Speaks to Bishops in Malawi : Pope Tells Muslims, Catholics to Avoid Battling for Converts

Pope John Paul II, reflecting the church’s concern about the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in Africa, urged Roman Catholics and Muslims on Friday to avoid aggressive tactics in the battle for converts.

In a speech to Malawi’s Catholic bishops on the last full day of his nine-day African tour, the Pope raised the issue of the church’s tense relations with Muslims in this southern African nation.

“What is required is mutual respect, as well as mutual recognition of those things that we share in common,” the Pope said.

“Both among Christians working for unity in obedience to Christ and among believers of different religions, there is no place for aggressive proselytism which disturbs and hurts, still less for the use of unworthy methods,” he added.

Refers to 1985 Speech

The Pope quoted from his speech to Muslims in Morocco in 1985:

“Christians and Muslims . . . have badly understood each other, and sometimes, in the past, have opposed and even exhausted each in polemics and in wars. I believe that today God invites us to change our old practices.”

There are 2.5 million Catholics and 1 million Muslims in this country of 8 million people. The rest of the population is made up mostly of Protestants and animists.

Islam has been growing rapidly in Malawi since the early 1970s. Financed in part by Arab oil money, Muslims have built hundreds of mosques across the country.

Tensions grew after Muslim extremists set fire to several Catholic churches in Malawi in 1983-84. Last August, several Catholic youths and an elderly religion teacher were forcibly circumcised in a suburb of Blantyre by Muslim fundamentalists, church officials said.

Some Muslim leaders here have said they are upset that the Pope’s visit to Malawi came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The Pope also celebrated a morning Mass for more than 100,000 people at Blantyre’s Kwacha (Freedom) Park, addressed at least 60,000 youths at the Kamuzu sports stadium and met with the Catholic laity and representatives of other Christian faiths and other religions.

In his homily, he urged his flock to treat victims of acquired immune deficiency syndrome as “we would treat Christ himself.”

Malawi has one of the highest rates of AIDS in Africa. According to local health officials, as many as 20% of newborn children are infected with the AIDS virus.

The Pope travels today to Lilongwe, Malawi’s administrative capital, to celebrate the final Mass of his voyage before returning to Rome.