On March 9th and 10th, the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies took place in the
United Arab Emirates' capital city of Abu Dhabi.
The forum brought together around 250 Muslim scholars and leaders from across the Middle
East to discuss what forum participant and Libyan ambassador to the UAE, Aren Ali Nayed,
called the "alarming" attempts by extremists to use Islam to legitimize acts of terror
and violence, and creating incentives for stopping and reversing that trend.
The two day forum was hosted by Sheikh Abdullah bin Sayed, the UAE's Minister of Foreign Affairs,
and featured conferences about the meaning of jihad, clerical responsibility, and the
influence of extremism on Muslim youth.
Forum attendees included university professors and presidents, government ministers, and
Muslim leaders from across the Arab world.
Women were also invited to speak at the landmark forum, including UK District Judge and domestic
violence expert Marilyn Mornington.
One of the clearer messages to come out of the Forum For Promoting Peace was from the
emphasis on reaching out to Muslim youth and clearing their misconceptions about the nature
of Islam and the duties of Muslims.
Many in attendance warned of extremists' influence on the idealistic and impressionable, and
said world peace could only be achieved through active engagement and open communication with
young people.
Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of
the Armed Forces said the use of narrow interpretations of Islam perpetrated by a minority spreads
hate, creates conflicts, and distorts the image of Islam and Muslims to the rest of
the world.
He called the true image of Islam one of friendship, brotherhood, peace, and cooperation.
On March 8th, a group of Arabic activists bared all on the grounds of the Louvre Museum
in Paris, France, in support of women's rights in the Middle East and North Africa.
Six women from across the Arab world staged a nude demonstration, holding the national
flags of Algeria, Egypt, Iran, and Tunisia.
In place of protest signs, the women wrote slogans in many different languages across
their own bodies.
Among the activists was Tunisian feminist Amina Souboui, who spent more than two months
in a Tunisian prison last year for desecrating a cemetery when she wrote the name of the
feminist political group Femen on a wall.
In an Internet video she posted, Iranian activist and fellow protest participant, Maryam Namazie,
Souboui, explains that fear for women in the Arab world is her motivation for participating
in this demonstration.
The women circled the Louvre Pyramids in the courtyard of the main museum entrance, chanting
for liberty and secularism.
A crowd of onlookers gathered and applauded the women while snapping pictures with their
phones.
The French police were lenient, allowing the protest to continue for several minutes, and
only dispersing the crowd after the protesters had covered themselves.
The women were temporarily detained by French police and released without charges.
Protest organizer Safia Lebdi said the protest was timed to coincide with International Women's
Day, and that she and her Muslim sisters carried the flags of the Arab world as a representation
of the cultural and legal oppression of Arab and Muslim women in those countries.
March 13th marked the first full year of Pope Francis' tenure.
The new pontiff has raised expectations among Vatican leaders and Catholics around the world
about the possibility of reforms.
From creating an increased role for women in ministry to the dismantling of clerical
wealth and power, Francis seems intent on setting aside the old traditions and making
the church a force for the future.
First on the Pope's agenda is opening the lines of communication not only for clergy
and congregation, but for the Vatican as well.
His insistence on hearing criticism, as well as a predilection for holding meetings, has
gotten him the label of "annoying" by at least one Vatican insider.
However, the pope is insistent, openly including himself on his list of Catholic sinners seeking
guidance.
Francis' call for dialogue, including dissent, is a radical change from the top-down leadership
style of his predecessors.
Under John Paul II and Benedict XVI, discussion on doctrine was discouraged, and Vatican bureaucracy,
called the Roman Curia, often acted as inquisitors, stamping out unorthodoxy among the clergy.
Pope Francis has already warned against expecting more of the same, telling his first group
of cardinals that they are not to think of themselves as a "royal court", and that their
place is to lead not by domination, but through service.
The reform expectations and conversations come ahead of the upcoming October Synod,
a large meeting of bishops.
Topics of discussion will include the status of divorced people and homosexuals in the
Church, as well as addressing the culture of careerism among clergy and how to put the
church back out among the people where Francis believes it belongs.
"A church that doesn't get out," he says, "gets sick from being locked up."