When making a quotation that was considered offensive to Islam, in 2006, in a conference in Germany, Pope Benedict XVI targeted not only the Muslims, but also Christian and Atheist Westerners. His aim was not to offend Islam without a motive, but to force both the Muslims and Westerners that had forsaken rationalism to reach back to Reason as an essential element for the very dialogue between the two religions. The Pope’s speech has had repercussion far beyond the religious sphere, attaining notions and practices of multiculturalism that seemed untouchable.
Bento XVI; Islam; Religions; Reason; Multiculturalism