Various media reports cited the Vatican as indicating that Pope Benedict XVI will host a “summit” of Catholic and Muslim leaders in November that will likely include a substantial representation from the global Muslim Brotherhood. According to one report:
The conference from November 6 to 8 will take place just over a year after 138 Muslim leaders from various sects from 43 countries issued an open letter last year urging peace. That move came one year after the pope gave a speech at Regensberg University in Germany which angered some Muslim leaders for using a quote which seemed to equate Islam with violence. A delegation of Muslim leaders met with Vatican officials on Tuesday in a bid to organise the summit. One member of the Muslim delegation, Sergio Yahya Pallavicini, said the encounter was aimed at “firming up the likelihood of a meeting with the pope”. The talks are the result of an initiative by the Jordanian Prince Ghazi bin Muhammed bin Talal, who brought together 138 Muslim leaders from various sects from 43 countries in an open letter last year urging peace. The signatories of the Muslim appeal for theological dialogue, called the “Common Word,” has grown to nearly 225 since.
As an earlier post discussed, the letter mentioned in the report was signed by a large number of global Muslim Brotherhood leaders. The letter was drafted by the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought in Jordan who last year sponsored the Amman Message that was also signed by many Muslim Brotherhood leaders. Under the reign of the previous Pope, the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi organizations such as the Muslim World League had been meeting with the Vatican under the auspices of the The Islamic ‘“ Catholic Liaison Committee which was formed in 1995. In commenting on the developments, A Vatican official said:
All religious leaders must renew a message of peace in their faith. Then it will be easier to isolate extremists and avoid the wrong use of religion.
The global Muslim Brotherhood is deeply involved in the support of terrorism, most noticeably helping to finance Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization.