Pope simply said the “Church eagerly seeks opportunities to listen to the spiritual experience of other religions,” to which Islam Online claims that the Church is “open to learn from other faiths.” Yet there’s a world of difference between listening to the “spiritual experiences” of Muslims and “learning” from Islam. “Pope Benedict in Islam Gesture,” from Islam Online, July 18:
SYDNEY “” In a move seen as aiming to improve strained relations with Muslims, Pope Benedict XVI said on Friday, July 18, that the Catholic Church was open to learn from other faiths.
“The Church eagerly seeks opportunities to listen to the spiritual experience of other religions,” he said told an inter-religious meeting.
Catholic-Muslim relations strained after delivering a lecture in Germany in September 2006, quoting a 14th century Byzantine emperor that everything Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing be upon him) brought was evil and inhuman.