Mayhap he should be preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ instead of attempting to appease the ROP.
The sword of the Word is greater than any appeasement, if you are a believer and have put your trust in God.
What the pope is talking about is the confrontation of the Koran by the Gospel. During the Middle Ages, there was debate. St. Thomas “
Summa Contra Gentiles” was an apologetic words directed to the Muslims. But on the common ground of Philosophy. It is my understanding that almost at that moment Muslim scholars abandoned philosophy and embraced the fundamentalism that characterizes it today.
He’s not attempting to appease the Muslims. What he keeps trying to do is give them a chance to be rational and honestly analyze the differences in their religion. Like Mormons, they are very defensive about it and refuse to submit it to reasonable analysis; Christianity, on the other hand, has nothing to fear from reason.
St. Francis and many others have spoken to the Muslims, trying to get them to abandon their syncretist heresy and seek the truth. But it will be slow, if it happens at all, if only because Muslims who are inclined to examine their religion have the rest of the Muslim world waving a sword over their heads. By the way, legend has it that the Muslim ruler that St. Francis visited did convert, but secretly.