ROME – For anyone who lived through the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and their aftermath, the memories may seem fresh as yesterday, but it’s actually been almost a quarter century since the Twin Towers fell and the world suddenly became a different, more menacing place.
Among the other consequences of 9/11 was to cast a global spotlight on the rise of religious extremism, especially its Islamic variant, and to make religion generally seem a destabilising driver of conflict.
As a result, 9/11 also had a profound effect on the papacy, beginning with the pontiff who was in office at the time, St John Paul II, and extending to the current incumbent, Pope Francis, who just wrapped up a three-day visit to Indonesia – a trip which, in its essentials, confirmed the aspiration of modern popes to function as the Chairman of the Board of what one might call “Religious Moderates Inc.”
