P
Patriot Games
Guest
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/pope_muslim_convert/2008/03/22/82353.html
Pope Baptizes Prominent Italian Muslim
Saturday, March 22, 2008
VATICAN CITY -- Italy's most prominent Muslim commentator, a journalist with
iconoclastic views such as support for Israel, converted to Roman
Catholicism Saturday when the pope baptized him at an Easter service.
As a choir sang, Pope Benedict XVI poured holy water over Magdi Allam's head
and said a brief prayer in Latin.
"We no longer stand alongside or in opposition to one another," Benedict
said in a homily reflecting on the meaning of baptism. "Thus faith is a
force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people
are overcome, in the Lord we have become close."
Vatican television zoomed in on Allam, who sat in the front row of the
basilica along with six other candidates for baptism.
An Egyptian-born, non-practicing Muslim who is married to a Catholic, Allam
often writes on Muslim and Arab affairs and has infuriated some Muslims with
his criticism of extremism and support for the Jewish state.
The deputy editor of the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Allam, 55, told the
Il Giornale newspaper in a December interview that his criticism of
Palestinian suicide bombing generated threats on his life in 2003, prompting
the Italian government to provide him with a sizable security detail.
The nighttime service at St. Peter's Basilica marked the period between Good
Friday, which commemorates Jesus' crucifixion, and Easter Sunday, which
marks his resurrection.
Benedict opened by blessing a white candle, which he then carried down the
main aisle of the darkened basilica. Slowly, the pews began to light up as
his flame was shared with candles carried by the faithful, until the whole
basilica twinkled and the main lights came on.
The Union of Islamic Communities in Italy _ which Allam has frequently
criticized as having links to Hamas _ said the baptism was his own decision.
"He is an adult, free to make his personal choice," the Apcom news agency
quoted the group's spokesman, Issedin El Zir, as saying.
The pope administers baptism "without making any 'difference of people,'
that is, considering all equally important before the love of God and
welcoming all in the community of the Church," said the Vatican spokesman,
the Rev. Federico Lombardi.
Allam, who has a young son with his Catholic wife and two adult children
from a previous relationship, indicated in the Il Giornale interview that he
would have no problem converting to Christianity. He said he had even
received Communion once _ when he was 13 or 14 _ "even though I knew it was
an act of blasphemy, not having been baptized."
He said he did make the pilgrimage to Mecca, as is required of all Muslims,
with his deeply religious mother in 1991, although he was not otherwise
observant.
"I was never practicing," he was quoted as saying. "I never prayed five
times a day, facing Mecca. I never fasted during Ramadan."
Allam also explained his decision to entitle a recent book "Viva Israel" or
"Long Live Israel," saying he wrote it after he received death threats from
Hamas.
"Having been condemned to death, I have reflected a long time on the value
of life. And I discovered that behind the origin of the ideology of hatred,
violence and death is the discrimination against Israel. Everyone has the
right to exist except for the Jewish state and its inhabitants," he said.
"Today, Israel is the paradigm of the right to life."
In 2006, Allam was a co-winner, with three other journalists, of the $1
million Dan David prize, named for an Israeli entrepreneur. Allam was cited
for "his ceaseless work in fostering understanding and tolerance between
cultures."
There is no overarching Muslim law on conversion. But under a widespread
interpretation of Islamic legal doctrine, converting from Islam is apostasy
and punishable by death _ though killings are rare.
Egypt's highest Islamic cleric, the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, wrote last year
against the killing of apostates, saying there is no worldly retribution for
Muslims who abandon their religion and that punishment would come in the
afterlife.
On Wednesday, a new audio message from Osama bin Laden accused the pope of
playing a "large and lengthy role" in a "new Crusade" against Islam that
included the publication of drawings of the Prophet Muhammad that many
Muslims found insulting.
Lombardi said Thursday that bin Laden's accusation was baseless. He said
Benedict repeatedly criticized the Muhammad cartoons, first published in
some European newspapers in 2006 and republished by Danish papers in
February.
Pope Baptizes Prominent Italian Muslim
Saturday, March 22, 2008
VATICAN CITY -- Italy's most prominent Muslim commentator, a journalist with
iconoclastic views such as support for Israel, converted to Roman
Catholicism Saturday when the pope baptized him at an Easter service.
As a choir sang, Pope Benedict XVI poured holy water over Magdi Allam's head
and said a brief prayer in Latin.
"We no longer stand alongside or in opposition to one another," Benedict
said in a homily reflecting on the meaning of baptism. "Thus faith is a
force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people
are overcome, in the Lord we have become close."
Vatican television zoomed in on Allam, who sat in the front row of the
basilica along with six other candidates for baptism.
An Egyptian-born, non-practicing Muslim who is married to a Catholic, Allam
often writes on Muslim and Arab affairs and has infuriated some Muslims with
his criticism of extremism and support for the Jewish state.
The deputy editor of the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Allam, 55, told the
Il Giornale newspaper in a December interview that his criticism of
Palestinian suicide bombing generated threats on his life in 2003, prompting
the Italian government to provide him with a sizable security detail.
The nighttime service at St. Peter's Basilica marked the period between Good
Friday, which commemorates Jesus' crucifixion, and Easter Sunday, which
marks his resurrection.
Benedict opened by blessing a white candle, which he then carried down the
main aisle of the darkened basilica. Slowly, the pews began to light up as
his flame was shared with candles carried by the faithful, until the whole
basilica twinkled and the main lights came on.
The Union of Islamic Communities in Italy _ which Allam has frequently
criticized as having links to Hamas _ said the baptism was his own decision.
"He is an adult, free to make his personal choice," the Apcom news agency
quoted the group's spokesman, Issedin El Zir, as saying.
The pope administers baptism "without making any 'difference of people,'
that is, considering all equally important before the love of God and
welcoming all in the community of the Church," said the Vatican spokesman,
the Rev. Federico Lombardi.
Allam, who has a young son with his Catholic wife and two adult children
from a previous relationship, indicated in the Il Giornale interview that he
would have no problem converting to Christianity. He said he had even
received Communion once _ when he was 13 or 14 _ "even though I knew it was
an act of blasphemy, not having been baptized."
He said he did make the pilgrimage to Mecca, as is required of all Muslims,
with his deeply religious mother in 1991, although he was not otherwise
observant.
"I was never practicing," he was quoted as saying. "I never prayed five
times a day, facing Mecca. I never fasted during Ramadan."
Allam also explained his decision to entitle a recent book "Viva Israel" or
"Long Live Israel," saying he wrote it after he received death threats from
Hamas.
"Having been condemned to death, I have reflected a long time on the value
of life. And I discovered that behind the origin of the ideology of hatred,
violence and death is the discrimination against Israel. Everyone has the
right to exist except for the Jewish state and its inhabitants," he said.
"Today, Israel is the paradigm of the right to life."
In 2006, Allam was a co-winner, with three other journalists, of the $1
million Dan David prize, named for an Israeli entrepreneur. Allam was cited
for "his ceaseless work in fostering understanding and tolerance between
cultures."
There is no overarching Muslim law on conversion. But under a widespread
interpretation of Islamic legal doctrine, converting from Islam is apostasy
and punishable by death _ though killings are rare.
Egypt's highest Islamic cleric, the Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, wrote last year
against the killing of apostates, saying there is no worldly retribution for
Muslims who abandon their religion and that punishment would come in the
afterlife.
On Wednesday, a new audio message from Osama bin Laden accused the pope of
playing a "large and lengthy role" in a "new Crusade" against Islam that
included the publication of drawings of the Prophet Muhammad that many
Muslims found insulting.
Lombardi said Thursday that bin Laden's accusation was baseless. He said
Benedict repeatedly criticized the Muhammad cartoons, first published in
some European newspapers in 2006 and republished by Danish papers in
February.
