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Rome has fallen: The Vatican opens a Muslim prayer room in the library.

«They asked us for a room to pray in, and we gave it to them, of course,» explained the head of the Vatican Apostolic Library.

Interior of the Vatican Library

Of Maus-Trauden – Public domain

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The Vatican Apostolic Library has provided a space for the daily prayers of Muslim scholars who visit the facilities.. The measure has come to light after the statements of Giacomo Cardinali, Deputy Prefect of the Library, in an interview granted to The Republic. According to what he has explained, Some Muslim scholars had requested a carpeted space for prayer, and this request has been granted..

The prayer room is inside the Vatican City Library. It is not a large mosque but a small room with a carpet facing Mecca.

“We are a universal library.”

The Vatican Library was founded in the mid-15th century. It is often considered the intellectual heart of the Catholic Church. It houses a wide variety of manuscripts and texts from all the world's religions and cultures. Father Cardinali has stated that its collections include “incredibly ancient Qur'ans”, as well as Jewish, Ethiopian, Arabic and Chinese works. “We are a universal library,” he explained.

Cardinali has emphasised that the Library is universal and houses texts from many cultures and religions. According to him, this gesture is a way of making the work of the scholars who visit it easier.

Reactions and media debate

The decision to set up a prayer room for Muslims in the Vatican Library has provoked numerous criticisms within Catholic circles. Several conservative media outlets have described the gesture as confusing and ill-timed, arguing that a central institution of the Church should not cede space to a religion that denies fundamental elements of Christianity. British deacon Nick Donnelly, quoted on Catholic websites, went so far as to speak of a “total betrayal of Christ” and of a step that jeopardises the Vatican's Catholic identity.

On social media and in opinion pieces, critical comments have also multiplied. Some insist that there is no reciprocity in Muslim-majority countries, where Christians often cannot have spaces in which to pray freely. Others stress that the gesture could cause confusion among the faithful and send a message of excessive concession at a time when millions of Christians are suffering persecution in Islamic territories. These voices believe that the Vatican has gone too far in interreligious dialogue.

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