That’s what Benedict has been saying all along
In the wake — or still in the throes — of the hostilities among extremists over the Pope’s words in Regensburg, a lot of world press is actually beginning to analyze what he said. And this one astutely recognizes Benedict’s sincere and untiring call for honest dialogue on the world stage, and moves the discussion into the ‘now what?’ phase.
Who says the world lacks leaders? After again expressing his “respect” for Islam, Pope Benedict XVI at his weekly Vatican audience two days ago moved one of his knights forward on the global chessboard of Islamic politics.
Amid amped-up security in St. Peter’s Square, the pope said: “I trust that after the initial reaction, my words at the University of Regensburg can constitute an impulse and encouragement toward positive, even self-critical dialogue both among religions and between modern reason and Christian faith.”
Setting aside the impeccable understatement of “the initial reaction”–churches torched world-wide–it is close to thrilling in a world of persistent confusion about the intentions of contemporary Islam to see the pope step forward, not back, and speak without apology on behalf of “modern reason.”
This is great to hear from the secular press.
It is being widely said, mainly among his expectable Western critics, that the quotation from Manuel II Paleologus was a “mistake.” Really? I’d say Benedict is right about where he hoped to be after Regensburg: The whole world saying that a serious conversation between the pope and Islam is necessary. My guess is Benedict would clear his calendar if the Muslim Arab leadership said it is ready to talk. And the talk won’t be about who meant what in the 14th century. It will be about the here and now.
Finally. Some good analysis in the mainstream about what’s really going on in this story.
The pope has a Muslim problem all right. It is the hammering that Christian communities have been taking for years and are getting now in Islamic countries all over the world, but especially in the Middle East.
Across the region (with some exceptions), non-Islamic minorities–which by and large means Christian minorities–are being driven out through physical abuse, legal discrimination, murder and the destruction or confiscation of homes, businesses and churches. Call it religious cleansing. It is a political strategy that would eventually give Iran, Iraq, Egypt and the Holy Lands of Palestine a cultural homogeneity that has never existed in human history, before or after Christ.
We’re at a tipping point of historic proportions.
And so Pope Benedict has decided it is time to act, no matter that it may hurt the sensibilities of Islamic believers or Western elites ever alert to the delicacies of language. In this Benedict deserves the world’s political support. The Middle East is being purged of a historically enriching diversity that will surely kill its ability to thrive. What will remain is a homogenous, self-proclaimed threat to the rest of the world. As Nina Shea of the Center for Religious Freedom argues, the pathologies and methods directed against unprotected minorities will be used next against other Muslims and governments. It is no exaggeration to suggest that the maltreatment of these local Christians is rightly seen as a proxy for the world.
And who, in the world, will respond to this spreading threat? Who has even stood up to it and made an effort?
The world’s standard political institutions have proved unable to address this problem. The U.N. is compromised and hapless. The U.S. is distrusted, Europe is supine, China is cynical. There would be no better venue for seeking a way out than the Vatican.
During the Israel-Hezbollah war, I kept saying that the world should listen to Benedict.
It’s about time.
