Here is an excellent read on the Pope XVI and his approach to Islam…
(go to http://www.albalagh.net/current_affairs/0095.shtml)
An excerpt from the article is quite intriguing:
In his interview based book, Salt of the Earth: The Church at the End of the Millennium (1997), written when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he notes that in the post colonial world (since 1960 in his words) Muslims have been coming back to Islam: So the Muslims now have the consciousness that in reality Islam has remained in the end as the more vigorous religion and that they have something to say to the world, indeed, are the essential religious force of the future. Before, the shariah and all those things had already left the scene, in a sense; now there is a new pride. Thus a new zest, a new intensity about wanting to live Islam has awakened. This is its great power: We have a moral message that has existed without interruption since the prophets, and we will tell the world how to live it, whereas the Christians certainly can’t. We must naturally come to terms with this inner power of Islam. [emphasis added]
Please do read and comment.