On Sunday, Islamic Prayers and readings from the Quran were heard from the Vatican for the first time in history. The prayers came as a result of Pope Francis’s request that Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meet him at the Vatican City to pray amongst each other for peace. Pope Francis hoped that inter-faith dialogue would promote peace between the Israeli and Palestinian people.
What remains unclear is why the Pope decided to invite President Peres instead of Abbas’s head-of-state counterpart, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to attend the prayers at the Vatican.
A representative from the Holy See said Friday that the prayers would be a “pause in politics.” However, skeptics have noted that the very act of bringing Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders together to “pray for peace” is a politically-charged move in and of itself. ...
Dr. Alan Cairns | 8/3/2009
