The Roman Catholic bishop of Arabia has published a letter on the dialogue call by 138 Muslim scholars pointing out possible stumbling blocs for future talks. The article by Bishop Paul Hinder in Oasis , a multilingual Catholic-Muslim dialogue magazine published in Venice, welcomes the appeal and says: “Here are Muslims offering a hand that we should take.”

The Swiss-born bishop is based in Abu Dhabi with responsibility for Catholics in the whole Arabian Peninsula. Just before the historic visit by Saudi King Abdullah to the Vatican on Nov. 6, he called in a Reuters interview for more freedom and security for minority Christians in Saudi Arabia and more freedom for foreign priests to enter the country to administer to them. There are about 1.2 million Christians in Saudi Arabia, nearly a million of them Catholics. Most are Filipino migrant workers.

In his Oasis article, Hinder listed several points that seem to have raised questions among Catholic theologians:

– There has to be further clarification about whether “the love of God” and the “love of neighbour” have the same meaning in both religions … we cannot speak about the love of God and love of the neighbour without taking a clear position regarding the human dignity of each individual person and his or her right to live and to grow in freedom … For Christians, love goes beyond neighbour to include the enemy too, whether that person belongs to their own religion or not…

– Another crucial point might be that Christians cannot simply see Jesus Christ as one among other prophets, but profess him in his divinity as the living Son of God within the belief in One God in three Persons.

– Looking at some of the signatories, the question might be raised of whether some of their earlier statements and publications can be interpreted or revised in the light of this letter, or whether its credibility should suffer because of their earlier statements. I am more than happy if the first of these two presumptions is the right one.

– Regarding the love of God and the love of the neighbour, Jews and Christians have literally a common ground, which is explicitly mentioned in the letter of the 138 Muslims. Taking the content and the quotations of the Open Letter I am surprised that it is addressed to Christian leaders only and not also to the Jewish leaders. Is it not a missed opportunity?

Hinder has also spoken to the Rome-based Catholic news agency AsiaNews about King Abdullah’s visit and what it could mean for Christians in Saudi Arabia.

Aref Ali Nayed, one of the 138 Muslim scholars, spoke to the BBC’s Reporting Religion programme on the twin theme of the appeal and Abdullah’s visit. And Adrian Pabst, a professor of religion and politics, wrote in the International Herald Tribune that “We need a real debate, not more dialogue.”

The tenor of the Muslim appeal seems to be that the issues Hinder mentions are minor, while some Catholic reactions hint they could be major hurdles.

Do you think these Catholic reservations should hold up a dialogue that many other Christian leaders have responded positively to?

The Vatican is taking its time to study the dialogue appeal from 138 Muslim scholars before giving an official reply, but the Catholic Church’s Islam and inter-faith experts seem to be lining up to comment on it. After Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, S.J. yesterday, Cardinal Angelo Scola has given his positive analysis of it today. Since taking his post in 2002 as Patriarch of Venice, a city that has had extensive trading links to the East for centuries, the former rector of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome has started up the Studium Generale Marcianum institute to study Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim culture. He also launched a unique biannual review named Oasis to foster Christian-Muslim understanding. It publishes reports and reviews in four separate bilingual editions — Italian and Arabic, French and Arabic, English and Arabic and English and Urdu.

In a front-page interview with the Milan daily Il Foglio (here in Italian), Scola said the call for dialogue took a realistic approach and the number and prominence of its signatories were impressive. Scola said he was also impressed “by the fact, probably without precedent, that the quotes concerning Jesus Christ were taken from the Gospels and not from the Koran. … It is a very encouraging signal, since it demonstrates that good will and dialogue can overcome prejudices. It is a spiritual reflection on the love of God.”

“The document, set in the perspective of the double love of God and neighbour, highlights a part of Muslim tradition that has been partially overshadowed by the growth of fundamentalism,” he said. “The Muslim leaders identify themselves with those ‘others’ of whom Jesus said: ‘those who are not against us are with us’.” Between the lines, he said, could also be read a condemnation of terrorism.

Scola said the text was of necessity limited in its scope. “We shouldn’t ask more of this document that it can give,” he said. “It is only the prelude to a theological dialogue that, in an atmosphere of great mutual esteem, proposes to investigate the contents of these two pillars (the love of the one God and the love of one’s neighbour) in the two religious traditions.”

Asked if Pope Benedict’s Regensburg speech had triggered this reaction, the cardinal said: “Surely the pope’s speech set off some very interesting dynamics within Islam. As the signatories recognise, the interconnections between Christians and Muslims in today’s world make it impossible to put off taking a position regarding the problem of the coexistence of different faiths … The document indicates an important starting point for an authentic dialogue.”