What happened?
Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, arguably the most senior cleric in the Sunni Muslim world, met Pope Francis during a private audience at the Vatican. Al-Tayeb is grand imam of Al-Azhar, the Sunni centre of learning in Cairo. The two men spoke for 25 minutes, focusing on the possibilities for religious communities to give a common witness against extremism. Al-Tayeb had previously broken off talks with Benedict XVI. Francis told Al-Tayeb: “The meeting is the message.”
What the British media are saying
The Daily Mail called the meeting “a historic bid to reopen dialogue”, and said that the two leaders had spoken about the plight of persecuted Christians. The paper also reported that after the meeting, al-Tayeb will go to Paris “to open a Muslim-Catholic conference on East-West relations”. Lebanon’s Daily Star noted that relations between the Church and Sunni Islam had strengthened in the past few years. For instance, Pope Francis had “underlined” his commitment to dialogue with Muslims “with a personal message to the Muslim world to mark the end of the first month of Ramadan of his pontificate”. After Benedict XVI’s call for better protection of Egypt’s Christian minority, Al-Azhar froze talks. So the visit “marks the restoration of cordial relations between the two faiths”.
What the vaticanisti are saying
The meeting was a major event, said Gerald O’Connell at America magazine. “Some 22 per cent of the world’s population is Muslim today, and 85 per cent of all Muslims are Sunnis”; Al-Azhar “is the most prestigious centre of learning of Sunni Islam” and forms more imams than anywhere else. John Allen of cruxnow.com observed that Pope Francis already had “considerable political capital in the bank in the Muslim world”. As an Argentine, he is not associated with Western foreign policy – which he has sometimes openly criticised. He has visited several countries with majority Muslim populations, and housed Muslim refugees at the Vatican. The meeting was “a chance to spend [some of that] capital”, by raising religious freedom and the battle against extremism.
The most overlooked story of the week
✣ Cardinal says the Devil is attacking the family
What happened?
Cardinal Robert Sarah has called on Catholics to fight “ideological colonialism” which threatens the family. Speaking at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC, the cardinal, head of the Vatican’s liturgy department, said the Devil hated the family because it was an institution that showed forth the love of God.
Why was it under-reported?
Cardinal Sarah spoke directly against same-sex marriage as well as cohabitation, divorce and reproductive technologies – all of which, he said, Pope Francis had regularly spoken against. But the US has been through a long and divisive rhetorical war over marriage, and since the Supreme Court introduced same-sex unions, there is a certain weariness on both sides. The cardinal is not yet a household name outside the Church; the media may also feel awkward about attacking an African prelate for upholding traditional moral beliefs.
What will happen next?
Cardinal Sarah identified two coming threats: first, “gender ideology”, which the cardinal said was exemplified by a campaign to remove laws that stopped transgender people visiting their preferred public toilet; secondly, the attacks on religious freedom, which he said were “equally damaging, yet more hidden” than direct violence against Christians in the developing world. As these battles intensify, Cardinal Sarah is likely to become a globally recognised figure. His book, God or Nothing, has already won many fans.
✣ The week ahead
A relic of St Thomas Becket will finish its pilgrimage in England tomorrow at Canterbury Cathedral, where the saint was martyred in 1170. A procession through the city will end with a ceremony of welcome at the cathedral. The relic, a bone fragment, is on tour from Hungary. Its tour began at Westminster Cathedral on Monday; it will be in Rochester today.
St Teresa of the Child Jesus, a church in Norris Green, Liverpool, will hold its fourth annual Forty Hours devotion this weekend. This will include two all- night vigils. The church also plans a Blessed Sacrament procession.
London’s Spirit in the City festival will take place from Wednesday June 1 to Saturday June 4. The festival, which focuses on evangelisation and mercy, takes place around Leicester Square. It will include the première of a film about Mary, talks, workshops, Eucharistic adoration, Mass and Confession, and street evangelisation. See spiritinthecity.org.