John Paul II and Islam
The challenge of Islam runs through the entire
pontificate of John Paul II. In his eyes, there should be no animosity
between Islam and the Catholic Church. Rather it is an approach
toward one another for the purpose of mutual growth in understanding.
When John Paul II hosted the World Day of Prayer
for Peace in Assisi, Muslims accepted the Pope’s invitation
to world religions to observe a day of fasting and prayer for peace.
John Paul’s outreach to Islam began with his address to 50,000
young Muslims in the stadium at Casablanca. King Hussein introduced
the Pope to the crowd as "an educator and a defender of values
that are shared by Islam and Christianity." The Pope told his
young listeners:
"Christians and Muslims generally we have
understood each other badly. Sometimes in the past we have opposed
each other and even exhausted ourselves in polemics and wars. I
believe that God is calling us today to change our old habits. We
have to respect each other and stimulate each other in good works
upon the path indicated by God. In a world that desires unity and
peace, but which experiences a thousand tensions and conflicts,
believers should foster friendship and union among humanity and
the people who comprise a single community on earth" (L’Osservatore
Romano, August 1985).
John Paul II also made a week’s visit to
Indonesia in 1989 and a seven-hour visit to Tunesia in 1986. Even
more important than these meetings, however, are his interventions
in the wars of Lebanon, the Persian Gulf, and Bosnia. John Paul
was opposed to the armed attack on Iraq, approved by the United
Nations and carried out by the United States and England in January-February,
1991. His strong vocal opposition signaled to Islam that the Catholic
Church does not identify itself with the interests, cultural ideologies
and wars of any nation.
John Paul II has typically called the Muslims "brothers."
Only a few months after his election, in an appeal for peace in
Lebanon, the Pope invoked Mary as Queen of Peace: "We know
that the Mother of God is greatly venerated also by our Muslim brothers."
In 1989 appealing to Muslims as brothers in faith regarding the
situation in Lebanon, he said: "How can we believers, sons
of the merciful God, our Creator, our Guide and our Judge, remain
indifferent before an entire people that is dying under our very
eyes?" (September 26, 1989)
Despite modest results, John Paul II has extended
the hand of brotherhood and forgiveness to "our younger brothers
born in Abraham."
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