Posted on 10/21/2006 9:50:56 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
ROME - An Italian journalist and self-described atheist who died last month has left most of her books and notes to a pontifical university in Rome because of her admiration for Pope Benedict XVI, a school official said Saturday.
Oriana Fallaci had described the pontiff as an ally in her campaign to rally Christians in Europe against what she saw as a Muslim crusade against the West. As she battled breast cancer last year, she had a private audience with Benedict, who was elected only a few months earlier, at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.
In one of her final interviews, Fallaci told The Wall Street Journal: "I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a pope think the same things, there must be something true."
Benedict was surprised by the gift of the books, which dated back as far as the 17th century and included volumes about the formation of modern-day Italy, American history, philosophy and theology, said Monsignor Rino Fisichella, rector of the Pontifical Lateranense University in Rome.
"The veneration that she had for you, Holy Father, persuaded her to make this donation, which will be known as the Oriana Fallaci Archives," Fisichella said during a ceremony at the university Saturday to announce the gift of the books, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
Benedict greeted Fallaci's nephew and his family during the ceremony, then spoke briefly about the search for truth in science and academia. "God is the ultimate truth to which all reason naturally gravitates," he told an audience of students and faculty.
A few weeks before her death, Fallaci had some 20 boxes of books sent to the university, Fisichella later told The Associated Press. Books are still awaiting shipment from her homes in New York and Tuscany, he said, as well as her notes as a journalist.
Fisichella said "the pope has said we must live in the world as if God existed and she (Fallaci) took up the challenge."
After decades of conducting major interviews and covering wars as a correspondent for two of Italy's largest dailies, Fallaci concentrated her famous passion and energy in her last years on vehement attacks against a Muslim world she judged to be the enemy of Western civilization.
Absent from the publishing scene for nearly a decade, Fallaci burst back into the spotlight after the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. with a series of blistering essays in which she argued that Muslims were carrying out a crusade against the Christian West.
At the time of her death, she was on trial in northern Italy, accused of defaming Islam in her 2004 book, "The Strength of Reason." In it she argued that Europe had sold its soul to what she called an Islamic invasion.
Fallaci had also taken the Catholic Church to task for being what she considered too weak before the Muslim world, despite her praise of Benedict.
She died three days after the pope delivered a speech at a German university in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."
The speech sparked anger in the Muslim world, prompting Benedict to express regrets and say the words did not reflect his personal opinion.
Benedict, who has been calling for more dialogue between Muslims and Christians, will make his first pilgrimage as pontiff to a predominantly Muslim country when he visits Turkey in November.
Bump. Two very brave people, I admire both of them greatly.
The same conclusion that Thomas Nagel comes to, but doesn't want to admit, in his book "The Last Word." There can be no such thing as universal truth unless there is some real foundation for it. Nagel is also an atheist, but, like Fallaci, a lover of the truth who has dedicated himself like Socrates to the pursuit of truth, wherever the search may lead.
http://philosophy.fas.nyu.edu/object/thomasnagel
May God receive Orianna to Himself, and may she rest in peace.
I Love Oriana Fallaci Ping
What an amazing and wonderful story.
What a lovely thing this is.
BTTT your ping.
Wonderful story, but lousy title. Oriana's name should have been in the headline. What were they thinking?
Great story. Sincere lovers of the truth will always wind up in the same place.
The very fact that she was on trial for "defaming Islam" proves her point.
bump.
Later read, maybe even pingout!
Great story!
The longer I live, the more I tend to that belief.
On trial? What are the laws in Italy?
A gracious (in every sense of the word) bequest. And a contemptible headline.
After reading that I just keep shaking my head. How can Islam do what they do. I suppose it is a hatred for Christians more than anything! God help us all and deliver us from evil.
If I have pinged you twice, please forgive me; it was inadvertent. I just wanted to make sure that Oriana-fans saw this touching article.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1644680/posts
Laws that were originally (and miguidedly) written to prevent another Hitler from gathering steam by encouraging racial hatred, were used to try and muzzle Oriana Fallaci.
If Oriana Fallaci hadn't died, and actually had been convicted & sentenced to prison, there would have been rioting in the streets!
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