Addio Karol - 21:37 - Rome Time

The Pope is now confirmed dead. I have just heard Bruno Vespa on Italian channel Rai 1 (superior to all other channels for coverage of the Pope) make the announcement as I was preparing to post the following reflection about what I think is the most difficult challenge for the Catholic church and it's forthcoming new leadership:

In 2001, a six-day trip to Greece, Syria and Malta saw John Paul II become the first Pope to enter an Islamic house of worship, when he prayed before the tomb of St John the Baptist in the Grand Ummayyid Mosque in Damascus. That was a landmark event for this papacy. In my view, the dialogue and relationship between Christianity and Islam will have an immense bearing on the future well being of this planet particularly Europe.

I read recently that there are more Muslims praying in mosques across the UK on Fridays than Christians attending mass on Sundays in the same country. John Allen, a prominent Vatican analyst, referred to this fact today on CNN network reports while also reminding viewers of the risk that in a few years Europe could become another outpost of the Islamic world rather than being the cradle of Christian civilisation.

It is true that this Pope has chosen to consistently accomodate Islam seeing it as an ally in the war against abortion and birth control. With growing Muslim populations in Europe and elsewhere the nature of this dialogue will certainly have a bearing on the policies of the new leadership of the Catholic church. The problem as I see it is that Islam is not united and there is no institutional equivalent to the Vatican in the Islamic world - it reminds me of the difficulties US secretary of state Kissinger used to have in engaging in dialogue with Europe ("When I want to talk to Europe I don't know who to phone"). So, Dialogue with which Islam?

Paula Doyle writes for Tidings online:

As far as affecting culture in the highly secularized, post-Christian western world, Pope John Paul II's record is viewed as "mixed," in contrast to his many accomplishments championing human rights in Eastern Europe and developing nations. Finally, there is a great sense among church prelates that the next pope is going to have to engage Islam even more than in the past.

"In the post-9/11 world, there is a terrific acknowledgement inside the College of Cardinals that very little is going to be more decisive in terms of where the world goes in the future than whether or not Islam and the Christian west can figure out a kind of 'modus vivendi,'" Allen remarked. Both "tough love" (Hawk) and "harmonious coexistence" (Dove) approaches to the question of Islam exist within the Vatican, noted Allen.