Next week, Pope Benedict XVI will be making his first official visit to the United States since becoming Pope in 2005. He will be visiting Washington, D.C. and New York City on a 6-day trip that will include meeting with President Bush at the White House and addressing the United Nations. Pope Benedict will also meet with interfaith leaders at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington. Unfortunately, his meeting with interfaith leaders comes amidst two years of tumultuous relations with the global Muslim community.

Much of the outcry from Muslims began in 2006 when Pope Benedict cited in a lecture at the University of Regensburg in Germany a conversation between a 14th-century Christian Byzantine emperor and a Muslim interlocutor where the former stated, "Show me just what Mohammed 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." As a result of the reaction from the Muslim community, the Pope expressed deep regret, but never clearly apologized. It seemed as if the Pope chose not to dispute the emperor's statement.

After this incident, relations were normalizing when the Pope decided to make a public display of baptizing a Muslim a few weeks ago on Easter. Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-born writer in Italy, was one of seven people chosen by the Pope to be baptized before millions on Easter Sunday. This move by the Pope revived memories of the Regensburg speech in 2006, which sought to brand Islam as inherently violent.

While there is no compulsion in matters of faith, and people have the right to follow any religion they choose, the Pope made the conversion out to be a victory for Catholicism. The act of conversion itself was not offensive, but rather, the high-profile nature of how the conversion was carried out was insulting to Muslims. The fact that the conversion took place at St. Peter's Basilica, one of the most sacred locations for Christians, and on the holiest day of the Christian calendar carried a negative message of competition and superiority. Unfortunately, these recent events are neither constructive, nor conducive to effective interfaith dialogue.

These episodes have proven Pope Benedict to be less tactful than his predecessor. Additionally, a recent Pew Poll has also found that the current pontiff is less highly regarded than Pope John Paul II. Overall, 40% of those who have heard at least a little about the current Pope say that he has done a fair to poor job of promoting positive relations with other faiths. On the other hand, Pope John Paul II was a reassuring faith figure, the first pope to visit a mosque (in Damascus, Syria, in 2000) where he kissed the Quran and stated "For all the times that Muslims and Christians have offended one another, we need to seek forgiveness from the Almighty and to offer each other forgiveness." 

After having received an invitation, MPAC will not be among the group of interfaith leaders traveling across the country to catch a glimpse of the Pope during his upcoming visit next week, it can be expected that the meeting will lack the necessary depth to rebuild bridges between the Muslim and Catholic communities. The Muslim community can only hope that the Vatican will focus on a stronger Muslim-Catholic relationship and seek to engage in constructive dialogue, similar to the initiatives of Pope John Paul II. While Pope Benedict is visiting the United States, it is imperative that substantive interfaith dialogue takes place in order to foster and nurture a deeper relationship of understanding.

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