites us, namely, belief in the one God, the provident Creator and universal Judge who at the end of time will deal with each person according to his or her actions. We are all called to commit ourselves totally to him and to obey his sacred will.

Mindful of the content of his Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est ("God is Love"), His Holiness was particularly impressed by the attention given in the letter to the twofold commandment to love God and one’s neighbour.

As you may know, at the beginning of his Pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI stated: "I am profoundly convinced that we must not yield to the negative pressures in our midst, but must affirm the values of mutual respect, solidarity and peace. The life of every human being is sacred, both for Christians and for Muslims. There is plenty of scope for us to act together in the service of fundamental moral values" (Address to Representatives of Some Muslim Communities, Cologne, 20 August 2005). Such common ground allows us to base dialogue on effective respect for the dignity of every human person, on objective knowledge of the religion of the other, on the sharing of religious experience and, finally, on common commitment to promoting mutual respect and acceptance among the younger generation. The Pope is confident that, once this is achieved, it will be possible to cooperate in a productive way in the areas of culture and society, and for the promotion of justice and peace in society and throughout the world.

With a view to encouraging your praiseworthy initiative, I am pleased to communicate that His Holiness would be most willing to receive Your Royal Highness and a restricted group of signatories of the open letter, chosen by you. At the same time, a working meeting could be organized between your delegation and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, with the cooperation of some specialized Pontifical Institutes (such as the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies and the Pontifical Gregorian University). The precise details of these meetings could be decided later, should this proposal prove acceptable to you in principle.

I avail myself of the occasion to renew to Your Royal Highness the assurance of my highest consideration.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
Secretary of State

-30-

[NYer]

Catholic Ping
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[wideawake]

Perhaps we could get a high-level agreement by Muslim academics to pronounce fatwas against murdering Christians.

It's highly unlikely, but it would be a useful step toward marginalizing the Al-Qaeda/Taliban crew.

[onedoug]

Oh, brother....

[NYer]

Ping!

[Frank Sheed]

Pardon my French, but “bull hockey!”

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/178461?eng=y

Magister makes it “crystal clear” that the Roman Catholics who responded were “way off the reservation.” This Holy Father will wait until Muslim actions on religious plurality and freedom of religious expression in peace and without fear of reprisals are forthcoming which was the very point of Regensburg.

This is a typical CNA “drive by shooting.”

[Frank Sheed]

Why Benedict XVI Is So Cautious with the Letter of the 138 Muslims

Because the kind of dialogue he wants is completely different. The pope is asking Islam to make the same journey that the Catholic Church made under pressure from the Enlightenment. Love of God and neighbor must be realized in the full acceptance of religious freedom

by Sandro Magister

ROMA, November 26, 2007 – The letter from the 138 Muslims addressed last month to Benedict XVI and to the heads of the other Christian churches received a spectacular collective reply in a message signed by 300 scholars and published in “The New York Times” on November 18.

The message originated in the Divinity School of Yale University, specifically through the initiative of its dean, Harold W. Attridge, a professor of New Testament exegesis.

The signatories belong mainly to the Protestant confessions, of both “evangelical” and “liberal” strains, and include such a celebrity as the theologian Harvey Cox. But the list of the 300 also includes a Catholic bishop, Camillo Ballin, the apostolic vicar in Kuwait. Other Catholics include the Islamologist John Esposito of Georgetown University and the theologians Donald Senior, a Passionist, and Thomas P. Rausch, a Jesuit from Loyola Marymount University. Also Catholic – although at the margins of orthodoxy – are Paul Knitter, a specialist on interreligious dialogue, and Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, a teacher at Harvard and a feminist theologian.

The message lavishes praise upon the letter of the 138. It endorses the letter’s contents, or the indication of the love of God and neighbor as the “common word” between Muslims and Christians, at the center of both the Qur’an and the Bible. And it prefaces everything with a request for forgiveness to “the All-Merciful One and the Muslim community around the world.”

This is the reason given for the request for forgiveness:

“Since Jesus Christ says: ‘First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye’ (Matthew 7:5), we want to begin by acknowledging that in the past (e.g. in the Crusades) and in the present (e.g. in excesses of the ‘war on terror’) many Christians have been guilty of sinning against our Muslim neighbor.”

In releasing the message, its promoters announced that it will be followed by meetings with some of the signers of the letter of the 138, in the United States, Great Britain, and the Middle East, meetings that will also be open to Jews.

[NYer]

Frank I believe the letter posted above is not the same one from the christian group. The dates, for one, don’t match and the sole signatory is Cardinal Bertone.

[Frank Sheed]

This is the take from the Vatican, NYer. Note the shift in emphasis over what Rocco plays up.

29-November-2007 — Vatican Information Service
Holy Father Replies to Muslim Religious Leaders

VATICAN CITY, NOV 29, 2007 (VIS) - On October 13, for the occasion of the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr), a group of 138 Muslim religious leaders sent an open letter to the Holy Father Benedict XVI and to other Christian leaders. The letter was entitled: “A Common Word between Us and You.”

The Holy Father has replied with a letter of his own, signed by the Cardinal Secretary of State and addressed to Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, president of the Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought and one of the signatories of the original letter.

In expressing his thanks and appreciation for this significant initiative by the eminent group of Muslim figures, the Holy Father reaffirms the importance of dialogue based on effective respect for the dignity of the person, on objective knowledge of the other’s religion, on the sharing of religious experience, and on joint commitment to promoting mutual respect and acceptance.

The Secretary of State’s reply also mentions the Holy Father’s willingness to receive Prince Ghazi and a delegation of the signatories of the letter, and also highlights the readiness of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, in collaboration with other specialized pontifical institutes, to organize a working meeting.

[Frank Sheed]

And, on cue:

Istanbul, Nov. 29, 2007 (CWNews.com) - An Orthodox priest has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom in Turkey, the Anatolia news service reports.

Father Edip Daniel Savci, a priest of the Syrian Orthodox Church, was taken captive in the southeastern town of Midyat, near the Syrian border, on November 28.

Another priest in the region reported that he had received a ransom demand, asking for €300,000 (about $440,000), shortly after Father Savci’s car was found abandoned outside the town. The kidnappers threatened to kill the priest if the ransom was not promptly delivered.

Although the Christian minority in Turkey has suffered several violent attacks in recent months, spokesmen for the Orthodox Church said that they were not convinced the kidnapping was done for religious reasons. The Syrian Orthodox community, concentrated heavily in the southeast of Turkey, has frequently been caught up in conflicts that pit the local Kurdish community against the Turkish government.

The Syrian Orthodox Church, which broke from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon, is one of the most ancient Christian communities in the region, tracing its foundation back to the preaching of St. Jude the apostle. In recent decades most of the local Christians have fled, leaving only about 25,000 members of the Syrian Orthodox Church remaining in the region.

[RichardMoore]

On the surface of this “War Against Terrorism” it might appear that an appeal to some of the most prominent leaders of Islam would be the way to turn the tide away from violence. But it doe appear to some of us who are watching this mess unfold that what Alexandr Litvinenko said about al-Qaeda is true; it is an rganization that has been trained and led by the KGB whichis now renamed the FSB. Due a searh on Litvinenko and you will find much more than what I just said.