Saturday, October 21, 2006

Fascinating. Truly a touch of grace in life's final moments

Late Italian journalist/atheist saw Pope as ally against 'Islamic invasion'
Sat Oct 21, 1:28 PM
By Frances D'Emilio
ROME (AP) - An Italian journalist and self-described atheist who died last month has left most of her books and notes to a pontifical university in Rome because of her admiration for Pope Benedict, a school official said Saturday.

Oriana Fallaci had described the pontiff as an ally in her campaign to rally Christians in Europe against what she saw as a Muslim crusade against the West. As she battled breast cancer last year, she had a private audience with Benedict, who had been elected only a few months earlier, at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.

In one of her final interviews, Fallaci told The Wall Street Journal: "I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a Pope think the same things, there must be something true."

Benedict was surprised by the gift of the books, some of which date to the 17th century and included volumes about the formation of modern-day Italy, American history, philosophy and theology, said Msgr. Rino Fisichella, rector of the Pontifical Lateranense University in Rome.
"The veneration that she had for you, Holy Father, persuaded her to make this donation, which will be known as the Oriana Fallaci Archives," Fisichella said during a ceremony at the university Saturday to announce the gift of the books.

Benedict greeted Fallaci's nephew and his family during the ceremony, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. He then spoke briefly about the search for truth in science and academia.
"God is the ultimate truth to which all reason naturally gravitates," the pontiff told an audience of students and faculty.

A few weeks before her death, Fallaci had some 20 boxes of books sent to the university, Fisichella later told The Associated Press. Books are still awaiting shipment from her homes in New York and Tuscany, he said, as well as her notes as a journalist.
Fisichella said "the Pope has said we must live in the world as if God existed and she (Fallaci) took up the challenge."

After decades of conducting major interviews and covering wars as a correspondent for two of Italy's largest daily newspapers, Fallaci concentrated her passion and energy in her last years on vehement attacks against a Muslim world she judged to be the enemy of western civilization.
Absent from the publishing scene for nearly a decade, Fallaci burst back into the spotlight after the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. with a string of blistering essays in which she argued that Muslims were carrying out a crusade against the Christian West.

At the time of her death, she was on trial in northern Italy, accused of defaming Islam in her 2004 book, "The Strength of Reason." In it she argued that Europe had sold its soul to what she called an Islamic invasion.

Fallaci had also taken the Catholic Church to task for being what she considered too weak before the Muslim world, despite her praise of Benedict.

She died three days after the Pope delivered a speech at a German university in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as "evil and inhuman," particularly "his command to spread by the sword the faith."

Benedict, who has been calling for more dialogue between Muslims and Christians while at the same time urging Europeans to defend their Christian traditions, will make his first pilgrimage as pontiff to a predominantly Muslim country when he visits Turkey in November.

4 comments:

Sue Seibert said...

Very interesting and true.

trailbee said...

I didn't know that anyone else felt the same way I did about the Muslim "Invasion" over the years and how they have impacted European politics. What they could not accomplish in Spain hundreds of years ago, they have accompliished in the 20th Century! Does no one else see this? Thanks, Anne.

trailbee said...

Meant to tell you, I went to amazon and bought both of her books.b.

trailbee said...

What I originally said was that I thought I was the only one who felt as Fallaci did. If you go back in history, Europe worked hard to repel the Muslim invasion, and they got as far as Spain, and in 1492 were finally expelled. Now take a look. They have returned, en masse, through the back door, and Europe is so paranoid about us, that they can't see their destruction is sitting in their own backyard, just waiting to take over. I believe it has a great deal to do with the fact that most Europeans no longer practice their religion, and they're so worried about us, the U.S. getting them into a tangle in the Middle East, they are being gently guided and directed by their Muslim communities, and don't see that. I bought both her books after reading this post. Thanks, Annne