Vatican: Pope asks Muslim world to reciprocate Christian religious tolerance

Vatican: Pope asks Muslim world to reciprocate Christian religious tolerance

Via Life in Italy:

Pope Benedict XVI called on Islamic countries to reciprocate the religious freedom Muslims usually enjoy in predominantly Christian countries in a document published Thursday.

Several Islamic states in the Middle East have laws limiting or prohibiting Christian minorities from openly practising their faith.

In the document, the pontiff stressed that the Catholic Church has ''esteem'' for Muslims, while stating that inter-faith dialogue will be fruitless unless it is based on ''the ability of all to freely practise their religion in private and in public''.

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Vatican: Pope calls for laws to foster integration

Vatican: Pope calls for laws to foster integration

Via Life in Italy:

Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday urged governments to deal with immigration, saying laws and rules were needed to foster the integration of immigrants in Western countries.

In a message addressed to a meeting of Catholics involved in social issues, the German pope said it was important to work on "programmes and regulations which foster the integration of newcomers".

"The faithful and all men of goodwill are called upon to do their best to eradicate injustice, poverty and conflicts which give many no option but to leave their homes," he said.

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Vatican official: Muslims could become majority in Europe

Vatican official: Muslims could become majority in Europe

Via Daily Telegraph:

Italian Father Piero Gheddo said that the low birth rate among indigenous Europeans combined with an unprecedented wave of Muslim immigrants with large families could see Europe becoming dominated by Islam in the space of a few generations.

"The challenge must be taken seriously," said Father Gheddo, of the Vatican's Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

Cyrpus: "Muslims are our brothers"

Cyrpus: "Muslims are our brothers"


A day after Cypriot religious and political leaders lashed out at Turkey, whose troops have occupied northern Cyprus since 1974, Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday met briefly with a Muslim religious leader from the Turkish North.

Pope: Immigration a great challenge of our time

Pope: Immigration a great challenge of our time



Benedict also raised the issue of immigration, which is a core social concern in Malta, which shoulders a major share of the European burden for welcoming African immigrants.


Vatican spokesperson Fr. Federico Lombardi had asked journalists to submit questions in advance of the trip for Benedict XVI, and said that the pope’s brief remarks this afternoon represented his “synthetic” response. Benedict spoke for roughly four minutes.


The following is a rush transcript of Pope Benedict’s remarks on the plane to Malta, which were delivered in Italian.


(...)


The third point is that Malta is a place where waves of refugees arrive from Africa and knock on the doors of Europe. This is a great problem of our time, and naturally it can’t be resolved just by the island of Malta. All of us have to respond to this challenge, first of all so that people can live a dignified life in their own land, and on the other hand so that these refugees can also find space for a dignified life here. It means responding to a great challenge of our time, and Malta reminds us of these problems. It also reminds us, as you know, of the force of charity, which allows us to respond well to these challenges. Thank you.


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Source: NCR (English)

Vatican: Muslim immigrants need to adapt to European laws

Though this piece of news appears in many news sources, most prefer to focus on other issues brought up in the speech, or to focus on the Muslim veil issue. The Dutch newspaper Elsevier, brings the most direct quote I've found. I'm sure the full speech will be available in the near future.

Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, who heads the Vatican department dealing with migration issues, declared yesterday that Muslims in Europe need to adapt to European laws. The Cardinal was presenting the Pope's message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

Muslim immigrants in non-Muslim lands must "respect the traditions, symbols, cultur and religion of the lands to which they moved", and therefore subordinate their own religious regulations.

The cardinal brought up the Muslim veil as an example. If Muslims do not follow this or similar laws, the authorities must force observance of the law.

Source: Elsevier (Dutch)

Vatican supports Belgian illegal immigrants

The Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium, German archbishop Karl-Josef Rauber, supports the Belgian bishops in their actions for illegal immigrants, according to an announcement to the Belgian newspaper De Morgen. "The church has always chosen the side of the weak. The actions are humanitarian while the solution must come from the politicians." According to him this is not an issue of conflict between Church and State. Rauber stressed that he was not talking specifically about Belgium and that this is an internal Belgian issue.

This is an unusual statement, as papal delegates are usually media-shy. The Belgian bishops called for a solution to the stalemate.

Source: De Morgen (Dutch)

Vatican calls for talks on Crusades

VATICAN CITY, Feb. 17 -- Amid global anger over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, the Vatican's top mediator with Islam is pushing to heal long-festering wounds of history -- the Christian Crusades and the Muslim conquests of medieval Europe.

"It is a question that needs to be addressed. How do we read history? Can we read history together and come to some common understanding?" Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, said in an interview Thursday (Feb. 16).

Fitzgerald, who is slated to leave his current position soon to become Pope Benedict XVI's ambassador to Egypt and the Arab League, also rejected a recent call from an Italian lawmaker for the Vatican to lead a showdown with Islam. Instead, Fitzgerald called for Vatican and Muslim scholars to examine the legacy of Christian-Muslim conflict to build historical consensus.

Addressing the theme of "Christianity and Islam, Yesterday and Today," Monsignor Walter Brandmuller, a top Vatican historian, said the true nature of the historical conflict had to be addressed for candid dialogue to begin.

Asked about his comments during an interview in January, Brandmuller said the two religions should avoid "political correctness" and address their differences out in the open.

"Dialogue cannot mean that I am looking for a middle ground between Islam and Christianity. I cannot question whether two plus two equals four or five." The goal of Christian-Muslim dialogue, he said, is not so much to reach consensus, but "to understand the issues so we can coexist peacefully."

Source: Beliefnet (English)