Relations between Catholics and Muslims became a lively topic in 1965, when Vatican II urged both sides "to forget the past and to strive sincerely for mutual understanding." The Ellis volume represents a Catholic effort to continue the dialogue with Muslims. Accordingly (and the book's title notwithstanding), three of its four sections say nothing about the papacy, but deal with a host of issues in Christian-Muslim relations, from a comparison of the theology of monotheism to communal relations in the Philippines. Virtually all the contributions offer new information but only one rises to the level of providing new ideas — the sparkling essay by Robert M. Haddad on the current standing of Middle East Christians.
The two other books deal more narrowly with the Arab-Israeli conflict, and both approach the subject with considerable bias. At times Rokach seems most interested in using the Vatican as a channel through which to vent her spleen against the actions of the Israeli and American governments. A considerable research effort is rendered nearly invalid by tendentious argument and intemperate writing.
Irani goes over much the same ground as Rokach and shares many of her prejudices. But he has risen above them to produce an informative and useful study that deals with three main topics: the overall Arab-Israeli conflict, the Jerusalem question, and the war in Lebanon. He sees a recurring pattern: "The fate of the Catholic community in 'the Arab-Islamic world, and the importance to the Church of the Palestinian issue, moved the Holy See to take bold actions, well aware of the harm these actions could do to Catholic-Jewish relations, the essential point being that most Catholics in the Middle East are of Arab descent." These contradictory pressures go far to explain the Church's generally confused policies in the Middle East.
