A couple of beliefnet blogs, this one and this one, are talking about the non-practicing Muslim that Benedict baptized this evening.

The pope is getting kudos from Christians for doing his job? Eh.

In late November 2006, the Egyptian apparitions from 40 years ago came up during discussion at a Bible study at St. Aloysius in Jackson, and the study leader, who is younger than I, wasn't familiar at all.

I sent her a private email, included here in full, when I got home, by way of background/explanation:

One more thing, about the reported Marian apparition in Egypt in the late 60's when Nasser was president:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitoun

I really think that Mary will have a role in bringing Christians and Muslims together, implicitly or explicitly. And that prospect is exciting to me.

I hadn't read this article until today when I found it linked to here but I'm not alone in this hope. Obviously the man the pope baptized today thinks so too:

ROME - 3 July 2006 - Mary can bring religions together says Muslim writer

An Egyptian Muslim and deputy director of a prominent Italian newspaper has suggested that Mary could be the figure to bring Christians and Muslims together.

Mr Magdi Allam of Il Corriere della Sera has launched an appeal in the pages of the national daily newspaper to Muslims in Italy to visit Marian shrines.

The journalist said that he is convinced that the Virgin Mary is a meeting point between Christians and Muslims.

"Mary is a figure present in the Koran, which dedicates an entire chapter to her and mentions her some thirty times. In Muslim countries there are Marian shrines that are the object of veneration and pilgrimage by Christian and Muslim faithful," he said.

"Therefore, I believe that if this happens in Muslim countries, why can't it happen in a Christian country, especially in this historical phase in which we need to define symbols, values and figures that unite religions, spiritualities and cultures?" he asked.

In Allam's opinion, "the Marian pilgrimage of Loreto - Italy's National Shrine - could represent a moment of meeting and spiritual gathering between Muslims and Catholics, around Mary, a religious figure that is venerated by both religions."

Do I believe in Marian apparitions? No, never for a second. But just because I don't believe in them doesn't mean they don't happen.