There's much to celebrate after a succesful Catholic-Muslim summit is Rome last week. The 15-point joint statement of the Muslim and Christian scholars is a healthy step on the road to a more constructive relationship betweeen Islam and Christianity.

As U.S. voters head to the polls tomorrow, another set of partisans will be gathering, hopefully for something rhetorically less than a debate. At long last and two years after Pope Benedict XVI drew a negative response from many in the Muslim world after his Regensburg speech, a group of 24 Muslim scholars will meet 24 Roman Catholic counterparts for a three-day summit.

Though not on the radar screen of most Catholics, the actions (or lack thereof) of Pope Pius XII during World War II are straining Catholic-Jewish relations.