Spain: Muslims Appeal for Use of Córdoba Cathedral
REUTERS Published: December 27, 2006
Spanish Muslims said they had appealed to Pope Benedict XVI to be allowed to prostrate themselves in worship in Córdoba Cathedral, built as a mosque in southern Spain during the nation’s centuries of Islamic rule and converted into a church in the 13th century.
“What we wanted was not to take over that holy place, but to create in it, together with you and other faiths, an ecumenical space unique in the world which would have been of great significance in bringing peace to humanity,” the Islamic Board said in its letter. This month the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Spain issued a statement saying it was not prepared to negotiate for other faiths to use the building.