Reinitiating Christian-Muslim dialogue

When I asked me auld mither what she thought of Benedict XVI’s address over the weekend, she responded “Weellll, he’s a Dutchman”.

Perhaps I should explain a St. Louisism to you. To a St. Louisan “Dutchman” doesn’t mean somebody from the Netherlands. “Dutch” or Dütsch or Tütsch is Low German for for Deutsch i.e. German. The St. Louis dialect preserves that meaning as does the expression “Pennsylvania Dutch”. And in St. Louis Germans have a reputation for bluntness and stubbornness.

In a bid to reinitiate Christian-Muslim dialogue Pope Benedict XVI met with a group of Muslim envoys today:

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy – Seeking to end anger in the Islamic world over his remarks on holy war, Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim envoys Monday their two faiths must overcome historic enmities and together reject violence, saying the future of humanity is at stake.

[…]

“The circumstances which have given rise to our gathering are well known,” Benedict said, referring to his remarks on Islam in a Sept. 12 speech at Regensburg University in Germany, which set off protests around the Muslim world.

He did not dwell on the contested remarks, in which he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor as saying: “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

Al-Jazeera carried the pope’s speech live.

The “dialogue” consisted mostly of Benedict and his associates addressing the envoys. And, well, he’s a Dutchman:

The pope also urged “reciprocity” in religious freedom, calling for preserving the rights of Christians throughout the Islamic world.

This is an important issue to the Vatican: there are several Muslim countries including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in which Christians (and other non-Muslims) may not worship openly. The assembled diplomats were diplomatic:

Still, his five-minute address Monday at a meeting with 22 foreign diplomats and representatives of Italian Muslim organizations — whom the pope greeted one-by-one, clasping their hands warmly — seemed to be well received by his guests at his vacation palace in the Alban Hills south of Rome.

“The Holy Father stated his profound respect for Islam. This is what we were expecting,” Iraqi envoy Albert Edward Ismail Yelda said as he left the 30-minute meeting. “It is now time to put what happened behind and build bridges.”

Interesting choice of words. One of the titles applied to the pope, pontiff, is from the Latin Pontifex major, “the great bridge-builder”. I wonder if he’ll live up to it.

UPDATE:  Here’s the English language translation of Benedict’s statement.