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From EWTN:

Dear Mr. Bunson,

Seamus Macrath in his post (RE: Tom Chaney) made the claim that the picture of the Pope kissing the Koran was in reality a picture of the Pope kissing a book of the Gospels translated in arabic, and that the supposed Muslim at his side was actually an Eastern Patriarch. That’s an interesting theory, but it is not factual. Here is a news story from 1999:

ITALY

Why did the Pope kiss the Koran?: a book in Italian gives basics of Islam

Rome (Fides) – “At the end of the audience the Pope bowed to the Muslim holy book the Koran presented to him by the delegation and he kissed it as a sign of respect.” This was said by Raphael Bidawid, Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans who told Fides about his audience with Pope John Paul II on May 14th when he was received with a delegation composed of the Shiite imam of Khadum mosque and the Sunni President of the council of administration of the Iraqi Islamic Bank and also a representative of the Iraqi ministry of religion.

That gesture was a sign of the Holy Father’s respect for the billion and 34 million followers of Islam, as well as his eagerness to make a pilgrimage in the footsteps of Abraham, the common father of Christians, Jews and Muslims.

Recently a book on Islam was published in Italian by EMI with the title “I fondamenti dell’Islam. Un’introduzione a partire dalla fonte: il Corano”. The book, originally in German, is written by Adel Theodore Khoury from Lebanon, who, until 1996, was professor at Muenster University in Germany. The book presents the figure of Mohammad, his life and mission and shows that the Prophet understood the relation between the religions of the Book, the Jewish religion, Christianity and Islam: it could be useful for promoting Christian/Muslims relations. (11/6/1999)

http://www.ewtn.com/vexperts/showmessage.asp?number=304721&Pg=&Pgnu=&recnu=