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The New York Times
Pope Meets King of
Saudi Arabia
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Pool photo by Stefano Carofei
Pope Benedict XVI and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
at the Vatican |
By ELISABETH
ROSENTHAL, nytimes.com from the Web, November 6, 2007
ROME -- Pope Benedict XVI and
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia clasped hands at the Vatican on Tuesday in the
first meeting ever between a pope and the Saudi monarch, who is entrusted to
protect Mecca, the birthplace of Mohammad and the center of the Islamic world.
The two met for half an hour, speaking through interpreters, in a conversation
that a Vatican press release later said was cordial and covered themes from the
“value of collaboration between Christians, Muslims and Jews for promoting
peace” and “the necessity of finding a just solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
Marco Politi, the Vatican correspondent for La Repubblica and a biographer of
Pope John Paul II, said, “I think it is extraordinarily important that an
official communiqué from the Vatican and an important Islamic state like Saudi
Arabia mentions ‘cooperation’ between Christians Muslims and Jews — not dialogue
but cooperation.”
The meeting, presaged by an upbeat front-page story in L’Osservatore Romano, the
Vatican’s official newspaper, was also a clear attempt by the Vatican to repair
damage done by the pope’s earlier statement on Islam, which had been seen as
insensitive if not incendiary in the Arab world.
In a speech in Regensburg, Germany, a little over a year ago, Benedict quoted a
14th-century Byzantine emperor who called Islam “evil and inhuman.” The
comment led to protests in Islamic nations, and prompted some Islamic states to
recall their ambassadors to the Vatican. Firebombers attacked churches in
the West Bank and Gaza, gunmen killed an Italian nun in Somalia, and the pope
himself was threatened. The Vatican expressed “deepest regrets” but said
the remark had been misinterpreted in a way that “absolutely did not correspond”
to the pope’s intentions.
The article in the Vatican newspaper seemed to open the door for a new
diplomatic initiative toward Islam and the Middle East. It said the meeting with
King Adbullah was “of great importance,” noting, “In a world where the
boundaries have become day by day more open, dialogue is not a choice but a
necessity.”
The article also acknowledged that some weeks ago Pope Benedict had received a
letter from 138 Islamic religious leaders from 43 nations, appealing for more
dialogue between Christians and Muslims. As the weeks went by with no response,
some scholars here had complained that the pope seemed slow to address an
important appeal. The Vatican allayed those fears Tuesday.
The meeting represents a triumph of sorts for the Vatican secretary of state,
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and especially for Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran,
president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. Cardinal Tauran,
who previously served the church in Lebanon and Syria, is familiar with the
Middle East and has promoted greater contact with Islamic states.
But official statements issued Tuesday made no mention of establishing
diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Saudi Arabia, and it was not clear
that the topic was even discussed. In May, the United Arab Emirates became the
latest Islamic country to establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican,
according to the Vatican paper.
One reason why the Vatican is interested in forging diplomatic relations, or at
least greater diplomatic influence, in the Middle East is the presence of
significant Roman Catholic populations living in predominantly Muslim countries.
Almost all are guest workers from elsewhere. There are 1.5 million Christians in
Saudi Arabia, the Vatican noted, the majority of them Catholics from the
Philippines.
The State Department has criticized Saudi Arabia for religious intolerance and
persecution of non-Muslims. “Charges of harassment, abuse and even killings at
the hands of the muttawa (religious police) continue to surface,” the department
said in a report issued this year.
But little sign of tension was evident Tuesday. The pope gave the king a
16th-century engraving of the Vatican and a gold medal with his seal. The king
gave the pope a sword, telling him it was “made of gold and precious stones.”
In 1999, long before becoming king, Abdullah met Benedict’s predecessor, John
Paul II, who also met other prominent Muslim leaders, including Mohammad Khatami,
a moderate cleric who was president of Iran, also in 1999.
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