The students of Christianity remember that after the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), the Church had asked the Christians to "acknowledge, preserve and promote the values of other faiths". A noble piece of advice indeed!
Amidst the Christian crusades - Islamic Jihad days too, one comes across glimpses of Christian-Muslim entente. In 1076 CE, the Muslim Emperor Anzir of Mauritania sent some gifts to Pope Gregory VI. The Pontiff acknowledged the gesture by an extraordinary letter. The Pope said: "Almighty God Who desires all human beings to be saved (1 Tim.2:4) and none to perish is well pleased to approve in us most of all that besides loving God, humans love fellow-humans and do not do to others anything they do not want to be done unto themselves (Mt 7:14). We and you must show in a special way to the other nations an example of this charity, for we believe and confess one God, although in different ways".
Had Pope John Paul II' cared to remember the exemplary precedents set by his revered predecessors, he would not have created an unseemly row by showing reluctance in going to Nazareth, which the Christians believe, is the boyhood home of Jesus Christ (Blessings of Allah be upon him). The Pontiff was scheduled to go there during his millennium year trip. The reason of the possible cancellation of the next March Papal visit is the planned construction of a mosque, next to the Basilica of Annunciation. The Christian leaders in Jerusalem announced that "All sanctuaries of the Holy Land will be closed on 22 and 23 November 1999 to express disapproval of the plan for a mosque near the a Basilica of the Annunciation ...
... The statement also implies that the Christian groups would take further action if the Israeli Government did not ... prevent mosque construction ... The United States National Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged President Bill Clinton to "express the United States concern" over the mosque construction and ask Prime Minister Barak "to consider the impact of Israel's credibility in serving as a guardian of the Holy Places".
... It is clear that to the Catholic Bishops, a mosque, a House of God, near Basilica would damage the sanctity of the Basilica ... Nazareth is the biggest Arab city (in) Israel.
The proposed mosque is not an encroachment. The Israeli Government ... gave the go-ahead to build a mosque. Two years ago, the Municipality of Nazareth had cleared the said construction ... The Muslims the world over are stunned at the Christian protest and its possible fall-out ...
