Reuters.com - FACTBOX: Milestones in Roman Catholic-Muslim relations

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FACTBOX: Milestones in Roman Catholic-Muslim relations

Tue Nov 06 15:18:03 UTC 2007 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict met Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Tuesday -- the first meeting between a Pope and a Saudi monarch, custodian of two of Islam's holiest shrines. Here are some recent milestones in relations between their two faiths: * THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL: -- The council declaration "Nostra Aetate" (1965) was mainly a positive re-evaluation of Judaism but it also included a section on Islam and noted that Muslims adored God, revered Jesus as a prophet and honored his mother, the Virgin Mary. -- "The Church regards with esteem also the Muslims," it said, urging sincere work for mutual understanding. * POPE JOHN PAUL II: -- Morocco's King Hassan became the first Muslim head of state to receive a Pope, when John Paul II made a two-day visit in 1985. -- In 1996 John Paul used a 10-hour visit to Tunisia to call for dialogue and tolerance between Christians and Muslims after centuries of persecution and distrust dating back to the crusades. -- In 2001 John Paul became the first Pontiff in history to visit and pray in a Muslim place of worship, visiting the ancient Great Umayyad Mosque in Syria's capital, Damascus. * POPE BENEDICT: -- In a lecture in Regensburg, Germany, in September 2006, Pope Benedict quoted the 14th-century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus and implied he thought Islam was a violent and irrational faith. Amid a storm of outrage from the Islamic world, the head of the Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood called on Islamic countries to threaten to break relations with the Vatican unless he withdrew his remarks. -- Benedict's trip to Turkey in November 2006, which included prayers with an imam at Istanbul's Blue Mosque, did much to repair relations between the two faiths. -- Last June, Benedict restored the status of the Vatican's Council for Interreligious Dialogue with the appointment of Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran as its head, to improve relations with the Muslim world. He had downgraded it in 2005, but the uproar after his speech prompted him to reconsider. (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

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