Benedict XVI baptises prominent Muslim
"Faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world," says the Holy Father at Easter vigil
28 March 2008

Magdi Allam receives Holy Communion from the Pope last Saturday

Pope Benedict baptised a high-profile Italian Muslim during the Easter vigil in St Peter's Basilica, proclaiming in his homily that in baptism "we no longer stand alongside each other or in opposition to one another".

Magdi Allam, a high-ranking editor for the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and a secular Muslim who has vocally criticised Islamic fundamentalism, was publicly received into the Church by Pope Benedict last week, during the Easter Vigil Mass which is broadcast around the world.

The Egyptian-born convert wrote a front-page letter in his newspaper at Easter, explaining that his decision to convert was the product of "healthy and mature" reflection.

He said: "The miracle of the resurrection of Christ has reverberated in my soul, freeing it from the darkness of a preaching in which hatred and intolerance for the 'different,' uncritically condemned as an enemy, has primacy over love and respect for one's neighbour".

Praising Benedict XVI for his defence of civilization, Mr Allam also commended the Pope's "historic and courageous gesture" in publicly baptising a prominent Muslim which would reverberate in a Church "which up to now had been too prudent in the conversion of Muslims, refraining from proselytising in countries with Muslim majorities and being silent about the reality of converts in Christian countries".

The plight of Christians in Muslim countries has been at the forefront of the Church's concerns in recent weeks after the abduction and death of the Archbishop of Mosul at the hands of militant Islamists in Iraq.

Mr Allam, who took the name "Christian" at his baptism, said that his encounter with Pope Benedict had been significant in his decision to convert. Mr Allam, who has received death threats from Hamas after criticising Palestinian suicide bombings, said that his public conversion to Catholicism could earn him "an even graver condemnation to death for apostasy". Some interpretations of the Koran consider that a conversion from Islam is punishable by death.

The baptism came only a few days after Osama bin Laden, leader of the Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda, reportedly issued an audio-broadcast warning Europe that it would come under attack for supporting the United States over the war in Iraq, and accusing Pope Benedict of playing a "large lengthy role" in a "new crusade" against Islam.

In his homily at the vigil the Pope stressed the importance of fire in baptism and said that those who received baptism were drawn into "the open fire" of Christ's love. And that faith was "a force for peace and reconciliation".

It is customary to baptise adult catechumens during the Easter vigil, when both fire and water are blessed, and six other adults from Cameroon, Italy, China, India and Peru were also welcomed into the Church.

He said: "You become one, one with him, and thus one among yourselves. At first this can sound rather abstract and unrealistic. But the more you live the life of the baptised, the more you can experience the truth of these words. Believers - the baptised - are never truly cut off from one another. Continents, cultures, social structures or even historical distances may separate us.

"But when we meet, we know one another on the basis of the same Lord, the same faith, the same hope, the same love, which form us. Then we experience that the foundation of our lives is the same. We experience that in our inmost depths we are anchored in the same identity, on the basis of which all our outward differences, however great they may be, become secondary. Believers are never totally cut off from one another.

"We are in communion because of our deepest identity: Christ within us. Thus faith is a force for peace and reconciliation in the world: distances between people are overcome, in the Lord we have become close."

In the darkness of the Easter night, he placed emphasis on Christ's "radical love" and said that Jesus Christ "truly took the light from heaven and brought it to the earth - the light of truth and the fire of love that transform man's being".

While the elements offered no respite from the darkness on Easter Sunday, Pope Benedict carried his message of light, love and hope through the pouring rain on St Peter's Square for the Easter Mass and Urbi et Orbi, the papal blessing. Torrential rain soaked the faithful and the Swiss guards, but failed to dampen the Holy Father's spirits as he smiled throughout the Mass and the blessing.

He said: "It is true: in the solemn Easter vigil, darkness becomes light, night gives way to the day that knows no sunset. The death and resurrection of the Word of God incarnate is an event of invincible love, it is the victory of that Love which has delivered us from the slavery of sin and death. It has changed the course of history, giving to human life an indestructible and renewed meaning and value." He continued: "Fixing the gaze of our spirit on the glorious wounds of his transfigured body, we can understand the meaning and value of suffering, we can tend the many wounds that continue to disfigure humanity in our own day.

"In his glorious wounds we recognise the indestructible signs of the infinite mercy of the God of whom the prophet says: it is he who heals the wounds of broken hearts, who defends the weak and proclaims the freedom of slaves, who consoles all the afflicted and bestows upon them the oil of gladness instead of a mourning robe, a song of praise instead of a sorrowful heart." The Pope spoke out against injustice, hatred and violence. He said: "How often relations between individuals, between groups and between peoples are marked not by love but by selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence! These are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are often ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed; wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters.

"They are waiting to be tended and healed by the glorious wounds of our Risen Lord and by the solidarity of people who, following in his footsteps, perform deeds of charity in his name, make an active commitment to justice, and spread luminous signs of hope in areas bloodied by conflict and wherever the dignity of the human person continues to be scorned and trampled. It is hoped that these are precisely the places where gestures of moderation and forgiveness will increase!"

He called on the faithful to pray for those in Tibet and the Middle East, especially Iraq and Lebanon as well as for regions of Africa, including Darfur and Somalia.