Expert for christian-islamic dialogue

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Hans Vocking has been intensively involved with Islam (mosque in Frankfurt a.M.) © DmitriyRazinkov (shutterstock)

Born in 1940 in Gronau, the Islamic scholar and religious Hans Vocking is considered a promoter of Christian dialogue. He has also often been a critical heckler in debates about Islam.

The Catholic religious, North Africa expert and longtime promoter of Christian-Islamic dialogue, P. Hans Vocking, turns 80 on Saturday. He is one of the most prominent experts on Islam in the Catholic Church in Germany. After joining the Order of African Missionaries ("White Fathers"), Vocking studied Arabic and Islamic Studies in Algeria and Rome from 1970 onwards.

Expert on interreligious dialogue

For 20 years, starting in 1978, Hans Vocking directed the Christian-Islamic Encounter and Documentation Center (CIBEDO), which was newly founded in Frankfurt by the White Fathers. It promotes – since 1998 as a specialized agency of the German Bishops' Conference – the interreligious dialogue of Christians and Muslims. From 1998, Vocking taught at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic Studies in Rome. In 2002, the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community called him to Brussels as an advisor and expert on Christian-Islamic dialogue. The religious has lived in Cologne since 2013.

Critical heckler in Islam debates

Vocking also repeatedly commented on German debates about Islam and integration. In 2016, for example, he criticized the Greens' opposition to the classification of the Maghreb countries Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco as safe countries of origin. He said there is no systematic persecution in the three countries, including of homosexuals. Therefore, the concern of the German government is completely justified, Vocking said in June 2016. The transfer of the western culture of freedom to countries with completely different traditions is misleading. "If you go by that, most of the world must be considered unsafe."

European women live on average 7.5 years longer than men. This is the conclusion of the World Health Organization's (WHO) 2012 health report. The report looks at 900 million people in all European countries. According to the study, women have an average life expectancy of 80 years, while men live only 72.5 years.

Europeans are far ahead in international health comparison. However, there are large differences between the individual countries. These differences are particularly large in men. 17 years separate European nations with highest and lowest life expectancy. Only twelve years for women.

The differences are also related to differences in income. "The gap between female and male life expectancy is very small in the high-income group. It is much greater among low-income groups," Ian Banks of the European Men's Health Forum (EMHF) told German Health News. "These low-income groups have a higher risk propensity especially for alcohol consumption, diet, driving, violence, sexual activity or smoking," said Banks. All of this leads to a lower life expectancy.

The EMHF publishes an annual report on men's health in Europe. The latest edition from 2011 says that people in poorer circumstances eat unhealthier, exercise less, consume more alcohol and are more likely to smoke or use drugs.

According to WHO, the leading causes of death in Europe are non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, followed by cancer and diabetes. Unhealthy diet and little exercise are among the most common causes of these diseases. "Men's diets are generally less healthy and nutritious than women's," according to the EMHF's health report.

But tobacco and alcohol consumption pose the greatest health risk. According to WHO, alcohol causes 6.5 percent of all deaths in Europe. Europeans drink the most in the world, with an average of 10.6 liters of pure alcohol per person. Germans in particular drink an above-average amount of alcohol, 12 liters per year. This also leads to a lower life expectancy for men. "Men are more likely than women to drink and to do so in harmful ways. In addition, men are more likely to be alcohol dependent than women," according to the EMFH report. Injury and death rates due to alcohol consumption are higher among men than among women.

The greatest differences in life expectancy between men and women are in Eastern Europe. Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Russia, Estonia, Lithuania and Montenegro belong to this group. Alcohol and tobacco consumption is also highest here in Europe. In contrast, the differences are smallest in the Netherlands, Sweden, Iceland, Israel and Great Britain. In 2010, the average life expectancy in the United Kingdom was 80 years, with women living to 82.5 years and men to 78.5 years.

More than 50 percent of deaths among men are preventable, according to the EMHF. Men, however, are less likely than women to attend routine and preventive checkups. Therefore, awareness and knowledge about health among men has to be increased. WHO representatives call on European countries to work more together to reduce wide health disparities across the continent.

Statements by Pope Benedict XVI. on fighting AIDS have led to debates in Germany. Hamburg Auxiliary Bishop Hans-Jochen Jaschke rejects making condoms taboo, but at the same time warned against overestimating them. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi refers to the church's fight against HIV and the pope visits an anti-AIDS project and demands free medication. The German AIDS-Hilfe had called the Vatican's categorical rejection of the condom "cynical".

Benedict XVI. had said on Tuesday at the beginning of his trip to Africa that the AIDS epidemic could not be overcome by distributing condoms; condoms only increased the problems. Rather, it is a matter of morally correct behavior and special attention to the sick. SPD federal ministers Ulla Schmidt and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul contradicted the pope without explicitly mentioning him. "Modern development cooperation must give the poorest of the poor access to family planning resources. And that includes, in particular, the use of condoms. Anything else would be irresponsible," they said together in Berlin. Condoms saved lives. Wieczorek-Zeul and Schmidt stressed that condoms play a crucial role in combating the immunodeficiency disease. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, he said, 22 million people are infected with the HIV virus.

Holistic approach In a guest editorial for the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit," Auxiliary Bishop Jaschke writes that "the Church is not in a sinister anti-condom corner from which it wants to intimidate people". Jaschke defended the position of the Catholic church to AIDS: It pursues a holistic beginning of clearing-up, Vorbeugung and assistance for ill ones. Human sexuality includes responsibility for oneself and others. Each individual must therefore be strengthened in his or her morality. At the same time, the bishop did not reject the use of condoms: "Those who have AIDS and are sexually active, those who seek changing partnerships, must protect others and themselves," he writes. If a husband with AIDS communicates with his wife, then "protection is called for". At the same time, the bishop warned against "myths and trivializations". The distribution of condoms alone cannot solve the problem. Men often rejected its use. Ignorance, poor hygiene and inhumane living conditions are a dangerous breeding ground for the spread of AIDS. Jaschke praised the so-called A-B-C method, which is propagated by the state and church in Uganda, among other countries: The letter A stands for abstinence, B for "remain faithful" and C for the use of condoms, in English "condoms". Jaschke also referred to the church's worldwide commitment to combating AIDS. Every second institution in the fight against AIDS worldwide is supported by the churches, every fourth by the Catholic Church. The goal of their work, he said, is also to bring sick people out of their isolation and lethargy, to break the silence in the face of the disease and to care for AIDS patients.

Condoms "no panacea" The head of the German editorial office of Radio Vatican in Rome, Father Eberhard von Gemmingen, defended the head of the church. "Pope Benedict XVI. has not banned the condom as strictly as it is made out to be," he told Deutsche Welle. "The pope just said the condom is not a 'solution'. Hopefully everyone agrees on this," said the Father. The solution lies in overcoming poverty. The UN organization Unaids declared in Geneva that condoms are an important part of AIDS prevention. However, there is no "panacea" against the immunodeficiency disease. In the educational work, it must therefore also be a matter of reducing the number of sexual partners. According to Unaids, more than 7,000 people worldwide contract the disease every day.400 people to Aids.The director of the German Institute for Medical Mission, Gisela Schneider, also emphasized the complexity of the AIDS problem. "Condoms alone cannot banish the danger, but they are an important weapon in the fight against Aids," Schneider told the epd in Tubingen. Successful AIDS prevention must also take into account cultural ies, such as gender roles.

Vatican spokesman: Church maintains line on AIDS ie Pope Benedict XVI. According to Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, does not want to set new accents on the ie of AIDS during his trip to Africa. With his statement before arriving in Cameroon, the Pope had merely confirmed the position of his predecessor John Paul II. reaffirmed on this ie, Lombardi told reporters in Yaounde on Wednesday. In the fight against HIV, the Catholic Church relies on appropriate sexual education, effective therapies to interrupt the transmission of the virus from infected mothers to their children, and social and pastoral support for those affected. Lombardi objected to 'ideology of reliance on condoms'. The reliance on condoms as a solution to the AIDS problem belies the importance of education and responsible sexual behavior in this context, he. Moreover, a not insignificant part of the infections do not occur sexually, but due to a lack of hygiene. The Church is not indifferent to the sick and suffering, but on the contrary has traditionally shown great commitment to health care. With regard to AIDS, however, she also emphasized personal responsibility and the value of marriage, the Vatican spokesman said. In the morning, Benedict XVI. Outside his official program in the Cameroonian capital welcomed 67 participants in an AIDS project. The young doctors and social workers from various African countries are currently completing a training course in new therapies against AIDS. The event is part of the "Dream" program of the Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio, which works in the medical accompaniment of people infected with HIV. Benedict XVI. considers the initiative exemplary and groundbreaking in the fight against AIDS.

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