Stakes very high for Pope Benedict’s trip to Middle East
September 13, 2012
“Even before the deaths of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Libya on Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI’s Sept. 14-16 trip to Lebanon shaped up as a high wire act,” John Allen observes. “Now the trip also becomes the first visit of a major Western leader to the Arab world after the attacks in Egypt and Libya, and with the prospect of more violence on the horizon.”
“Big questions loom: Will the Pope’s presence inflame extremist Islamic sentiment even further? Or, will the visit act as a firebreak, offering a counter-narrative of Muslim-Christian harmony?”
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