The Pope in the Middle East – and the Cosmos

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/meast/05/08/jordan.pope.visit/art.pope.afp.gi.jpg caption="Jordan's King Abdullah II speaks with Pope Benedict XVI at the international airport in Amman on Friday."]

John L. Allen Jr.
CNN Senior Vatican Analyst
Amman, Jordan

For reporters covering the foreign travels of Pope Benedict XVI, head of the Roman Catholic Church and arguably the most important religious leader in the world, the hardest part of trying to handicap these events is knowing which pontiff will show up.

Will it be the Benedict of Regensburg, Germany, in 2006, who delivered a speech linking Muhammad to violence that set off a firestorm of protest all across the Islamic world? Or will it be the Benedict of highly successful expeditions to Turkey in 2006 and the United States in 2008, where the pontiff turned in bravura performances that went a long way toward healing wounds and improving his public image?

After four years as pope, Benedict XVI has shown a host of impressive qualities: theological brilliance, personal humility, and a teacher’s aptitude for clarity. His track record at public relations, however, is spottier, making any turn on the public stage something of a roll of the dice.

After day one of Benedict’s keenly anticipated May 8-15 visit to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, it’s too early to know quite how things are going to break here, but one thing seems abundantly clear: The pope and his Vatican advisors are determined to stay “on message,” stressing reconciliation, tolerance, and peace at every turn.

His customary session with the press aboard the papal plane this morning makes the point.

Popes don’t hold press conferences very often, and in the past these occasions have sometimes proved perilous for Benedict XVI. En route to Brazil in 2007, Benedict took a question about excommunicating pro-choice politicians that swamped much of the rest of his trip. More recently, Benedict made comments about condoms and AIDS on his way to Africa that generated a broad controversy, once again eclipsing the rest of his message.

This time, Benedict came back to the press compartment on the plane about an hour after takeoff, and even by the normally controlled standards of the Vatican, the effort at image management was striking.

For one thing, the pope’s spokespersons had requested that journalists submit their queries several days in advance, which obviously afforded the Vatican time to screen them and the pope time to prepare his replies. To avoid any surprises, journalists weren’t even called upon to ask the prepared questions; instead, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesperson, read them to the pope, saying he was doing so “in the name” of the press.

The predictable result was that Benedict didn’t make headlines, but he also didn’t put a foot wrong. Speaking in a largely conciliatory tone, he said he hoped to advance the cause of peace, not as a politician but as a man of prayer and a voice of conscience. He affirmed his desire for stronger ties among Jews, Muslims and Christians, saying that “we have to learn to speak one another’s language.”

The closest Benedict came to veering off-script came when, in the context of Jewish/Christian relations, he added a typical bit of professorial flourish. Arguing that occasional misunderstandings are probably inevitable after 2,000 years of moving down separate historical paths, Benedict said each faith lives in its own “semantic cosmos.”

Quickly, however, the pope got back his stride, saying it’s time for those different “semantic cosmoses” to meet.

Overall, Benedict’s aim on this week-long journey is to advance dialogue with both Judaism and Islam, try to provide a ray of hope in the Israeli/Palestinian peace process by supporting both a Palestinian state and Israeli security, and give a shot in the arm to the embattled Christian population in the region, which today stands on the brink of extinction. From roughly 20 percent at the time of the British mandate in Palestine prior to 1948, the Christian share of the population in Israel and the Palestinian Territories has shrunk to around two percent today.

The visit began as the pontiff arrived in the Jordanian capital of Amman. He met Jordan’s King Abdullah II, visited a local center for disabled youth run by the church which serves a largely Muslim clientele, and then paid a private courtesy visit to Abdullah II and his family at the Royal Palace.

The pope wasted no time expressing his “deep respect for the Muslim community” during the brief welcoming ceremony at Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport.

Jordan in some ways is the closest thing Benedict XVI has to a home court advantage in the Islamic world. The country’s Hashemite monarchy, which claims direct descent from Muhammad, sees itself as the natural leader of the Islamic middle. After the 2006 controversy, Jordan took the lead in getting Catholic/Muslim relations back on track.

Abdullah II broke protocol today to personally greet the pontiff at the airport. Although the king spoke in English, he provided a translation of his address in both Italian and Latin – a rarity on papal travels, and a clear sign of esteem.

In his welcome, Abdullah said that Muslims and Christians must join forces against “voices of provocation” and “ambitious ideologies of division” which “threaten unspeakable suffering.”

Tomorrow, Benedict XVI will visit the King Hussein mosque in Amman, becoming only the second pope to enter a mosque. (John Paul was the first in Damascus, Syria, in 2001.)