HIGH PROFILE BAPTISM
A "Common Word" delegation met Vatican officials early this month in Rome and agreed to a formal dialogue session in November during which they will meet Pope Benedict.
In his statement, issued after consulting several other signatories of the dialogue appeal, Nayed said Allam's conversion was his personal decision and asked whether he had been influenced by Catholic schools he attended as a child.
He said it was "sad that the particular person chosen for such a highly public gesture has a history of generating, and continues to generate, hateful discourse." Allam has been a fierce critic of radical Islam and defender of Israel.
Mohamed Yatim, commentator for the Moroccan daily Attajdid, called the high-profile baptism "a new provocation for the Islamic world and part of a trend that has intensified in recent years with the caricatures of the Prophet."
Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad printed by some European newspapers sparked widespread riots in the Muslim world in 2006.
In Algeria, deputy editor Mahmoud Belhimer of the popular El Khabar newspaper said Allam's conversion "could have been normal if he had not made anti-Islamic comments".
The Saudi daily al-Watan reported the baptism on its front page and described Allam as someone who "worked tirelessly to attack Islam" and was close to pro-Israel groups.
Rev Christophe Roucou, the French Catholic Church's top official for relations with Islam, also questioned the publicity surrounding Allam's conversion. "I don't understand why he wasn't baptised in his hometown by his local bishop," he said.
