Monday, June 25, 2007

Pope Benedict XVI boosts sensitive inter-religious dialogue post

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday appointed one of the Vatican's most esteemed cardinals to the sensitive post of president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the Church body in charge of nurturing relations with Islam.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, a former head of the Vatican's foreign affairs office from France who strongly opposed the United States-led war in Iraq, was due to take over the post on September 1, the Vatican said in a statement.

Benedict had come under fire last year for sending his top Islamic expert to Egypt and by merging the Interreligious Dialogue office with that in charge of culture - the move suggesting he did not consider relations with Muslims to be a priority.

The pope sparked angry protests across the Muslim world last year with a speech in Germany seen as suggesting links between violence and Islam.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer

No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.

The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.

Sotto Voce