In mid-July 2017, the ‘Interfaith Coalition for Peace’ organized a talk, at India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC), New Delhi, by Prof. Fr. Michael Calabria, Director of the Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies at St. Bonaventure University of USA. The topic was ‘Pope Francis and Muslims’.

Fr. Michael informed that in 1219, during the fifth Crusade, St. Francis (after whom the Pope has taken his name) had insisted and travelled to Damietta in Egypt. He tried to prevent the European Crusaders from attacking Muslims but had failed in the attempt; the Crusaders had to face defeat.

After this, St. Francis crossed the line of war, following which he was arrested and brought before Sultan Malek Al-Kamil. Thereafter, for twenty days he and the Sultan had a lengthy exchange of views on issues relating to worship and the mystical way of life, which led St. Francis to discover that both Muslims and Christians are fellow devotees of God. When St. Francis was leaving, the Sultan gifted him an ivory trumpet, which is still preserved in the crypt of the Basilica at Assisi.

In his presentation at the IICC, Fr. Calabria said that during the Holy Week in 2013 (and later in 2016), when Pope Francis washed the feet of the poor and needy people at the Vatican—which is an annual ritual—it was for the first time that women and Muslims were also included among those whose feet the Pope decided to wash. In an apostolic exhortation issued from the Vatican in 2013, viz. The Joy of the Gospel, the Pope included some supplications (dua) that Muslims usually make and stressed the need for practical efforts across the world to promote love and brotherhood between Muslims and Christians. On that occasion Pope Francis advised the Christian-majority countries to embrace Syrians fleeing their homeland and to give them refuge.

In 2014, Pope Francis accompanied a Muslim imam and a Jewish rabbi to the Dome of the Rock and the Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, where he addressed Muslims, referring to them as brothers. The same year in Turkey, the Pope joined the Islamic congregational worship known as Salah or Namaz led by the Imam. In 2015 in Sri Lanka, Pope Francis called for mutual respect, cooperation and friendship among people of different faiths, declaring this as the only route for the welfare of humanity. With an appeal to observe 2015 as the Year of Peace, the Pope mentioned that according to the Quran, mercy and compassion are among the most exalted attributes of God.

Continuing with his narration of some of the major steps that Pope Francis has taken, Fr. Calabria alluded to the Pope’s critique of the oppression of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, which he said was one-sided violence based simply on account of the victims’ religion being Islam. In the same year during September 2015, the Pope visited ‘Ground Zero’ in New York along with a Muslim imam and a Jewish rabbi.

In 2016, Pope Francis went to Egypt and met with the Imam of Al-Azhar, one of the leading centres of Islamic learning in the world. When asked by media persons what message he wanted to give on the occasion, the Pope replied that the meeting itself was his message to the world. Building and maintaining good relations with Muslims was the foremost priority. Later, when journalists asked him what he might like to say about ‘Islamic terrorism’, Pope Francis replied that in Italy, there is violence every day, which is done by people who call themselves Christians, but no one terms it ‘Christian terrorism’. Hence, to talk of ‘Islamic terrorism’ is wrong. Fr. Calabria reminded the audience that during his eight years of presidency, US President Barack Obama never used the term ‘Islamic terrorism’ and reiterated that we don’t say Christian violence and Jewish violence although both exist.

Fr. Calabria emphasised that in 2016, while in Azerbaijan, the Pope mentioned that one’s self-enrichment lies in opening one’s doors to others with the goal of human good. In the same year, in Rome, the Pope mentioned that in both Arabic and Hebrew, the word Rahm or compassion or mercy is derived from the 3-letter root R-H-M that means the mother’s womb where the infant develops and from where it enters the world. So, peace in the world begins from Rahm, which means both womb and kindness. Thus, mercy and compassion are among the foremost attributes of God and He expects the same from human beings too.

Fr. Calabria remarked that the Pope has sent a message to the world to convert conflicts into mutual co-operation through interfaith dialogue and stressed that political conflicts must not be given a religious colour.

• By Dr. Syed Zafar Mahmood

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