VATICAN CITY (RNS)
As a Vatican delegation prepares to leave for civil war-torn Syria, the Catholic Church's fraught relation with Islam has emerged as one of the main themes at a major gathering of the world's bishops in Rome.
The debate was stirred by a leading cardinal who, on Saturday (Oct. 13), showed a controversial video called "Muslim Demographics" which purports to show Islam's growing global influence. The video was shown during a Vatican-organized synod of bishops on new ways to evangelize in the modern world.
The accuracy of the seven-minute video's data and projections have been sharply disputed and criticized by experts since its emergence in 2009, but the film sparked renewed soul-searching among Catholic leaders on the church's stance towards the growth of Islam in the West and in Africa.
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But synod fathers have also acknowledged that Islamic growth might offer some hints to a church that struggles to recapture lapsed or tepid believers in the West. During the free discussion at the end of each synod session, one bishop – whose identity was not disclosed because of Vatican rules – wondered why Catholics are mostly women, while other faiths have a large proportion of men in their ranks.
