JESUS AND MOHAMMED MEET

...It was immediately clear to many Christians present that these statements, if indeed really agreed to by the Catholic Church, would make the dialogue with the Jews impossible...

...i.e., the common religious bases of Christianity and Islam, how to overcome mutual prejudices, commitment to social action in the two religions, and the relationship of the two religions to ideology...

...But even after the public reading of the communique Muslims assured me that points 20 and 21 were of secondary importance to them and that their later disavowal by Vatican authorities would not substantially affect the historic outpouring of Muslim and Christian good will and commitment to build out the dialogue and collaboration...

...One irony is that, as one of the Muslim delegation told me, the Muslims were agreed among themselves ahead of time to withdraw points 20 and 21 at the expected Christian demurral-but it was not forthcoming...

...Rossano, Secretary of the Secretariat for Non-Christians, arranged weeks ahead that political matters would not be discussed...

...But that is where a week-long (February 1-6) dialogue of a spectacular magnitude took place, co-sponsored by Libya and the Vatican...

...Yes, but not only...

...He is a force to be reckoned with...

...Why such a financial outlay...

...The drafting committee divided itself up into four pairs and each worked on separate sections, and perhaps none of the Christians saw the whole communique", with one exception, difficult as that may be to imagine...

...Then suddenly the Libyans invested their money and began to invite hundreds of observers...

...Also a fundamental motivation...

...This was to be foreseen, and consequently Msgr...

...At least upward of one million dollars was invested in this dialogue by Libya...

...Rossano insisted on having the contents of the communique" translated at least orally for them before allowing it to be read...

...2) Desire to build an image of Qadafi in the Muslim world as its leading spokesman with Christianity and the West...

...In fact, it is amazing that it happened at all, let alone that it could have gone so well...

...But that was not how the dialogue was originally conceived in Fall, 1975...

...Whereas the Christians studiously avoided all reference to Palestine and Israel all week long-masterfully led by Cardinal Pignedoli, President of the Secretariat for Non-Christians-the final joint communique contained the following two highly political statements on Palestine and Israel: 20) The two delegations distinguish between Juda ism and Zionism, inasmuch as Zionism is a racist, enemy movement...

...Point three...

...A thundering yes for number two...

...Both the structure of the conference and the lack of experience in dialogue by the majority of the Muslims militated against any real intellectual exchange...

...21) The two delegations confirm the national rights of the Palestinian people and their right to return to their land, confirm the Arab nature of Jerusalem and reject all plans to Judaize, divide or internationalize it...

...As a matter of fact, on February 11 "the Holy See declared it cannot accept such points [20 and 21] because its content does not correspond substantially to the well-known Vatican position...

...Judging from the speeches and comments, the question of Palestine and Israel was very much on the agenda of practically all the Muslims- and the Arab Christians...

...A violent yes-and no-for number three...

...But the stunning aspect of this issue occurred only on the final day, at the ceremonial closing and reading of the joint communique...

...A modest yes for number one...

...Rossano if what I had heard was true, that the Catholic delegation had agreed to the statements on Palestine and Israel, in stunned fashion he stammered, "No, no, it's a mistake, it's a mistake...

...demand the liberation of all detainees in occupied Palestine, notably the Muslim Ulemas and Christian clergy [Archbishop Capucci, presumably] . demand the liberation of all occupied territories...

...Was the dialogue a success...

...Still, the spirit of Muslim good will quickly closed over such gaps...

...The Christians' agony continued through the night and into the next afternoon as they strove to extricate themselves from the debacle...

...What is puzzling is that neither Cardinal Pignedoli nor Msgr...

...Each morning a paper was delivered by one Muslim and one Christian on the same topic...

...It is to this end the Muslim and Vatican delegations agreed to set up a permanent mixed Commission to implement that good will...

...Everyone's total Gravel and expenses-except mine-was paid for by Libya...

...It said that since numbers 20 and 21 of the Tripoli communique' contained matters beyond the jurisdiction of the Secretariat for Non-Christians, they were being turned over to the Vatican authorities in whose sole competence they lay...

...But apparently that is what happened, and consequently they, along with all the Christians, except one, were stunned when numbers 20 and 21 were read...

...The Christian participants often raised questions for their Muslim partners, but the Muslims rarely responded to them...

...Although the Catholic delegation had prepared a draft, they in fact used the Muslim-prepared draft as a working basis...

...Over 300 Muslims and Christians from every part of the world came as guests of President Qadafi...

...There was almost never any back-and-forth exchange...

...that day and simultaneously at a press conference in Tripoli, Libya...

...Hopefully the dialogues between Christianity and both Judaism and Islam will soon lead to a three-way dialogue among all the sons and daughters of Abraham and Sarah...

...There was a total good will expressed on the Christian side...

...I could not learn for certain which of the Christians worked on sections 20 and 21, but the signature of a member of the Christian delegation is on every page of the original Arabic version of the communique...

...At the close of the session people rushed to the stage, and when I asked Msgr...

...In the afternoon-evening session the panelists on the stage made their remarks...

...However, most of the Muslim lecturers and panelists obviously did not see the Palestine-Israel matter as politics, or did not feel bound by the agreed-upon restrictions...

...On the Muslim side irenicism was likewise the dominant spirit, but unfortunately some of the speeches were very polemic...

...One observer remarked, "We have once again played Judas and have sold another Jew for thirty pieces of silver...

...Very much so...

...Comments were then given from the floor, but they tended to be one speech after another...

...Point one...

...Rossano when he was told by one of the drafting committee that neither the French nor English translation (the other two official languages of the conference) would be ready by the beginning of the final session, when the communique was to be read...

...There is no question but that Qadafi's prestige in the Muslim world has increased immensely as a result of this spectacular dialogue-and its even more spectacular ending, discussed below...

...In actuality it was not much of a dialogue, in the sense of give and take by both partners...

...But as the facts slowly emerged during that night and the next day, the picture of what happened was not one of intrigue, but more like a Laurel and Hardy movie...

...More could not have been expected from the first major international Christian-Muslim dialogue...

...When it was shortly thereafter rumored that the Holy See and Libya had arranged to establish diplomatic relations and that permission was granted to open a church in Benghazi, the affair appeared even more sinister...

...LEONARD SWIDLERR...

...As Christian observers from the floor and many news reporters pressed around the Christian delegation (some newsmen ran to telex the communique to the world), the embarrassment and confusion became ever more intense...

...LEONARD SWIDLERham and Sarah...

...Nevertheless, there was expressed on the Muslim side an overriding desire for further contact, collaboration and conversation...

...They delivered violent attacks on "Zionism...

...The Christian lecturers and panelists were very disciplined in this regard-as were also the two heads of the Libyan delegation and several of the Muslim panelists...

...The scheduled press conference was canceled...

...I was with Msgr...

...Qadafi's appearance at the dialogue showed to the world a man of razor-keen intellect and charismatic power...

...1) Sincere desire for religious accord between Muslims and Christians...

...There was confusion everywhere among the Christians...

...Upon Libyan initiative a dialogue was planned with the Vatican Secretariat for Non-Christians to consist of twelve participants on each side, with perhaps a few observers...

...A committee composed of four Muslims and four Arabic-speaking Catholics met late into the night working on the communique...

...3) A wish to counterbalance Jewish influence through the Jewish-Christian dialogue by a parallel Muslim-Christian dialogue...

...At mid-day February 7, as I spoke with Cardinal Pignedoli in the car about to take him to the airport, he read over and signed a hastily hand-written French text to be read over the Vatican radio at 3 P.M...

...Point two...