Promoting a Peaceful Coexistence: John Paul II and the Middle East

Abstract

"For over thirteen centuries the history of the relationship between Christianity and Islam has been one of wars of conąuest and reconąuest and of bitter polemics. However, there have been always on both sides voices advocating a more positive attitude and a need for dialogue and understanding. The twentieth century finally witnessed long awaited and promising developments. The pontificates of John XXIII and Paul VI brought about a new attitude of the Church towards Islam and its followers, officially acknowledged by the Second Vatican Council in the two significant documents, namely the Constitution of the Church, Lumen Gentium, no 6, and the Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate , no 3."(...)