Well, after twenty years, the Vatican has rediscovered the Regensburg speech

Rome. To mark the sixtieth anniversary of the conciliar declaration Nostra Aetate, the Pope has approved a document prepared by the Dicasteries for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the Promotion of Christian Unity and for Interreligious Dialogue. It is entitled “Un cammino di speranza”. Nostra Aetate, published in 1965, opened a new chapter, first and foremost in relations between Christians and Jews, and subsequently with other religions. The document approved by Leo XIV focuses on the origins of the conciliar text, analyses its developments and offers perspectives for the future. Naturally, the aim is to highlight the benefits of interreligious dialogue and the positive effects it could have on societies in this turbulent world. Among the many quotations, one in particular catches the eye. It is number 24, which reads as follows: “Perseverance in interreligious dialogue is intended to demonstrate that fundamentalism is a distortion of religions, which runs counter to their deepest vocation. In a well-known address, echoing the words of a Byzantine emperor, [Benedict XVI] stated that the spread of faith through violence is unreasonable. Violence is contrary to the nature of God and the nature of the soul.” The well-known speech is the Regensburg address, delivered by the then Pope on 12 September 2006. And the passage quoted today is precisely the one that triggered all that followed: rebukes from Islamic scholars, demands for an apology, letters, and petitions. And then attacks on churches, some of which were set alight. Including that passage in Ratzinger’s text was a “lapse of judgement”, some observed – even within the Secretariat of State – whilst others expressed concern about this professor-turned-Pope who knew little of the rules of diplomacy and its realist nature. Benedict even had to travel to Turkey two months later, almost as a gesture of reparation and apology.

Twenty years on, that ‘lightness’ is cited not in a homily or a brief address at a morning audience to some club or group on a trip to Rome, but in the sixty-paragraph document commemorating and celebrating Nostra Aetate. A document that also contains other references that have been forgotten or prematurely shelved. Such as the reference to Pope Francis’s words on dialogue with the Islamic faith, contained in the summa of his pontificate, Evangelii gaudium: “We Christians should welcome Muslim immigrants arriving in our countries with affection and respect, just as we hope and pray to be welcomed and respected in countries of Islamic tradition. I pray, and humbly implore, these countries to guarantee freedom to Christians so that they may practise their worship and live out their faith, bearing in mind the freedom that followers of Islam enjoy in Western countries!”. To be clearer, the authors of today’s Note emphasise that “elsewhere, the rise of fundamentalism, the persistence of prejudice, the political manipulation of religious affiliations, or violence committed in the name of God undermine the very foundations of dialogue. In secularised societies, religious discourse is sometimes marginalised or exploited, reduced to folklore or subjective opinion, or obscured entirely”. There is also a call to combat contempt towards Jews and Judaism: “Solidarity with the Jewish people,” the statement reads, “also includes the common struggle against anti-Semitism”.