It takes a odd atheist to be admired deeply by legions of Catholics , Protestants, Evangelicals ,Jews, and yes no doubt many Muslims. I think it is the fervent prayer of all the above that Oriana Fallaci "made it" and was given that chance to accept -to submit to his grace. The Baptism of the now Christian Allam by Pope Benedict brings her to my mind today. So much so I tracked down this touching article The deathbed friendship between a bishop and an atheist to revisit again. It is no secret that as she was preparing to depart this world that this atheist was hinging a lot of hopes for Europe and the World on Pope Benedict
The Anchoress has a good roundup of the news here at Benedict XVI, Allam & Osama bin Laden - UPDATED. I intend to update this entry after looking to see if any other European or Arab papers have chimed in.
Besides the predictable angry Muslim reaction from the usual quarters I hope that bloggers note also the sane Muslim reaction that is productive. I cannot not help but notice that often in the political and religious blogsphere the angry Muslim peanut gallery gets the attention while the voices of the sane Muslims do not. That is not helpful either.
In the end I am pretty convinced that we are blessed by Pope Benedicts age. When you have been WWII, in an American POW camp, seen your country divided, saw the evils of Communism and fought them on many levels, saw many "isms" go into the ashbin of history, and become after all that the Bishop of Rome one has I suspect a good view of the big picture and who is really in charge. God help us all when Benedict who represents the last(not including Queen Elizabeth the II) of WWII generation leaders that actually still govern leave us.
Update-I- I have updated but made them other post. Go see Interview with Crisiano Allam and Vatican Op- Ed on His Baptism and Two Hard Hitting Italian Op-Eds On Pope's Baptism of Magdi Cristiano Allam
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