Wednesday, December 27, 2006
PRAYER IN A MOSQUE/CATHEDRAL
Recently Benedict in Turkey prayed in a mosque, and debate followed over who exactly he prayed to.
Now comes the Jerusalem Post AP report which indicates that Spanish Muslims have requested permission to pray in the Cordoba Cathedral, once a mosque until it was converted to a church in the 13th century. The request has been denied because Church officials believe the Muslims "want the mosque to turn into an ecumenical temple, where Christians, Muslims and believers from other faiths might all be worshipping the same God."
But how does this decision jibe with Benedict's prayer in the Blue Mosque?
The International Harald Tribune reports that Muslims are noting the same precedent:
"We (Spanish Muslims) would like to share it with you (the Catholic community) a prayer, that could serve to awake the conscience of Christians and Muslims and prove that it is possible to bury past confrontations," the letter added. It also highlighted the fact that Pope Benedict had prayed in Istanbul's famed Blue Mosque, facing Mecca, in his recent visit to Turkey.
It is hardly an unreasonable position to take given Benedict's prayer.
