Another Medieval Quote
Benedict XVI addressed today the President of Turkey’s Office of Religious Affairs. He quoted a medieval pope:
As an illustration of the fraternal respect with which Christians and Muslims can work together, I would like to quote some words addressed by Pope Gregory VII in 1076 to a Muslim prince in North Africa who had acted with great benevolence towards the Christians under his jurisdiction. Pope Gregory spoke of the particular charity that Christians and Muslims owe to one another “because we believe in one God, albeit in a different manner, and because we praise him and worship him every day as the Creator and Ruler of the world.”
He also spoke of the collaboration Christians and Muslims can undertake:
Above all, we can offer a credible response to the question which emerges clearly from today’s society, even if it is often brushed aside, the question about the meaning and purpose of life, for each individual and for humanity as a whole. We are called to work together, so as to help society to open itself to the transcendent, giving Almighty God his rightful place. The best way forward is via authentic dialogue between Christians and Muslims, based on truth and inspired by a sincere wish to know one another better, respecting differences and recognizing what we have in common. This will lead to an authentic respect for the responsible choices that each person makes, especially those pertaining to fundamental values and to personal religious convictions.
Same Pope. Same speech-writer?
Thank goodness BXVI quoted the ecumenical words of Gregory VII instead of the words of GVII’s immediate successor, Pope Urban II, who rallied the troops for the First Crusade with these less than ecumenical words (I’m being charitable) about Muslim conquerors:
“They circumcise the Christians, and the blood of the circumcision they either spread upon the altars or pour into the vases of the baptismal font. When they wish to torture people by a base death, they perforate their navels, and dragging forth the extremity of the intestines, bind it to a stake; then with flogging they lead the victim around until the viscera having gushed forth the victim falls prostrate upon the ground. Others they bind to a post and pierce with arrows. Others they compel to extend their necks and then, attacking them with naked swords, attempt to cut through the neck with a single blow. What shall I say of the abominable rape of the women? To speak of it is worse than to be silent. The kingdom of the Greeks is now dismembered by them and deprived of territory so vast in extent that it cannot be traversed in a march of two months.”
Bill: That was very inspiring.
I do find the idea of an alliance of Catholicism and Islam, given their current common fundamentalist approach to reality, as a terrifying prospect.
Is Urban II speaking about events that actually occurred during the Muslim expansion and consolidation?
Last week’s Time magazine had a cover article on BXVI and Islam that I thought was very informative and balanced. It made the point that after the Regensberg speech, BXVI became a “player” in not only Christian/Islamic ecumenical efforts, but also on the world stage in the West’s dialogue with Islam.
According to the article, many Islamic leaders look to BXVI as the spokesperson for the Western world, and they are more amenable to dealing with him than with any Western political leader. There was also commentary that BXVI, because of his lack of any political motive, may be the West’s best front person for laying down some hard truths about Islam, especially the failure of Islamic moderates to police Islamic ranks of extremists, and the failure of many Islamic countries to offer reciprocity to Christians and other religions on the issue of freedom of religion. The article also does a good job of dissecting the part of the Regensberg speech that offended some Muslims, and of discussing how calculated BXVI’s decision to include the quote from the medieval emperor may have been.
I don’t care what Benedict said before. I am willing to go forward. The saying goes that sometimes the event makes the person. This turned out very badly for W with 9/11 and those nameless theocons.
So this may be Joseph Ratzinger’s moment and I am with him all the way. This is what the bishop of Rome is supposed to be about.
This potentially fruitful visit coupled with Baker’s group (another person who wants history to remember him pivotally) can bring wonders to the area and the world.
I give R credit for this venture and we should all pray with him on this one.
Can we get the leadership we need here? Time will tell.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-op-allen26nov26,1,7878454.story
Excuse the clumsiness. John Allen discusses the visit at the link provided above in Sunday’s LATimes.
A pope who is knows he is fallible and is inclined to correct his mistakes in public! is there any precedent?
Apparently, BXVI has made references while in Turkey to John XXIII, whom a significant number of Turks still remember fondly from his posting there in the 1930′s and 1940′s.
This excerpt is from an article in The Independent about BXVI’s trip:
“Then remember Giuseppe Roncalli, the Holy See’s apostolic delegate to Turkey and Greece who lived in Istanbul from 1935 to 1945, who loved the Turks and was loved by them in return, and later became Pope John XXIII. In Turkey, neither the Muslims nor the now-tiny Christian and Jewish communities have forgotten him (the Jews call him a “righteous gentile” for his role in saving thousands of Jews during the war). And when he was beatified in 2000, the street where he had lived in Istanbul was renamed Roncalli Street, in his memory.”