Japan Today.
Pope calls on Muslims to fight fanaticism
Sunday, August 21, 2005 at 07:01 JST
japantoday.com
COLOGNE, Germany — Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday urged Muslim leaders to combat the "cruel fanaticism" of terrorism that he said aimed to poison ties between Christians and Muslims.
The 78-year-old pontiff said those behind terrorist 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."
Addressing a group of around 20 leaders from Muslim communities across his native Germany, the pope said he was "profoundly convinced that we must not yield to negative pressures in our midst, but must affirm the values of mutual respect, solidarity and peace."
The meeting, on the penultimate day of his first foreign visit as pope, was a key part of Benedict's pledge to use his four-month-old pontificate to build "bridges of friendship" with the world's other monotheistic religions.
It followed a visit to the Cologne synagogue on Friday when he addressed leaders of Germany's Jewish community.
Like his message of friendship then, his words to Islam's representatives were warmly welcomed.
"I told the pope that his speech was marvellous and I cried listening to it," said Muzeyyen Dreessen, a representative of Turkish Muslims, who form the bulk of Germany's 3.5 million-strong Islamic community and one of three women on the delegation.
"This meeting today was not just a polite meeting, but a clear signal that we need more courage, more mutual trust," said a member of the delegation, Nadeem Elyas, the president of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany.
As he had with the Jewish community, Benedict acknowledged the bloodstained history of relations between Christians and Muslims: "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."
"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?"
"The lessons of the past must help us to avoid repeating the same mistakes," said the pope. "We must seek paths of reconciliation and learn to live with respect for each other's identity.
"The defence of religious freedom, in this sense, is a permanent imperative and respect for minorities is a clear sign of true civilization."
Meeting on the margins of the World Youth Day festival, the main reason for the pope's visit, the pontiff said dialogue between Christians and Muslims was a "vital necessity" on "which our future depends."
"If together we can succeed in eliminating from hearts any trace of rancour, in resisting every form of intolerance and in opposing every manifestation of violence, we will turn back the wave of cruel fanaticism," hindering world peace, he said.
Benedict recently back-pedaled on calling the July 7 London transport bombings "anti-Christian" — which would likely have provoked a backlash from the Muslim world — after an early draft of a Vatican statement condemning the bombings included the inflammatory phrase.
Instead, a final version approved by the pope stopped at referring to the blasts as "barbaric acts against humanity." (Wire reports) |
