Vatican: Pope's Prayer In Mosque Is A 'New Horizon' In Interfaith

by Roger Oakland of Understanding the Times
Pope Benedict XVI's moment of prayer at Istanbul's Blue Mosque last week has opened up a "new horizon in interreligious dialogue" according to a top Italian Roman Catholic cleric, Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia. "For the first time a Pope appealed to God in a Mosque. Not even Pope John Paul II did it in the Damascus Mosque," Paglia said referring to the 2001 visit to Syria by Benedict's predecessor.
Paglia, who heads the Italian Bishop Conference's interreligious dialogue commission and is bishop of the central Italian town of Terni, made the remarks in an inteview published Thurday on the Rome-based daily Il Messaggero.
Benedict, before his election as pope in April 2005 and as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger spoke out against what he called "relativism" - the trend to regard all religions as essentially equal - a conviction that according to Paglia has not wavered despite the pope's prayer in the mosque accompanied by Turkey's Muslim Grand Mufti.