The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, met privately with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican where the two religious leaders discussed Christian-Muslim relations.
The 20-minute meeting on Monday came months after Williams, the spiritual leader of the 77-million member Anglican Communion, drew fire for suggesting that it was "unavoidable" to adopt some aspects of Sharia law in the British legal system.
An Anglican spokesman said the visit with the pope, who also discussed in the meeting interfaith dialogue and his impression of his visit to the United States last month, was "warm and friendly."
Earlier this year, Williams had sparked a storm of criticism when he suggested in a speech that it was "unavoidable" that some aspects of Sharia law would be adopted in the British legal system. His comments were made at a time when the Muslim population has reached 1.8 million in Britain and continues to grow.
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's top official for relations with Islam, had criticized the Anglican head as mistaken and "naive" for his Sharia remarks.
While many religious leaders did not agree with Williams' comments, some – including the Rev. Joel Edwards of the Evangelical Alliance – came to his defense calling Christians and wider public to join the debate on how faith should operate in the political and legal sphere.
Edwards urged a "ceasefire" in the row between people of faith and those with no faith over the place of religious belief under the rule of law.
Monday's meeting was the first with the pope since the Sharia law storm.
During the visit, it was announced that Cardinal Ivan Dias, the Indian prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, will participate in July's Lambeth Conference, which brings Anglican bishops together in London once every 10 years.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, may also attend the conference.
Williams is in Rome to convene the 7th Building Bridges Seminar, an annual series which brings together a range of internationally recognized Christian and Muslim scholars for an intensive study of relevant Biblical and Koranic texts.
The seminar, which is organized in partnership with Georgetown University, is scheduled for May 6-8. The theme for this year's seminar is "Communicating the Word: Revelation, Translation and Interpretation in Christianity and Islam."
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Star2:
(Now the Pope's position is far above in authority, and practice. He is to the point of being a God on the earth to you all. I mean this guy even has the power in your rules and regulations to send someone to hell because they just might happen to disagree with a position he takes if the offending Catholic doesn't repent. He has no such power with God. It is blasphemous for him to think he does.)
The Pope is not our God! He has no power to send someone to hell, you know it, and he cannot even send you there Star2, only God can do that (just keep shooting down His holy Church). As you point out the Pope has no such power with God, yet he has a God given authority.... What you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven... What you loose on earthy will be loosed in Heaven. Obviously the Holy Catholic Church has the clear authority to guide us in matters of faith and morality.
(Their is no comparison of the SBC President and the Pope. The SBC President oversees the business aspects of the convention and does not act as a spiritual dictator and guru for the SBC masses as the Pope does for the Catholics. The denomination that is out of line here scripturally is the RCC.)
Very good Star2! Once again you are correct in saying that the Pope (and he speaks for you too like it or not) does not oversee the business aspects of Christ's Church. More importantly he is here to Sheppard us toward Heaven. Thank God that He has given us the leadership of the Pope. Otherwise, we'd be left on our own to scramble around and figure things out for ourselves just like you. This would be confusing (as it clearly is to us outsiders watching you) and this would take away from actual worship time. This way I can relax knowing that the Bible has been interpreted for me and I can spend my time more effectively with God in Praise and Worship of Him!
(Taking the title of Holy Father, a title reserved only for God the Father, is blasphemous. There is nothing holy about your pope. He is full of sin and wickedness. He is an idolater. He needs to repent and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and leave the Catholic Church.)
Prove your point Star2. Do you personally know Benedict16? Have you walked beside him for 24 hours to know if he is full of sin and wickedness? Have you seen any headlines on CNN to prove your point? Has he been caught in any sort of scandal? Is it a fact that he has not received Jesus as his Lord and Savour? How would you know? Don't be so flippant Star2, prove your points.....
Bondservant that's a lot of boasting! WOW! Have you been drinking again?
MSNChris70 said...
"The fact remains that Protestantism is the highest form of man-made traditions."
Couldn't be... we have had only 500 years to develop our 'man-made' traditions, the Roman Catholic Church had the corner on that market for 3x that long before the Reformation. What do you think the Reformation was all about?
Just because you were a Protestant Pastor for 20 years doesn't mean a thing. I know a few who have been that for twice as long as you and don't know half of what I know when it comes to Biblical Christianity. Heck I even know a few who aren't even Christian!
msnchris70
When you were a Protestant Pastor, were you married? If yes, are you still married? Are you a widower? Are you a divorcee?
Are you a Catholic Priest?
msnchris70
I am a born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not Catholic. Your Pope does not speak for me. He will never speak for me!
Re:Now, I can see the value of having one person be the key leader or prime minister for the entire church.
And you criticize the SBC for wanting to select a President to lead the denomination in business matters and evangelism. How hypocritical of you!
Yes, the convention establishes what their doctrinal positions are but anyone who has ever been a part of the Southern Baptist denomination knows that each Church is autonomus and has a right to believe according to their understanding of the scripture. Every Baptist Church I have ever attended was a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. Each Church mainly accepted what they called the Baptist Faith but not all. I attended one that was a member of the SBC and they were full gospel; that means they believed in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues, and they operated in all the supernatural gifts of the spirit. This is something that the Southern Baptist Faith did not endorse. The SBC mainly deals with world evangelism. Churches collect the Lotti Moon Offering and another one I can't remember right now and give it to the convention so that the foreign missionaries can have finanical support to carry on their work in the foreign lands they were sent to. The state convention I believe takes 10% of the Churches gross receipt for furthering missions activity and support at home (USA). The President of the SBC oversees the work of the convention. Every organiztion need a head.
Now the Pope's position is far above in authority, and practice. He is to the point of being a God on the earth to you all. I mean this guy even has the power in your rules and regulations to send someone to hell because they just might happen to disagree with a position he takes if the offending Catholic doesn't repent. He has no such power with God. It is blasphemous for him to think he does.
Their is no comparison of the SBC President and the Pope. The SBC President oversees the business aspects of the convention and does not act as a spiritual dictator and guru for the SBC masses as the Pope does for the Catholics. The denomination that is out of line here scripturally is the RCC.
Taking the title of Holy Father, a title reserved only for God the Father, is blasphemous.
There is nothing holy about your pope. He is full of sin and wickedness. He is an idolater. He needs to repent and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and leave the Catholic Church.
The RCC is an apostate Church. Wake up bud and come out of her before it is too late.
A Prayer after a Service. In respect of which Pope Leo X. has granted to all persons who after saying the Divine Office shall devoutly recite it on their knees, condonation of the shortcomings and faults committed by them from human frailty in saying the Office.
To the Most Holy and undivided Trinity, to the Manhood of our Lord Jesus Christ Crucified, to the fruitful Virginity of the most blessed and most glorious Mary, always a Virgin, and to the holiness of all the Saints be ascribed everlasting praise, honour, and glory, by all creatures, and to us be granted the forgiveness of all our sins, world without end. Amen. (The Roman Breviary Vol. I--Winter)
Judge yourself concerning the above prayer, but notice how the prayer is also directed to the fruitful “Virginity.” When did “Virginity” become something to direct one’s prayers to? Take heed and remain steadfast, and let no man direct you from 2Ti 3:16, 17: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works”
Lastly my friends in Christ,
When you divorce yourselves from the Bible and Apostolic Tradition with Historical record you are basically rejecting the foundation of Christianity. You see, Christ did found a Church. The Church was visible and invisible. The Visible Church had Apostles, Bishops, Priests and Deacons and the invisible church were the body of Christ unified in their belief in Christ. This Church's leader was Peter and his successors were Bishops who had primacy among all other Bishops. The Bishop of Rome was always the seat of the President of all Christians and he historically had binding and losing authority because of Scripture.
The Catholic Church is simply the most Scriptural and Historical Church period. If Jesus wasn't the founder of your church, then you are simply a man-made tradtion. There are good traditions and bad traditions. A bad tradition would be interpreting the Bible for yourself outside of ecumenical councils and of historic Christianity who interpreted every verse in the Bible well before the 8th Century.
Being a Protestant today means that you would rather take the teaching of your local Pastor over the historic Apostolic teachings of the church that Christ founded. You honestly can not find Protestant's version of Christianity in the first 1500 years.
Whether you like it or not, the Pope speaks for all of Christianity. I know you won't like it, and either did I when I was a Protestant Pastor for almost 20 years. Now, I can see the value of having one person be the key leader or prime minister for the entire church. Since, Protestantism is so divided it would be difficult to ever have one leader and speak with one voice and because we chose to break away from Rome, we have lost unity and we have lost the one voice that speaks for all of us Christians.
Here is a challenge. Start reading the early church fathers and if you don't become Catholic or at least Orthdox within five years I'll be surprised. The fact remains that Protestantism is the highest form of man-made traditions. It's time we replace man-made for God-made and that is His church founded on the Apostles instead of our local Pastor who makes it up as he goes.
The Pope will dialogue with Islam to convert them to Christianity. Most of you on this post must be fundamentalists because, no one who has faith and reason would ever think the Pope was meeting with these Muslim leaders with any other point than spreading the Gospel of Christ.
The reason why we have Muslims today is because of Gnostic Sects in the 4th and 5th Century who perverted Christian beliefs to the point where Arabs thought we worshipped three Gods versus the Truth of us worshipping one God in three persons. The Trinity was not an easy concept for 4th and 5th Century Christians let alone Gnostics who got it wrong and helped start Mohammedians that became Muslims. Confusion like this started a World Religion called Islam. Much like confusion has begat Protestant Christians who still think Catholics worship Mary. By discussing issues directly with people you can find out what they really believe instead of using biased third party evalatuations.
When JPII kissed the Koran, he did so understanding arab culture. By kissing the Koran he shows respect for their beliefs without diminishing the fullness of God's revelation which is Christ. Moreover, when a Muslim receives the New Testament as a gift from the Pope He would in turn kiss the Bible too. It is nothing more than being respectful. Without a larger cultural lens, I can see where you went wrong and mistakenly judged it for him condoning Islam.
I don't feel shame that the pope did that- I feel sorry for him that he has been deceived. Don't align yourself with ungodlyness unless to witness to of the glory of JESUS CHRIST, IN HIS NAME
fbadams and artm--
I couldn't agree more! You both got it right. Christians should preach the gospel to those lost in darkness (the Muslims) but we have no business having any other relationship with them and their faith. It is a false religion spread by the sword, and revealed by the devil. Christians shouldn't have anything to do with such an evil and twisted religion, or its followers, except to preach the gospel to them and pray they will be saved from eternal damnation.
Anything that our religious leaders do that in any way affirms or legitimizes Islam is wrong and shameful. I'll never get over seeing that picture of Pope John Paul II "kissing" the Koran that was presented to him. Such an evil book shouldn't have even been touched by the Pope much less "kissed". In doing that he was affirming to Muslims that Christians recognize their faith as valid and revealed. It is not, in either case, and he had no business doing such a thing. All Catholics and all Christians should feel shame that he did that. We have no business recognizing Islam in any way, shape or form.
Other than to preach the Gospel to people on their way to eternal damnation, we have no business dialoguing with islam. That is a false religion responsible for countless millions of lost lives thrust into perdition. Our Christian leaders should not afiirm any aspect of such a deadly institution. And this is not even to address the horrible religious law of islam that relegates women to third class status and requires killing of its enemies. Christians should stick to presenting the Gospel of a living, loving Christ, not accommodation or acquiescense to falsity.
" How can two walk together except they be agree" There can be no relationship with Christian Faith and those of the muslim faith. What fellowship has light with darkness.?
Watch out Church, Jesus is coming.