I do know that he was meeting with clerics from Iraq that day including Mar Rouphael I Bidawid Patriarch of Babylon for the Catholic Chaldean discussing a possible trip to Iraq. He is not the other person in the photo, either. Maybe a few questions to the folks at EWTN are in order.
Mar Rouphael I Bidawid
Excuse the bumping of an old thread. I was just researching this issue myself.
Apparently EWTN is already aware of this incident, and believes the picture is real. http://www.ewtn.com/vexperts/showresult.asp?RecNum=315010&Forums=0&Experts=0&Days=2002&Author=&Keyword=Pope+Kisses+Koran&pgnu=1&groupnum=0&record_bookmark=1&ORDER_BY_TXT=ORDER+BY+ReplyDate+DESC&start_at=
I'm not sure if EWTN doesn't allow linking to their search results, so if this doesn't work, go to http://www.ewtn.com/vexperts/search.asp and put in Pope Kisses Koran and you'll find the response in question, to whit:
"All that the Pope is doing is paying respect to those of other religions. Be assured that the Pope still holds that the fullness of truth resides only in the Catholic Church. Do no be disturbed by the reports of the press, who always seem to get mixed up when it comes to theological matters.
Dr. Geraghty"
Any further input on this would be appreciated. I've heard also that the picture is in dispute, but again, EWTN seems to think it's real. (that doesn't mean it is of course)
Even if it is though, I think Dr. Geraghty's response is sufficient to end the matter.