What in heaven’s name is the Pope up to?

Spring has come early to the Vatican, where Pope Benedict XVI has set off a firework display of new Catholic doctrine and thinking. He is to rehabilitate Martin Luther, whose split from the Catholic Church in 1520 brought the rise of Protestant Churches - and nearly two centuries of religious wars. In the worst, the Thirty Years War from 1618 to 1648, more than half the population was wiped out in some areas of Germany.

Benedict has said that Luther did not set out primarily to destroy the Church of Rome and the Papacy, but to "purge it of corrupt practices". The Pope has asked scholars to re-examine Luther's teachings during his summer retreat to Castel Gandolfo in the Alban hills.

Equally radical is the announcement that the Vatican is to set up a permanent body for Catholic-Muslim dialogue, following a conference in Rome this week to which 138

Islamic scholars were invited. The first summit of the Catholic-Muslim Forum will be on the theme "Love of God, Love of Neighbour".

What on earth is he up to? It seems the Pope wants to cancel centuries of blood and argument by reaching out to people of faith and reason in an effort to undermine the fanatical extremist version of Islam which has led to the creation of terrorist groups like Al Qaeda.

Benedict appears to be joining a general move by western churches and governments to undermine the huge influence of the wealthy Wahabbi sect of Saudi Arabia, which is funding mosques and imams across the world to promote its purist and - to many - fanatical version of Islam.

If all that isn't enough, the Pope has decreed that a statue of Galileo, condemned in 1633 for saying the earth moved round the sun, is to be erected in the Vatican garden. After recanting, Galileo left his trial muttering, "e pur si muov" (still it moves).