One measure of the extraordinary international interest in Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Turkey, which begins tomorrow, is that 3,000 journalists are accredited to cover it.
The event's newsworthiness was stoked by his lecture on the relationship between faith and reason at the University of Regensburg last September when he quoted the hostile views on Islam of a 14th century Byzantine emperor without making it clear he did not agree with them. The ensuing worldwide furore did serious damage to relations between Catholics and Muslims, putting this trip in doubt. The fact that it is going ahead gives Pope Benedict a welcome opportunity to clarify his attitude towards Islam. This now looms larger than his original objective, to improve relations with Orthodox leaders in Istanbul, which he is determined to pursue.
In his Regensburg lecture Pope Benedict cast doubt on whether Islam is capable of relating faith and reason and therefore on the validity of a rational dialogue between it and other religions. This argument was not elaborated sufficiently in that lecture, which concentrated rather on a critique of how theological reason has become separated from scientific rationality in the modern western tradition. Even though this is an abstract question it matters hugely in the more practical and everyday relations between Catholics and Muslims and in their religious dialogue.
Interviewed ahead of the visit, one of Turkey's leading Muslim officials said he hoped Pope Benedict would say Islam is a religion of peace, not of forced conversion. It should be recognised that Islam venerates Jesus among its prophets, he said. The remarkable flowering of medieval Islamic science and learning should be acknowledged as central to the later renaissance of learning in medieval Europe. Such recognitions would go a long way, he said, to reassure Islamic leaders that a frank and sincere religious dialogue based on mutual respect is truly being sought by Pope Benedict. These are compelling points which deserve a serious hearing if the damage done in September is to be reversed.
This visit comes at a potentially fateful time in relations between Europe and Turkey, in which Pope Benedict has played an important role. Before his election he said in an interview that Turkish membership of the European Union would be "a grave error against the tide of history". This view, based on a conception of Europe as essentially a Christian civilisation, has become indelibly associated with his assumed attitude towards Islam in Turkish media commentary. It feeds into the current crisis in Turkey's relations with the EU which will culminate in next month's summit on whether it is meeting conditions for accession.
Europe is much more than a Christian entity and Turkey is part and parcel of its history and culture. Foreclosing the issue of whether Turkey should join the EU in this way is misconceived. It is to be hoped Pope Benedict opens up space for further dialogue on this visit.