Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale1042

EPISTULA

Responsio missa ad Principem Ghazi Bin Muhammad Bin Talal, Praesidem Aal

Al-Bayt Institute For Islamic Thought.

Your Royal Highness,

On 13 October 2007 an open letter addressed to His Holiness Pope Ben-

edict XVI and to other Christian leaders was signed by one hundred and

thirty-eight Muslim religious leaders, including Your Royal Highness. You,

in turn, were kind enough to present it to Bishop Salim Sayegh, Vicar of the

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in Jordan, with the request that it be forwarded

to His Holiness.

The Pope has asked me to convey his gratitude to Your Royal Highness

and to all who signed the letter. He also wishes to express his deep apprecia-

tion for this gesture, for the positive spirit which inspired the text and for the

call for a common commitment to promoting peace in the world.

Without ignoring or downplaying our differences as Christians and Mus-

lims, we can and therefore should look to what unites us, namely, belief in the

one God, the provident Creator and universal Judge who at the end of time

will deal with each person according to his or her actions. We are all called to

commit ourselves totally to him and to obey his sacred will.

Mindful of the content of his Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est ("God is

Love"), His Holiness was particularly impressed by the attention given in the

letter to the twofold commandment to love God and one's neighbour.

As you may know, at the beginning of his Pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI

stated: "I am profoundly convinced that we must not yield to the negative

pressures in our midst, but must affirm the values of mutual respect, soli-

darity and peace. The life of every human being is sacred, both for Christians

and for Muslims. There is plenty of scope for us to act together in the service

of fundamental moral values" (Address to Representatives of Some Muslim

Communities, Cologne, 20 August 2005). Such common ground allows us to

base dialogue on effective respect for the dignity of every human person, on

objective knowledge of the religion of the other, on the sharing of religious

experience and, finally, on common commitment to promoting mutual re-

spect and acceptance among the younger generation. The Pope is confident