AUDIENCE WITH THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE CONGRESS PROMOTED BY THE COMMISSION OF THE BISHOPS' CONFERENCES OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (COMECE)

Violence, terrorism and the Islamists' growing influence pose a threat to Christianity in the Middle East. In some countries, members of an unpopular Christian minority are already fighting for their survival -- or fleeing for their lives.

Un Allemand d’origine égyptienne a été condamné à six mois de prison pour conversion de Marocains musulmans au christianisme par le tribunal de première instance à Agadir.

J’ai pris cette initiative, il y a plus de six mois. J’ai écrit au pape Benoît XVI pour lui demander de le rencontrer, inquiet du risque de recul, lorsqu’il a décidé au printemps dernier de rattacher le conseil pontifical interreligieux à celui de la culture. Jusqu’à maintenant chacun de ces organes de dialogue était une institution à part entière. J’ai exprimé l’idée claire qu’avant d’être une culture, l’Islam est une religion, c’est le troisième rameau du monothéisme.

The problem with this critique is that it exaggerates the crimes attributed to religion, while ignoring the greater crimes of secular fanaticism. The best example of religious persecution in America is the Salem witch trials. How many people were killed in those trials? Thousands? Hundreds? Actually, fewer than 25. Yet the event still haunts the liberal imagination.

I am pleased to welcome you to this gathering that I wanted to arrange in order to strengthen the bonds of friendship and solidarity between the Holy See and Muslim communities throughout the world. I thank Cardinal Poupard, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, for the words that he has just addressed to me, and I thank all of you for responding to my invitation.

It is a moving experience for me to be back again in the university and to be able once again to give a lecture at this podium. I think back to those years when, after a pleasant period at the Freisinger Hochschule, I began teaching at the University of Bonn. That was in 1959, in the days of the old university made up of ordinary professors.

At the dawn of the 17th century, a Roman Catholic missionary priest named Matteo Ricci, a brilliant and audacious member of the newly founded Jesuit order, made his way to Beijing. Known at court as Lì Madòu, Ricci dazzled the emperors with his command of Chinese language and culture, his mastery of Western science, and his creative fusion of Confucian and Catholic ideals. He stood on the brink of converting the intellectual classes, until the Vatican lost its nerve over fears that its traditions would be assimilated into Chinese culture, and banned Ricci's so-called "Chinese rites." For the ensuing 400 years, China has remained basically a "closed shop" for Catholicism.

The fatwa stated that it is forbidden to allow non-Muslims to establish a foothold in the Arabian Peninsula, to receive Saudi citizenship, or to buy property there. In addition the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa reported that Kuwaiti MP Walid Al-Tabatabai announced in statements earlier this winter that he was opposed to the establishment of houses of worship for non-Muslims in Muslim countries.

On ne peut que se réjouir de ces avancées qui devraient permettre à tous les Marocains de vivre dans la sécurité et dans la dignité, de sorte que chacun puisse participer activement à la vie sociale et politique du pays. En effet, une démocratie authentique exige un consensus sur un certain nombre de valeurs essentielles telles que la dignité transcendante de la personne humaine, le respect des droits de l’homme, le «bien commun» comme fin et critère de régulation de la vie politique.

As American evangelical Christian leaders, we recognize both our opportunity and our responsibility to offer a biblically based moral witness that can help shape public policy in the most powerful nation on earth, and therefore contribute to the well-being of the entire world.1 Whether we will enter the public square and offer our witness there is no longer an open question. We are in that square, and we will not withdraw.

Environmentally concerned evangelicals, including megachurch pastors, Christian college presidents, and theologians, announced their support February 8 for a major effort to combat global warming.

Many Palestinian Christians expressed shock and now wait to see what will develop following Hamas's upset victory in January's parliamentary elections, Palestine's first since 1996.

The Vatican is exploring the possibility of expanding its Catholic-Jewish dialogue to also include Muslims, although talks are at a very initial stage, a Vatican official said Friday.