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Pope Benedict XVI will take another important step in dialogue with the Islamic world this Thursday, when the Vatican receives a delegation headed by Prince El Hassan Bin Talal, younger brother of the King of Jordan.
The Pontiff will receive the members of the Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies; an agency which was founded by the Jordanian Prince in Amman, to provide “a venue in the Arab world for the interdisciplinary study and rational discussion of religion and religious issues, with particular reference to Christianity in Arab and Islamic society.”
The Pope and Prince Hassan also met in 1999, when a Muslim youth requested that the then Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, lend his support for the creation of the Royal Foundation. Since 1999, Cardinal Ratzinger has been one of the most important international supporters of the initiative.
