by John L. Allen Jr.
This is the full text of the Italian Senate Resolution of Oct. 12 concerning Pope Benedict XVI’s Sept. 12 comments on Islam, which passed 208-8, with the support of all the major parties of both the center-left government and the center-right opposition. According to Vatican sources, it is the first time that the Italian legislature, in a near-unanimous act, has given its support to a public declaration of a pope.
GIVEN THAT:
On Sept. 12, at the University of Regensburg, Pope Benedict XVI delivered an academic lecture dedicated to the theme of the relationship between reason and faith, in the course of which the Pope cited a passage from a dialogue between the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and a learned Persian on the relationship between Christianity and Islam;
Defamatory intentions toward Islam were attributed to the Pope based on an absolutely inappropriate political reading of the lecture, while a complete reading of the text demonstrates in unequivocal fashion the sincere desire of Benedict XVI for dialogue between cultures and religions;
Repeated efforts at meeting with representatives of the Islamic religion undertaken by Benedict XVI in the days after the Regensburg lecture cannot but confirm the will of the Pope to promote inter-religious dialogue;
ALSO CONSIDERING THAT:
The Italian Parliament is committed to making every effort so that its own acts will be explicitly oriented towards maximum respect for all faiths and all opinions, and in contrast to every form of violence;
Towards the end of discouraging the prospect of a clash between cultures, or between cultural and religious identities, which is a possible and dramatic outcome of the spiritual and cultural crises of our time, the Italian Parliament is committed as a priority to combating every form of intolerance and fanaticism;
THE GOVERNMENT UNDERTAKES:
To express to Pope Benedict XVI the full solidarity of Italy following the unjust attacks and unacceptable threats that were directed at his person and against the institutions of the Catholic Church, and following the violence directed at individual faithful and at communities;
To continue in a policy of prevention and caution, undertaken with efficiency by the forces of the Italian police, in order to safeguard the security of the person of the Pope and the places of cult on national territory, as well as to guarantee the safety of citizens;
To make itself a promoter, in the context of the European Union as well as the international organizations in which Italy participates, of initiatives designed to reaffirm the principles of religious liberty and respect of civil rights, to favor dialogue among peoples and inter-religious dialogue, which constitute an integral part of the common traditions of Europe;
To work among European states, and within the EU, to strengthen the front of solidarity against the exhortations to violence of the exponents of radical Islam – which are also expressed against other religious confessions – as well as against the baseless diffidence manifested by certain governments;
To give continuity to Italian foreign policy and to reinforce it, with particular reference to cooperation and economic relations, to affirmation of the right to religious freedom and to freedom of speech, against every form of persecution, and in a context of reciprocity. “Religious freedom” is understood to mean the freedom to practice one’s own faith, to change it, or not to have one.
