Expresses Hope for Closeness With Armenian Church

[Vatican • Zenit.org] The growth in ecumenical relations has great promise for the proclamation of the Gospel in our time, says Benedict XVI.

The Pope affirmed this today when he presided at an ecumenical celebration with Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenians. A delegation from the Catholicosate also participated in the event.

Aram I is on a visit to Rome that will include a pilgrimage to St. Paul's Outside the Walls.

"Our meeting today," the Pope told him, "stands in continuity with the visit which you made to my beloved predecessor Pope John Paul II in January 1997, and with the many other contacts and mutual visits which, by God's grace, have led in recent years to closer relations between the Catholic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church."

"In this year of St. Paul, you will visit the tomb of the Apostle of the Nations and pray with the monastic community at the basilica erected to his memory," the Holy Father continued. "In that prayer, you will be united to the great host of Armenian saints and martyrs, teachers and theologians, whose legacy of learning, holiness and missionary achievements are part of the patrimony of the whole Church. […] That testimony culminated in the 20th century, which proved a time of unspeakable suffering for your people.

"The faith and devotion of the Armenian people have been constantly sustained by the memory of the many martyrs who have borne witness to the Gospel down the centuries. May the grace of that witness continue to shape the culture of your nation and inspire in Christ's followers an ever greater trust in the saving and life-giving power of the cross."

Overcoming divisions

The Pontiff noted how the See of Cilicia has been involved in encouraging ecumenical contacts between the Churches.

"Indeed, the dialogue between the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Catholic Church has benefited significantly from the presence of its Armenian delegates," he said. "We must be hopeful that this dialogue will continue to move forward, since it promises to clarify theological issues which have divided us in the past but now appear open to greater consensus."

In that context, Benedict XVI expressed confidence in the work of an international commission studying "The Nature, Constitution and Mission of the Church."

The Armenian Apostolic Church is one of six Oriental Orthodox Churches. These Churches separated from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon in 451, over controversy arising from the council's adoption of the Christological terminology of two natures in one person. However, most now agree that the controversy arose over semantics, not doctrine.

Several of the Oriental Orthodox Churches have signed accords with the Catholic Church expressing that they share the same faith regarding Christ.

The Armenian Apostolic Church is one of those that has moved closer to unity, notably thanks to a 1996 declaration signed by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Karekin I on the nature of Jesus.

"Surely the growth in understanding, respect and cooperation which has emerged from ecumenical dialogue promises much for the proclamation of the Gospel in our time," Benedict XVI continued.

Given that Catholics and Armenians live side by side around the world, the Holy Father expressed his certainty that an "increased understanding and appreciation of the apostolic tradition which we share will contribute to an ever more effective common witness to the spiritual and moral values without which a truly just and humane social order cannot exist."

Mideast conflicts

Due to historical circumstances, since 1441, there have been two Catholicosates in the Armenian Church with equal rights and privileges, and with their respective jurisdictions. The primacy of honor of the Catholicosate of Etchmiadzin has always been recognized by the Catholicosate of Cilicia.

The Catholicosate of Cilicia is based in Antelias, Lebanon.

Thus, Benedict XVI expressed his concern and assured his prayer for the people of Lebanon and the Middle East.

"How can we not be grieved by the tensions and conflicts which continue to frustrate all efforts to foster reconciliation and peace at every level of civil and political life in the region," he said. "Most recently we have all been saddened by the escalation of persecution and violence against Christians in parts of the Middle East and elsewhere.

"Only when the countries involved can determine their own destiny, and the various ethnic groups and religious communities accept and respect each other fully, will peace be built on the solid foundations of solidarity, justice and respect for the legitimate rights of individuals and peoples."

• The full text of the Pope's address to Aram I is available online.

[ENI\Anli Serfontein] Les deux plus grandes Eglises d'Allemagne voient leur nombre de fidèles diminuer, mais le nombre de membres de l'Eglise évangélique d'Allemagne (EKD), principale organisation protestante du pays, a chuté sous la barre des 25 millions pour la première fois depuis la réunification de l'Allemagne, en 1990.

Fin 2007, les membres de l'EKD étaient 24,83 millions, sur 82 millions de personnes vivant en Allemagne, a indiqué l'agence de presse protestante allemande epd le 17 novembre. Aujourd'hui, l'EKD a perdu plus d'un million de membres par rapport à il y a cinq ans.

En 2007, l'Allemagne comptait 268 000 protestants de moins que l'année précédente.

Le nombre de fidèles de l'Eglise catholique a également chuté en 2007, mais moins que pour l'EKD. En tout, on comptait 25,46 millions de catholiques en Allemagne, soit 224 000 de moins qu'en 2006.

Au moment de la réunification allemande, en 1990, le nombre de protestants était légèrement supérieur à celui des catholiques dans toute l'Allemagne. Les länder de l'est de l'Allemagne font historiquement partie du coeur historique du protestantisme, où le réformateur Martin Luther a vécu et travaillé au XVIe siècle.

Evoquant la question des membres quittant l'Eglise, le principal évêque protestant d'Allemagne, Wolfgang Huber, a déclaré dans une interview accordée à la station de radio Deutschlandfunk en 2006 que l'Eglise devait changer de mentalité.

"Nous ne sommes pas seulement confrontés à un processus irréversible dans lequel les gens quittent l'Eglise. Dans certains cas, c'est l'inverse qui se produit et la participation dans la vie de l'Eglise progresse", a affirmé l'évêque Huber.

La diminution de l'affiliation des protestants affecte les revenus de l'Eglise, car en Allemagne, 70 % des recettes de l'Eglise proviennent de l'impôt ecclésiastique, qui s'applique aux personnes déclarant une affiliation à une Eglise.

En Allemagne, 61,2 % de la population appartient actuellement soit à l'EKD soit à l'Eglise catholique. Ce sont les länder majoritairement catholiques du sud et du sud-ouest de l'ancienne Allemagne de l'Ouest qui comptent la plus forte proportion de chrétiens. Le premier d'entre eux est la Sarre, à la frontière française, avec 84,6 %, suivi de la Rhénanie-Palatinat (77,4 %), de la Bavière (77,3 %) et du Bade-Wurtemberg (70,5 %).

Dans quatre des cinq anciens länder est-allemands communistes, moins d'un quart de la population fait encore partie d'une Eglise. En Saxe-Anhalt - où se trouve Wittemberg, la ville où Luther a lancé la Réforme en 1517 - seulement 18,7 % de la population est affilié à l'EKD ou à l'Eglise catholique.

On ne sait pas précisément si le recul du nombre de membres a des causes démographiques ou si les chrétiens sont en train de quitter l'Eglise en cette période de difficultés économiques et financières.

[Rome • Zenit.org] Benedict XVI's catechesis on justification at the [November 19th] general audience and his comments regarding Martin Luther were welcomed by a Lutheran leader in Rome.

The dean of the Lutheran Church of Italy, Holger Milkau, said that "it's always a pleasure to hear the Pope speak of Luther, above all if he considers arguments they share."

The Holy Father said Wednesday that Luther's expression "by faith alone" is true "if faith is not opposed to charity, to love. Faith is to look at Christ, to entrust oneself to Christ, to be united to Christ, to be conformed to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence, to believe is to be conformed to Christ and to enter into his love."

Lutherans and Catholics have officially professed a common faith on the doctrine of justification, signing a joint statement Oct. 31, 1999.

The statement states "that on the basis of their dialogue the subscribing Lutheran churches and the Roman Catholic Church are now able to articulate a common understanding of our justification by God's grace through faith in Christ. It does not cover all that either church teaches about justification; it does encompass a consensus on basic truths of the doctrine of justification and shows that the remaining differences in its explication are no longer the occasion for doctrinal condemnations."

Webeditor's note: The title of this article was changed to more accurately reflect the focus of the papal address. The original title was "Pope Clarifies Luther's Idea of Justification". The Vatican Information Service article bears the title "St. Paul: Justification by Christ's Love".

[Vatican City • Zenit.org] Benedict XVI says Martin Luther's doctrine on justification is correct, if faith "is not opposed to charity."

The Pope said this today during the general audience dedicated to another reflection on St. Paul. This time, the Holy Father considered the Apostle's teaching on justification.

He noted that Paul's conversion experience on the road to Damascus "changed his life radically: He began to regard all his merits, achievements of a most honest religious career, as 'loss' in face of the sublimity of knowledge of Jesus Christ."

"It is precisely because of this personal experience of the relationship with Jesus that Paul places at the center of his Gospel an irreducible opposition between two alternative paths to justice: one based on the works of the law, the other founded on the grace of faith in Christ," the Pontiff explained. "The alternative between justice through the works of the law and justice through faith in Christ thus becomes one of the dominant themes that runs through his letters."

What is law

But in order to understand this Pauline teaching, Benedict XVI affirmed, "we must clarify what is the 'law' from which we have been freed and what are those 'works of the law' that do not justify."

He explained: "Already in the community of Corinth there was the opinion, which will return many times in history, which consisted in thinking that it was a question of the moral law, and that Christian freedom consisted therefore in being free from ethics. [...] It is obvious that this interpretation is erroneous: Christian liberty is not libertinism; the freedom of which St. Paul speaks is not freedom from doing good."

Instead, the Pope said, the law to which Paul refers is the "collection of behaviors extending from an ethical foundation to the ritual and cultural observances that substantially determined the identity of the just man -- particularly circumcision, the observance regarding pure food and general ritual purity, the rules regarding observance of the Sabbath, etc."

These observances served to protect Jewish identity and faith in God; they were "a defense shield that would protect the precious inheritance of the faith," he remarked.

But, the Holy Father continued, at the moment of Paul's encounter with Christ, the Apostle "understood that with Christ's resurrection the situation had changed radically."

"The wall -- so says the Letter to the Ephesians -- between Israel and the pagans was no longer necessary," he said. "It is Christ who protects us against polytheism and all its deviations; it is Christ who unites us with and in the one God; it is Christ who guarantees our true identity in the diversity of cultures; and it is he who makes us just. To be just means simply to be with Christ and in Christ. And this suffices. Other observances are no longer necessary."

And it is because of this, the Bishop of Rome continued, that Luther's expression "by faith alone" is true "if faith is not opposed to charity, to love. Faith is to look at Christ, to entrust oneself to Christ, to be united to Christ, to be conformed to Christ, to his life. And the form, the life of Christ, is love; hence, to believe is to be conformed to Christ and to enter into his love."

"Paul knows," he added, "that in the double love of God and neighbor the whole law is fulfilled. Thus the whole law is observed in communion with Christ, in faith that creates charity. We are just when we enter into communion with Christ, who is love."

• Pope Benedict XVI's address at the General Audience of Wednesday, November 19, 2008.

[Anli Serfontein • ENI] The membership of Germany's two largest churches is shrinking, but the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the country's biggest Protestant grouping, has dropped below 25 million members for the first time since the unification of Germany in 1990.

At the end of 2007, EKD members accounted for 24.83 million of Germany's 82-million people, the German Protestant news agency epd reported on 17 November. The EKD now has more than a million fewer adherents than it did five years ago.

There were about 268 000 fewer Protestants in Germany in 2007 than in the previous year.

The membership of the Roman Catholic Church also fell in 2007 but by less than the EKD. In all there were 25.46 million Catholics, about 224 000 fewer than in 2006.

At the time of German unification in 1990, there were slightly more Protestants than Catholics throughout the whole of Germany. The former East German states were mainly in the historic Protestant heartland where the reformer Martin Luther lived and worked in the 16th century.

Addressing the issue of members leaving the church, Germany's most senior Protestant bishop, Wolfgang Huber had said in a radio interview with Deutschlandfunk in 2006 that the Church needed to change its mentality.

"We are not only experiencing an irreversible process of people leaving the church. We are experiencing areas, where the reverse is happening and the participation in the life of the Church is again increasing," Huber said.

The significant drop in Protestant membership affects the income of the church, as about 70 percent of church revenues in Germany come from church tax levied on registered church members.

In Germany, 61.2 percent of people now belong either to the EKD or to the Catholic Church. The southern and south-western, predominantly Catholic states of the former West Germany have the highest percentage of Christians living there. They are led by the Saarland bordering on France with 84.6 percent, followed by Rhineland Palatinate (77.4 percent), Bavaria (77.3 percent) and Baden-Württemberg (70.5 percent).

In four of the five former communist East German regional states, less than a quarter of the population still belongs to a church. In Saxony-Anhalt, which includes Wittenberg, where Luther unleashed the Reformation in 1517, only 18.7 percent of the population belongs to the main Protestant or Catholic churches.

It was unclear whether the drop in membership had demographic reasons or whether Christians were also actively leaving the Church, in times of financial and economic hardships.

[ELCA] The U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue added to its current round of meetings on the topic of "Hope of Eternal Life" a new study on the sacrament of the Eucharist. The Oct. 10-14 session at St. Paul's College, Washington, D.C., was the sixth of Round XI in the historic relationship between Lutherans and Catholics that began 43 years ago at the end of the Second Vatican Council.

Dialogue participants have explored beliefs and practices related to eternal life in Christ since the round began in 2005. At the October session a special task force from the Dialogue membership welcomed Msgr. John Radano, former undersecretary, Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, The Vatican, as part of a new discussion on areas of consensus and disagreement between Catholics and Lutherans on eucharistic doctrine. The new initiative is the result of conversations between members of the Pontifical Council and the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

In response to a written message from Hanson to Pope Benedict XVI in September 2007, the Pontifical Council suggested that the ELCA and the U.S. Roman Catholic Church seek to formulate a joint teaching statement, said the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, Lutheran co-chair of the U.S. dialogue and former ELCA secretary. The statement would acknowledge the mutual confession of the churches of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, he said.

"The Eucharist is the place of encounter with Christ who is eternal life," said the Rev. James Massa, executive director, Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligous Affairs, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, and also one of the two staff coordinators of the dialogue. "I see it as particularly appropriate that we take up Bishop Hanson's proposal precisely at a time when the dialogue team is talking about prayers for the deceased as part of its overall treatment of eternal life. For many Christian believers the Eucharist is the preeminent prayer of thanksgiving for Christ's life-giving sacrifice, to which he joins all of the faithful, living and dead."

The dialogue adopted a time line for conclusion of the current round, which includes a review process for a Common Agreement on Eternal Life. Drafters have presented portions of a draft text that treat the topic from a biblical-historical, systematic and pastoral standpoint. "The report, when completed, will be helpful to both pastors and members of parishes," Almen said. "It will serve as a resource for teaching and discussion as members of congregations ponder questions about death and dying as well as the promise of eternal life in Christ."

Almen added, "The report also will highlight the broad reality of the Church throughout time and eternity. After all, as we gather at the table of our Lord, we are surrounded by all the faithful who have gone before us, the great cloud of witnesses, as we anticipate the eternal banquet of our Lord."

The next session of the dialogue is March 12-15, 2009, in Washington. Participants will examine a complete draft of the common statement and also consider the contents and format of a possible publication that would include the statement along with a series of essays based on papers that have been presented over the course of the round.

Participants in the October 2008 meeting mourned the loss of one of the longest serving members of the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue, the Rev. John Reumann, professor emeritus of New Testament and Greek, the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Reumann, who died June 6, 2008, was remembered by dialogue participants in a memorial service at the end of the meeting.

Last year the dialogue held a memorial mass for the passing of another long-serving member, the Rev. George Tavard A.A., an Augustinian of the Assumption priest and prolific author, who died in 2007.

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• Information regarding the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue is on the ELCA Web site.

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[The Tablet] The first meeting of the Catholic-Muslim Forum of scholars and religious leaders has ended in a joint declaration saying religious minorities have a right to "practise their faith in private and public" and to have their own houses of worship.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, ranked this as the most important of the 15 points agreed with delegates from the Common Word project, a dialogue initiative launched last year by 138 Islamic leaders from the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Western countries. The declaration also called for respect for personal "choices in matters of conscience and religion," which could apply to the thorny question of conversion from Islam, which the delegates discussed briefly but did not seek consensus on.

• See the complete article from The Tablet, November 15, 2008.
• See the Final Declaration of the Catholic-Muslim Forum.

[Trevor Grundy • ENI] A member of the (Anglican) Church of England's general synod who supports a greater female role in the church has predicted that within 10 years half of all full-time clergy will be women, but says moves to consecrate female bishops is not keeping pace.

The prognosis came from U.S-born Christina Rees, a writer, broadcaster and public speaker and chairperson of Watch (Women and the Church), started in 1996 as a forum for promoting women's ministry in the Church of England.

Speaking from her home near Cambridge, Rees told Ecumenical News International, "Half the clergy will be women by 2018 of that I'm certain, but right now we're in the ridiculous position of still deciding on what terms we're going to have women bishops. The organisation Forward in Faith [which opposes the ordination of women as bishops] is very active and denies that the general synod has the right to approve the consecration of women as bishops. If we don't move soon it will be a scandal."

Rees was speaking following the publication on the Web site of official Church Statistics for 2007 which show that women now represent nearly half of all Church of England ordinands.

In 2007, 552 new full-time and part-time clergy were ordained representing a 15 percent increase on the previous year and the highest number since 2000. Almost half, some 262, were women.

"This is to be expected considering the new status of women in all areas of life in the United Kingdom," Louis Henderson at the Church of England's communications office in London told ENI.

According to the Church of England's own projections, if present trends continue women will occupy nearly a quarter of all full-time posts by 2012.

The church statistics also show there has been a big increase in the number of people preparing for the priesthood. In 2007 the Church of England recommended 595 future clergy for ordination training. A total of 243 of them were under the age of 40.

But the fact more people are entering the Church of England fails to make life easier for the clergy because of a shortfall between new candidates for ordination and retiring clergy. Church sources suggest the shortfall is between 150 and 200 people a year.

There are 12 732 parishes in England, comprising 16 057 churches that are served by 7616 full time clergy. "There are parishes in some dioceses which pull together anything up to seven churches," Henderson said. "That is nothing new for the Church of England."

[ENI] Churches in Germany have remembered the 70th anniversary of the systematic attack by the Nazis in 1938 on Jewish Germans, saying that many Christians failed then in their duty to speak out.

"In the November pogroms of 1938 defenceless people were humiliated, harassed and killed, houses of worship were desecrated and destroyed," Germany's Protestant and Roman Catholic leaders said in a joint statement to mark the 9 November anniversary.

"The terrible images of burning synagogues have been burned into our memory," said Bishop Wolfgang Huber, who heads the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), and Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, the chairperson of the Catholic German Bishops' Conference.

"The November pogroms were also the prelude to the Holocaust, to a period of unimaginable destruction and annihilation, whose consequences Europe, the world and especially the Jewish community still have to bear," the two church leaders stated.

"The pogroms were not only deliberately planned, but followed years of propagandistic and political preparations, a time of open anti-Semitic incitement, systematic exclusion set down by law, inhuman discrimination and persecution," they said.

The series of attacks by Nazis against Jewish Germans and their property was called "Kristallnacht", or the Night of Broken Glass. Still, the chairperson of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, in an interview with the online edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, urged that the term "Kristallnacht" be avoided.

"'Crystal' means something beautiful but the attacks were part of a pogrom," said council chairperson Charlotte Knobloch in the interview in which she reiterated a call for the extreme right-wing National Democratic Party to be banned.

In Berlin, Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky regretted the attitude of the Catholic Church to the persecution of Jews. The majority of Catholics remained silent, the archbishop stated. The memory of the injustice inflicted on the Jews needed to be kept alive and possible failures acknowledged. Lutheran Bishop Friedrich Weber of Brunswick said the churches had failed in their mission to speak out for those without a voice.

The leadership of the Protestant church in central Germany said in a pastoral letter read out in parishes that it acknowledged that Christians had been co-responsible for the anti-Semitic policies of National Socialism. Through their attitude to the policy of annihilation in the Nazi era, Christians had laid "heavy guilt" upon themselves.

Bishop Huber and Archbishop Zollitsch referred to people, "particularly in the Christian churches - who decisively opposed violence, but who were trapped in fear and a feeling of powerlessness".

They also remembered Catholic Provost Bernhard Lichtenberg and the Protestant pastor Helmut Gollwitzer as examples of Christians who supported Jews. However, the church leaders stated, "The witness of these and other Christians and church representatives cannot cancel out the cowardice or failure of others."

[Vatican City • VIS] Made public yesterday afternoon was the final declaration of participants in the First Seminar of the Catholic-Muslim Forum, which took place in Rome from 4 to 6 November on the theme: "Love of God, Love of Neighbour".

Each of the two sides in the meeting was represented by 24 participants and five advisers who discussed the two great themes of "Theological and Spiritual Foundations" and "Human Dignity and Mutual Respect". Points of "similarity and of diversity emerged, reflecting the distinctive specific genius of the two religions" the English-language declaration says.

1. "For Christians the source and example of love of God and neighbour is the love of Christ for His Father, for humanity and for each person" reads the first of the fifteen points of the declaration. "Love of neighbour cannot be separated from love of God, because it is an expression of our love for God. ... Grounded in Christ's sacrificial love, Christian love is forgiving and excludes no-one; it therefore also includes one's enemies".

"For Muslims ... love is a timeless transcendent power which guides and transforms human mutual regard. This love, as indicated by the Holy and Beloved Prophet Muhammad, is prior to the human love for the One True God".

2. "Human life is a most precious gift of God to each person. It should therefore be preserved and honoured in all its stages".

3. Human dignity is derived from the fact that every human person is created by a loving God and has been endowed with the gifts of reason and free will, and therefore enabled to love God and others. On the firm basis of these principles, the person requires the respect of his or her original dignity and his or her human vocation. Therefore, he or she is entitled to full recognition of his or her identity and freedom by individuals, communities and governments, supported by civil legislation that assures equal rights and full citizenship.

4. "We affirm that God's creation of humanity has two great aspects: the male and the female human person, and we commit ourselves jointly to ensuring that human dignity and respect are extended on an equal basis to both men and women.

5. "Genuine love of neighbour implies respect of the person and her or his choices in matters of conscience and religion. It includes the right of individuals and communities to practice their religion in private and public.

6. "Religious minorities are entitled to be respected in their own religious convictions and practices. They are also entitled to their own places of worship, and their founding figures and symbols they consider sacred should not be subject to any form of mockery or ridicule.

7. "As Catholic and Muslim believers, we are aware of the summons and imperative to bear witness to the transcendent dimension of life, through a spirituality nourished by prayer, in a world which is becoming more and more secularised and materialistic.

8. "We affirm that no religion and its followers should be excluded from society. Each should be able to make its indispensable contribution to the good of society, especially in service to the most needy.

9. "We recognise that God's creation in its plurality of cultures, civilisations, languages and peoples is a source of richness and should therefore never become a cause of tension and conflict.

10. "We are convinced that Catholics and Muslims have the duty to provide a sound education in human, civic, religious and moral values for their respective members and to promote accurate information about each other's religions.

11. "We profess that Catholics and Muslims are called to be instruments of love and harmony among believers, and for humanity as a whole, renouncing any oppression, aggressive violence and terrorism, especially that committed in the name of religion, and upholding the principle of justice for all.

12. "We call upon believers to work for an ethical financial system in which the regulatory mechanisms consider the situation of the poor and disadvantaged, both as individuals, and as indebted nations. We call upon the privileged of the world to consider the plight of those afflicted most severely by the current crisis in food production and distribution, and ask religious believers of all denominations and all people of good will to work together to alleviate the suffering of the hungry, and to eliminate its causes.

13. "Young people are the future of religious communities and of societies as a whole. Increasingly, they will be living in multi-cultural and multi-religious societies. It is essential that they be well formed in their own religious traditions and well informed about other cultures and religions.

14. "We have agreed to explore the possibility of establishing a permanent Catholic-Muslim committee to co-ordinate responses to conflicts and other emergency situations.

15. "We look forward to the second seminar of the Catholic-Muslim Forum to be convened in approximately two years in a Muslim-majority country yet to be determined".

The declaration concludes by affirming that all the participants "expressed satisfaction with the results of the seminar and their expectation for further productive dialogue".

[The Tablet] The symbolism of next week's inaugural meeting of the Catholic-Muslim Forum at the Vatican is likely to be as important as what is actually said. The public perception of religion is that it leads to trouble, especially between one religious or ethnic group and another. Indeed, in Iraq and Pakistan, Christians have had reason to fear for their lives from extremist Muslims who are, it must be stressed, acting in defiance of the teachings of their own faith. In Western Europe many Muslims have experienced discrimination and prejudice, and occasionally violence, not so much from anti-Islamic ideology as from sheer bigotry and racism. Yet in the Vatican next week leaders of the two faiths will stand side by side in mutual respect. One of them will be Pope Benedict XVI.

• The complete editorial published in The Tablet, November 1, 2008, is available online.