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Skriven 2006-09-24 07:53:36 av Marc Lewis (1:396/45)
Ärende: Vatican Information Service (Press Release)
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                               VIS-Press releases

RESPECT FOR AND COLLABORATION WITH MUSLIMS

VATICAN CITY, SEP 20, 2006 (VIS) - As he announced in last Sunday's Angelus,
Benedict XVI dedicated his general audience today to commenting upon his recent
apostolic trip to Bavaria. The audience, held in St. Peter's Square, was
attended by more than 40,000 people.

The Pope affirmed how his journey to the land of his birth had been not just "a
simple return to the past, but also a providential opportunity to look with
hope to the future. The motto of my visit, 'those who believe are never alone,'
was meant as an invitation to reflect upon the involvement of all the baptized
in the one Church of Christ, within which we are never alone but in constant
communion with God and with all the faithful."

After recalling his stay in Munich, where he used to be archbishop, and his
visit to the Marian shrine of Altotting, the Holy Father went on to refer to
his meeting with students and professors of the University of Regensburg.

"I chose the theme," he said, "of the relationship between faith and reason. In
order to introduce my audience to the dramatic nature and current importance of
the subject, I quoted some words from a Christian-Muslim dialogue from the 14th
century in which the Christian - the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus -
presented to his Muslim interlocutor, in a manner we find incomprehensibly
brusque, the problem of the relationship between faith and violence.

"This quotation, unfortunately, has lent itself to misunderstandings. However,
to an attentive reader of my text it is clear that in no way did I wish to make
my own the negative words pronounced by the medieval emperor, and that their
polemical content does not express my personal convictions. My intentions were
quite otherwise: on the basis of what Manuel II subsequently said in a positive
sense ... concerning the reason that must guide us in transmitting the faith, I
wished to explain that not religion and violence, but religion and reason, go
together.

"The theme of my talk was, then, the relationship between faith and reason," he
added. "I wished to call for a dialogue of the Christian faith with the modern
world and for dialogue between all cultures and religions. I hope that at
various moments of my visit - when, for example, in Munich I underlined how it
important it is to respect what is sacred for others - what emerged was my deep
respect for all the great religions, and in particular for Muslims who 'worship
the one God,' and with whom we are committed to promoting 'peace, liberty,
social justice and moral values for the benefit of all humanity.'

"I trust, therefore, that following the initial reactions, my words at the
University of Regensburg may constitute an impulse and encouragement towards
positive, even self-critical, dialogue both among religions and between modern
reason and Christian faith."

Benedict concluded his reminiscences of his Bavarian trip by recalling his
meeting with clergy in the cathedral of Freising, where he was ordained a
priest.
AG/GERMANY TRIP:MUSLIMS/... VIS 060920 (520)

SUMMARY

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