(03 Nov 08 - RV) A delegation of Muslim scholars are expected to attend an unprecedented
meeting with Vatican officials from Tuesday through Thursday this week, concluding
with an audience with Pope Benedict on the morning of November 6th. The delegation
of some 29 Catholic experts and a similar number of Muslim scholars are expected to
sign a final declaration at the end of a public session at the Pontifical Gregorian
University on Thursday afternoon.
President of the Pontifical Council for
Inter-religious Dialogue, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, told Philippa Hitchen that the
importance of this meeting must not be exaggerated, emphasizing that it is a direct
consequence of last year’s letter by 138 Muslim scholars, and adding that it is a
new chapter in the long history of Christian-Muslim dialogue: