Religion (general)

Archbishop, Pope, call for tolerance

Kathimerini Danilo Schiavella December 15, 2006

Pact to mend ties signed at Vatican

Pope Benedict and Archbishop Christodoulos call for tolerance.Pope Benedict XVI (right) and Archbishop Christodoulos sign an agreement following historic talks at the Vatican yesterday. The two religious leaders issued a joint appeal against religious fanaticism and violence.

Archbishop Christodoulos and Pope Benedict XVI, after a landmark meeting at the Vatican yesterday, issued a joint appeal against religious fanaticism and violence, and pledged to pursue “the difficult path of dialogue” in order to heal a centuries-old rift between their two churches.

[Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Pope and Moscow Patriarch to meet in 2007, say reports

Rome (ENI). Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Alexei II of the Russian Orthodox Church may meet in early 2007, according to unconfirmed reports circulating in Rome and Moscow. There has been no official church confirmation of the rumours, but if such an encounter did take place, it would be the first meeting between a Pope and a Russian Orthodox Patriarch. The Vatican is mulling the possibility of a meeting in Hungary in 2007 between Pope Benedict and Patriarch Alexei, the Italian weekly Panorama has reported.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Which One God?

National Review Online Bat Yeor December 4, 2006

Comparing the Muslim and Christian conceptions of God.

With the passing of time, hidden challenges, which for a long time had been growing unnoticed and unaddressed, can suddenly emerge into the full-blown light of current events with a force which seems quite overwhelming. Today the Western world, or Judeo-Christian civilization, shaken by jihadist terror, is being rudely awakened to theological realities blurred for decades. From clashes of civilizations to the jihad that is declaring to the planet its genocidal intentions, rational discourse concerning faith is becoming increasingly fraught.

[Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

A tense time for a papal visit

Los Angeles Times Tracy Wilkinson November 25, 2006

Turkey, which doesn’t recognize the Roman Catholic Church, is still rankled by Benedict’s comments on Islam.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY — To reach Turkey’s most important Roman Catholic church, a visitor must scour a traffic-choked street to find the metal doors, walk down a flight of stairs, cross a courtyard and finally step into the consecrated basilica.

[Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Turkey poses daunting tests for Benedict

National Catholic Reporter John L. Allen Jr. November 24, 2006

When Pope Benedict XVI travels to Turkey Nov. 28-Dec. 1, he faces a series of challenges that, like concentric circles, become larger and more daunting as they’re arranged around one another. Coupled with the intense media attention the trip is certain to draw — more than 2,000 journalists are expected to follow the pope on his first visit to a majority Muslim state — these complexities make Turkey the trickiest high-wire act of his pontificate to date.

Benedict is scheduled to make stops in Ankara, Ephesus and Istanbul. Among the conundrums awaiting him:

[Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

On 9/11, an inter-faith reality check

Jewish World Review Ira Rifkin September 11, 2006

He polished the prose of Muslim leaders so their views would be marketable. He invited them home to break bread. He even attacked his co-religionists in print for not being more realistic. No more.

In January 1985, the Los Angeles newspaper I worked for assigned me to the religion beat. My first story was a feature on what was then a new phenomenon in Southern California, a fully licensed Muslim parochial school.

[Read more…]

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail