The Muslim-born journalist baptized by Pope Benedict XVI at the Easter Vigil said he wanted a public conversion to convince other former Muslims not to be afraid of practicing their new Christian faith.

But a representative of a group of Muslim scholars who recently launched a new dialogue with the Vatican said the prominence given to the baptism of Magdi Allam, a frequent critic of Islam, raises disturbing questions.

Allam, 55, was one of seven adults baptized by the pope March 22 in St. Peter's Basilica.

Aref Ali Nayed, a spokesman for the 138 Muslim scholars who initiated the Common Word dialogue project last October and who established the Catholic-Muslim Forum for dialogue with the Vatican in early March, said conversion is a private matter, but the very public way in which Allam was baptized appeared "deliberate and provocative."

In a front-page editorial March 25, the Vatican newspaper said Allam's baptism was given no greater emphasis during the vigil than the baptism of the other six adults Pope Benedict received into the church that night.

Allam's decision to be baptized and the Vatican's decision to include him in the papal ceremony did not carry with it any "hostile intention in the face of a great religion like Islam," said the article signed by Giovanni Maria Vian, the editor of L'Osservatore Romano.

"For decades the Catholic Church has shown a desire to meet and dialogue with the Muslim world despite a thousand difficulties and obstacles," he wrote. "But difficulties and obstacles must not obscure what we have in common."

In a March 25 interview with Il Giornale, an Italian newspaper, Allam said thousands of Italian Christians have converted to Islam with no repercussions.

"On the other hand, if a Muslim converts it is the end of the world and he is condemned to death for apostasy. In Italy there are thousands of converts who live their faith in secret for fear they will not be protected," Allam said.

"I publicly converted to say to these people: 'Come out of the catacombs, live your faith openly. Do not be afraid,'" he said.

In a March 23 article in Corriere della Sera, the newspaper for which he writes, Allam said, "His Holiness has launched an explicit and revolutionary message to a church that, up to now, has been too prudent in converting Muslims."

He said Catholics were "abstaining from proselytism in countries with a Muslim majority and being silent about the reality of converts in Christian countries out of fear -- the fear of not being able to protect the converts in the face of their condemnations to death for apostasy and for fear of reprisals against Christians living in Islamic countries."

"Well, with his witness today, Benedict XVI tells us we need to conquer our fear and not be afraid to affirm the truth of Jesus even to Muslims," Allam wrote in Corriere.

Allam told Il Giornale that although his mother was a devout Muslim she sent him to Catholic preschool, elementary and high schools. In the Corriere article, he said he even had gone to Communion once, which demonstrates how he had been attracted to the church for a long time.

He told Il Giornale his mother later regretted sending him to Catholic schools "because I never shared a certain zeal in practicing Islam; I always had a lot of autonomy. And, so, I became aware that Catholicism corresponded perfectly to the values that I held."

Allam also said his Easter baptism marked a total and definitive turning from "a past in which I imagined that there could be a moderate Islam."

He said Islamic "extremism feeds on a substantial ambiguity found in the Quran and in the concrete actions of Mohammed."

While he moved definitively away from Islam five years ago, Allam said it was Pope Benedict's teaching that convinced him to become a Catholic.

"He has said the basis for accepting a religion as true is how it accepts the basic rights of the person, the sacredness of life, freedom, choice (and) equality between men and women," Allam said.

In a written statement reacting to Allam's baptism by the pope at the globally televised Easter Vigil, Nayed said, "It is sad that the intimate and personal act of a religious conversion is made into a triumphalist tool for scoring points."

In addition, he said, "It is sad that the particular person chosen for such a highly public gesture has a history of generating, and continues to generate, hateful discourse."

Nayed said it would be important for Pope Benedict and the Vatican to distance themselves from Allam's stance on Islam.

"The whole spectacle with its choreography, persona and messages provokes genuine questions about the motives, intentions and plans of some of the pope's advisers on Islam," he said, adding that the Muslim scholars would continue their dialogue with the Vatican.

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, told the Italian news agency ApCom March 23 that he did not know how Allam came to be among the people baptized by the pope at the Easter Vigil "or who promoted it."

However, he said, freedom of conscience is a basic right and "to whomever knocks the door of the church is always open."

Prayers for peace
On Easter Sunday morning, Pope Benedict XVI gave his Easter blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city of Rome and the world) in St. Peter's Square during a storm punctuated with thunder and lightning, and said the risen Christ vanquished the darkness of sin and death.

"It is true: In the solemn Easter Vigil, darkness becomes light, night gives way to the day that knows no sunset," he said March 23. "We pray that joy will be present among us despite these circumstances. Even this darkness today is like light."

Tens of thousands of people packed into St. Peter's Square armed with umbrellas. Members of the Swiss Guard stood at attention despite the rain dripping off their helmets and sending red dye trickling down their backs from the helmets' soggy red plumes.

The night before, Pope Benedict celebrated the Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica, lighting a fire and the large Easter candle in the darkened church.

After celebrating the Easter morning Mass in St. Peter's Square, which was decorated with thousands of mostly white roses, tulips and pansies, the pope prayed for peace in the world, especially in the Holy Land, Iraq, Lebanon, Darfur, Somalia and Tibet.

"The astonishing event of the resurrection of Jesus is essentially an event of love: the Father's love in handing over his Son for the salvation of the world; the Son's love in abandoning himself to the Father's will for us all; the Spirit's love in raising Jesus from the dead in his transfigured body," the pope said in his Easter message.

Easter, he said, is a call for all people to reject hatred and selfishness and be converted to love. "Let no heart be closed to the omnipotence of this redeeming love," he said.

Selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence "are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every part of the planet," the pope said.

"They are waiting to be tended and healed by the glorious wounds of our risen Lord and by the solidarity of people who, following in his footsteps, perform deeds of charity in his name, make an active commitment to justice" and bring hope to areas of the world "bloodied by conflict."

Rainstorms accompanied the pope for the entire weekend, forcing him to stay under a tent March 21 during the Good Friday rite of the Way of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum.

The meditations for the rite were written by Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong and were marked by prayers for those who live their faith in the midst of persecution as well as prayers for their oppressors.

At the end of the ceremony, Pope Benedict said, "The cross is the source of immortal life, the school of justice and peace, the universal patrimony of forgiveness and mercy (and) the permanent proof of a self-giving and infinite love."

The pope said that by becoming human, dying and rising from the dead, Jesus restored full dignity to humanity, a dignity that must be claimed, defended and promoted for all people.

The only outdoor event not marked by rain was the Easter Monday recitation of the Regina Coeli prayer at the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome. The pope went to the villa by helicopter after Easter Mass.

---CNS

The text of the pope's Easter remarks can be found at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/
messages/urbi/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20080323_
urbi-easter_en.html.