9/11 marked crucial turn in Vatican-Muslim relations

VATICAN CITY (RNS) A few weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Pope
John Paul II invited Muslim leaders to an interfaith prayer summit in
Assisi, Italy, the site of a dramatic interfaith peace gathering he had
hosted 15 years earlier.

In the shadow of 9/11, John Paul said, the world needed to hear from
Muslims and Christians that "religion must never be a reason for
conflict, hatred and violence."

Catholic-Muslim dialogue took on a new intensity and sense of
urgency. And then came the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, in
2006.