Hamburg - A German Catholic theologian, Karl-Josef Kuschel, criticized on Saturday this week's joint Vatican-Shiite statement, saying he would have preferred Sunni Muslims to be included as well. The historic joint statement, which was issued in Rome after Catholics met with Iranian religious scholars, affirmed that faith and reason were never "against" each other though faith might in some cases be "above" reason.
The inter-faith discussions followed a controversial 2006 speech in Regensburg, Germany by Pope Benedict XVI in which he invited debate on an old Byzantine emperor's view that Islam placed itself beyond reason.
Sunni Muslim scholars from many countries have had a joint meeting of their own with the Vatican about the theological issue.
Kuschel said he found it "surprising" that the Vatican had talked to the two streams of Islam separately and had agreed to issue a statement with the Shiites, who were in the minority.
"I wonder why they did not wait until they received a pan-Islamic document," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur
