Muslim scholars send Christmas greetings, accept dialogue invitation

Published: 2007-12-24

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- An international group of Muslim scholars has accepted an invitation from Pope Benedict XVI for a major dialogue session at the Vatican. Meanwhile, the group has issued a message of Christmas greeting to "our Christian neighbors all over the world." A letter from Jordan's Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, architect of the Muslim scholars' project, said the group planned to send representatives to the Vatican in February or March to work out details of the dialogue. The letter, dated Dec. 12 and addressed to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, thanked the pope for inviting the Muslim experts to meet with him and for the pontiff's personal encouragement of the dialogue initiative. The prince's letter said that although the Muslim scholars think that complete theological agreement between Christians and Muslims is impossible by definition, they do wish to seek a common stand based on areas of agreement -- "whether we wish to call this kind of dialogue 'theological' or 'spiritual' or something else."

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