MEMORIES
from issue no. 09 - 2006

Oriana


I enjoyed relations of great cordiality with Oriana for many years. On 6 May 1991, with a note - «To my confrere in books Giulio Andreotti» – she sent me from New York a splendid eighteenth century edition of Cicero’s De oratore that she had found in an antiquarian bookstore. Then everything changed


Giulio Andreotti


That the problem of relations with the Islamic world is of decisive importance at present and will be even more so in the future, is beyond doubt. But, even if not an easy thing to do, the conceptual-cultural aspect needs to be distinguished from political analysis.
Oriana Fallaci

Oriana Fallaci

Inter-religious dialogue is not easy, either among Christians or with others. Since childhood I have taken part in the days of Prayer for Unity at the end of every January. I have seen no earthly results, except a progressive but slow attenuation of the harsh and polemical tones. On the Catholic side the climate has much changed, however. When the King of England died, for example, we were informed that the government’s attendance at a funeral ceremony arranged by the British embassy in the Anglican church would be considered a breach of the Concordat (now replaced by the Craxi-Casaroli revised version) that laid down the sacred character of Rome. We got over the difficulty by arranging a funeral mass in Saint John Lateran: a double suffrage could not, on any analysis, harm His Majesty.
But light years have passed. Not only did the servant of God John Paul II go solemnly to the chief synagogue of Rome, but went so far as to affirm the right of the individual to change his religion.
Not to speak of the historical self-criticism about the Crusades and other things. I myself took part, with Sadat’s daughter, in an attempt at trialogue that set off well but ground to a halt because a negative declaration against the State of Israel was demanded, a stumbling-block in many arguments on the matter.
Pushed by the British government, which could no longer deal with the attacks by Jewish patriots, the State of Israel came into being in 1948, twinned for that matter with the creation of the Arab (Palestinian) State. But while the former – setting aside all the military attacks – is solidly rooted, the other parts of the UN deliberation is still in gestation, with the intermediary stage of a Palestinian Authority, approved by Arafat in Oslo with great difficulty and against fierce opposition.
It is well to keep in mind also that the range of conflict is not only between Muslims and others, since a bloody war has been fought among Muslims: Iraqis against Iranians.
11 September 2001, with the tragic crimes in New York, has entered world history as a decisive factor in division: Islam against all; the attempt to mobilize all against Islam.
The lead role in the defensive crusade was assumed by Oriana Fallaci, in the columns of the Corriere della Sera (which as a result, according to the editor, increased its circulation) and with a book of which a million copies have been printed and sold.
Defining herself oddly as “atheist-Christian”, she put her exceptional reputation as a journalist and essayist, conductor of epoch-making interviews, in the service of her cause.
Thousands of voters signed an appeal to the Italian president asking him to appoint her senator, while Tuscany (the region of Giorgio La Pira) awarded her a special prize.
In this highly-coloured picture everything served the cries for mobilization. The killing of Don Santoro, a Catholic priest assassinated in Turkey, stirred the editor of Libero to howl that evidence of the great Muslim offensive had been found.
I enjoyed relations of great cordiality with Oriana for many years. On 6 May 1991, with a note - «To my confrere in books Giulio Andreotti» – she sent me from New York a splendid eighteenth century edition of Cicero’s De oratore that she had found in an antiquarian bookstore.
Then everything changed. In the best-seller mentioned I was put on the Index, accused of backing the building of the Mosque of Rome.
On 24 May 2004 I wrote Fallaci a letter to which, differently from many another, I received no reply.

« Dear Fallaci,
I have read your last book, in which I am mentioned, recalling previous exchanges of views and attributing to me a role, that in effect I had, in favor of the building of the Mosque in Rome.
By highlighting the alarm already expressed and developed (that brought on you the “French” reaction and other), you claim that Islam’s design for revenge is under way, with the winning weapon of “prolific imagination”. And, it seems to me, you meld terrorism and Islamization, mocking (or almost) the dialogue among the religions and accusing the Catholic Church of simple-mindedness. In relation to the latter I was hurt by a phrase that speaks of an industry built by the Church on pietism.
Right, the frontispiece of the eighteenth century edition of Cicero’s De oratore given by Oriana Fallaci to Giulio Andreotti in May 1991; above, 
the handwritten note enclosed with the 
valuable gift

Right, the frontispiece of the eighteenth century edition of Cicero’s De oratore given by Oriana Fallaci to Giulio Andreotti in May 1991; above, the handwritten note enclosed with the valuable gift

You describe yourself as a Christian atheist and I respect that. The faith is a gift and one cannot boast for having had it. But let’s come to the problem. Is clandestine emigration from very poor countries truly dictated by a worldwide plan of conquest and doesn’t it arise first and foremost from poverty and from the lack of life prospects at home?
With detailed historical analysis you bring to light a global danger, exaggerating it I hope. Nevertheless great prudence in domestic legislation is a requisite.
About the Mosque, when King Faisal, here on a visit, spoke to me about it, it seemed to me to respond to an objective need. It is not the case that Paul VI was reluctant while objections came from “Italia Nostra” under its president Bassani: not least about the height of the minaret. Those who objected that in Saudi Arabia every other form of worship is forbidden were not in my opinion right. Their “closure” is a mistake and I hope that one day it will be corrected (they do not have diplomatic relations with the Holy See for that matter). In other Arab-Islamic countries there are churches and schools: look at Jordan, Iran, etc.
On the Palestinian problem I preserve a memory. In 1982 I was chairing the meeting of the Interparliamentary Conference when an urgent call came. You wanted to know how come we had invited Arafat to Rome. It was the first step in pushing them into dialogue with Israel; and in effect in his speech he said that if dialogue did open they would erase the demonization of the State of Israel from the PLO Statute. The European Community had spoken of dialogue two years earlier in the Venice Council. It took years to reach the Oslo Agreement and unfortunately co-existence is still far away.
Forgive me for buttonholing you. Recently, seeing Ghadaffi’s new policy towards the US and England, my conviction increases that we need to work in that direction.
With best greetings and unchanged friendship,
Giulio Andreotti».


I didn’t mention it in the letter, but I had been particularly disturbed by the reference in the book to Bernadette Soubirous, conceding that her sole merit was that of having brought tourists flocking to Lourdes. And further, in the same book, she expressed sarcasm against those who wished a tumor on her : she had had it already for many years. Which explains, in personal terms, the aggressivity of her final period and the glacial quality of her last will and testament.
The increasing flow of immigration from Islamic countries to countries of Christian tradition is without doubt creating delicate and complex problems. The winning hope must be directed at co-existence and not at ghettoization. It is the big challenge of the coming decades for which moderates of all persuasions must come together to win.
Oriana wished to be alone on Tuscan soil for her last farewell. Nevertheless I don’t want to believe that we can be inspired by those who leave no inheritance of affection. Even those who reject the aggressive remedies suggested by her never lost admiration and great respect for the person.


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