Which Road will the Pope Take?

On April 19, conservative German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected as the 265th leader of 1.1 Billion Catholics worldwide. He succeeded Pope John Paul II, a man who supported religious relativism and worked to enforce better relations with Jews and Muslims. The late Pope was the first ever Catholic head to visit a synagogue or a mosque, and was warmly regarded by Muslims as someone who reached out to the Muslim world and pushed for further dialogue with Middle-Eastern countries.

The appointment of the new pontiff, however, should be met with cautious optimism. He has, in the past, made some startling statements that might not endear him to Muslims. In a religious magazine last year he stated, “the rebirth of Islam is due in part to the new material richness acquired by Muslim countries, but mainly to the knowledge that it is able to offer a valid spiritual foundation for the life of its people, a foundation that seems to have escaped from the hands of old Europe,". He also criticized Europe’s present multi-culturaled nature by stating that it is “constantly and passionately encouraged and supported, because it sometimes amounts to an abandonment and disavowal of what is our own.”

A statement such as this easily fits into the thinking of the traditional school of Catholic thought, which is of the view that the ever-increasing number of Muslims in Europe poses a constant threat to Catholic culture. It also tends to project that the decline of Christianity in Europe has nothing to do with weakness in faith of its own people and everything to do with the rising influence of Islam in the continent. Such a view, if accepted by European countries, might further sideline Muslims in Europe by imposing laws and regulations that will push them away from the basics of their religion – like the law that banned headscarves in France.

Pope Benedict XVI, Mr.Ratzinger’s papal name, has also gone on record to say that he is against Turkey’s induction into the European Union. “Turkey has always represented a different continent, always in contrast with Europe," he told the Paris newspaper Le Figaro, “Europe was founded not on geography, but on a common faith. We have to redefine what Europe is, and we cannot stop at positivism.”

This is a disturbing thought which only reflects religious favoritism, if one puts it politely. The idea that an Islamic Turkey cannot merge with a Christian Europe not only is a Stone-Age point of view but also is a slap on the face of Europe’s pronounced multi-culturalism and secularism. He has also mentioned his intention to have a dialogue with Jews, but has yet to say anything similar pertaining to Muslims.

Those words, however, were the words of Cardinal Ratzinger, who was no where near as influential as Pope Benedict XVI is. Pope Benedict, a name that he chose to supposedly soften his image among the papacy and the public, will be more neutral and well-balanced than Cardinal Ratzinger. But a question begs to be asked: Will the new Pope walk the line of his predecessor in pursuing inter-faith harmony or will he gently side with the ultra-conservatives of the Catholic faith?