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Pope's Easter Message Focuses On World Trouble Spots as He Baptizes Muslim Critic

By Howard Friedman

Deutsche Welle reports that Pope Benedict XVI's Easter message today included a call for peaceful solutions in many of the world's trouble spots-- Darfur, Somalia, the Middle East and Tibet. According to CNN, at the Vatican's Saturday night Easter vigil Mass, the Pope baptized seven adults. One of those was the Italian newspaper editor Magdi Allam who was born in Egypt of Muslim parents. Allam, who is married to a Catholic, has become a prominent critic of Islamic extremism and a supporter of Israel. Many in Islam see conversion as apostasy that could be punishable by death. However a spokesman for Italy's Union of Islamic Communities merely said of Allam's decision: "He is an adult, free to make his personal choice."

Full post as published by Religion Clause on March 23, 2008 (boomark / email).