Pope tells Muslims to help defeat terrorism
By Philip Pullella and Tom Heneghan
Reuters
Saturday, August 20, 2005; 4:20 PM
washingtonpost.com
COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) - Pope Benedict, in his first major address to Muslim leaders, said on Saturday they had a duty to help defeat terrorism and turn back the "wave of cruel fanaticism" that falsely uses religion to instigate hate.
"Terrorism of any kind is a perverse and cruel decision which shows contempt for the sacred right to life and undermines the very foundations of all civil society," he said in the prepared text of an address for leaders of Germany's Muslim communities.
In the most straightforward and forceful language he has used on the topic since his election in April, the Pope said the world would be exposed to "the darkness of a new barbarism" unless religions worked together to combat terrorism.
"I am certain that I echo your own thoughts when I bring up as one of our concerns the spread of terrorism," he said.
"Terrorist activity is continually recurring in various parts of the world, sowing death and destruction, and plunging many of our brothers and sisters into grief and despair.
"Those who instigate and plan these attacks evidently wish to poison our relations, making use of all means, including religion, to oppose every attempt to build a peaceful, fair and serene life together," he said.
After meeting the Muslims, some 700,000 young people hundreds of thousands of young people in a field in the city's outskirts cheered the pope as he arrived for a night time prayer vigil ahead of Sunday's close of World Youth Day festivities.
Benedict, who met with Jews on Friday, has made good inter-religious relations one of the aims of his papacy.
In July he overruled aides who had wanted him to brand the terror attacks in London as "anti-Christian" and instead called them "acts against humanity" in his official condemnation.
He continued in the same vein on Saturday, telling the Muslims that all believers had to do their part in condemning terror.
"If together we can succeed in eliminating from hearts any trace of rancor, in resisting every form of intolerance and in opposing every manifestation of violence, we will turn back the wave of cruel fanaticism that endangers the lives of so many people and hinders progress toward world peace," he said.
Nadeem Elyas, head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, also mentioned terrorism in his address at the meeting, saying it was the common enemy of Christianity and Islam.
DUTY OF MUSLIM TEACHERS
The Pope did not mince his words about the duty Islamic teachers had in instructing young people properly.
"You guide Muslim believers and train them in the Islamic faith. Teaching is the vehicle through which ideas and convictions are transmitted. Words are highly influential in the education of the mind. You therefore have a great responsibility for the formation of the younger generation," he said.
Germany has taken a tough line on Islamic extremists and so-called hate preachers since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, in which three of the suicide pilots were students who had once been enrolled as students in Hamburg.
Acknowledging that Christians too had killed in God's name in the past -- a reference to the Crusades -- he said both Christians and Muslims had to learn from their past conflicts.
"How many pages of history record battles and even wars that have been waged, with both sides invoking the name of God, as if fighting and killing the enemy could be pleasing to him," he said.
"The recollection of these sad events should fill us with shame, for we know only too well what atrocities have been committed in the name of religion."
Around 3.2 million Muslims live in Germany, two million of whom are of Turkish origin.
Earlier on Saturday, Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and his challenger in next month's poll, Christian Democrat Angela Merkel, each made separate courtesy calls on Benedict.
"We are all very proud to have a German Pope," said Merkel, the daughter of a Protestant pastor. |
