In a surprise gesture of goodwill, Pope Benedict XVI said this week that Turkey should be granted entry to the European Union. Speaking during a state visit with Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Benedict reversed his position of two years ago when, as a cardinal, he said that as a historically Muslim nation, Turkey had always stood "in permanent contrast to Europe."
Relations between the Vatican and Muslims were strained further when Benedict, in September, quoted a 14th-century characterization of Islam as an "evil and inhuman" faith with a natural tendency to violence. Those remarks set off riots throughout the Muslim world, and the pope eventually apologized. The purpose of his visit to Turkey, Benedict said, was further "reconciliation." At the same time, Benedict called upon all religious leaders "to utterly refuse to sanction recourse to violence as a legitimate expression of faith."
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