Carlos Balén argues on InfoVaticana.com that Pope Leo XIV’s June 6
portrayal of al-Andalus as a model of interreligious coexistence is
undermined by the very examples he cites. The Pope described Islamic
Spain as “a space of contact, conversation, and dialogue among
Christians, Muslims, and Jews,” pointing to Córdoba and Toledo, the
figures of Averroes and Maimonides, and Alfonso X’s School of
Translators. Balén contends that each of these examples contradicts
rather than supports the Pope’s thesis. His main arguments are as
follows:
Maimonides Fled Córdoba
Maimonides
was born in Córdoba, but when the Almohads captured the city in the
mid-twelfth century, they revoked the legal protections previously
granted to Jews and forced them to choose between conversion, exile, or
death. Maimonides and his family fled, eventually settling in Egypt,
where he spent the rest of his life.
He became an intellectual figures not because he flourished under Almohad rule, but because he escaped it.
Averroes Was Exiled and Censored
Averroes,
the Córdoban philosopher whose commentaries on Aristotle profoundly
influenced medieval Europe, fell victim to the very Almohad regime that
the Pope’s narrative implicitly celebrates. He was disgraced, exiled,
and saw his works condemned.
Thus, both figures Leo XIV invoked as symbols of convivencia ultimately suffered persecution under the political and religious order he praised.
Toledo Was Already Christian
The
School of Translators that Leo XIV attributed to Andalusian cultural
exchange was established under Alfonso X of Castile in the thirteenth
century. By then, Toledo had been under Christian rule for nearly two
centuries, having been reconquered by Alfonso VI in 1085.
The
remarkable collaboration among Christian, Jewish, and Muslim scholars
that flourished there was therefore a product of Christian Spain, not
Islamic Spain. In citing the School of Translators as evidence for
al-Andalus, the Pope credited the Islamic period with an achievement of
the Reconquista.
Christians were dhimmis
Al-Andalus
did play a crucial role in transmitting Greek and Arabic learning to
Europe and, at certain periods, was more tolerant than many of its
contemporaries.
Yet Christians and Jews under Islamic rule remained dhimmis
- legally subordinate communities subject to special taxes and various
civic disabilities. Under the Almoravids and especially the Almohads,
restrictions intensified, religious minorities faced growing
persecution, and the idealized image of convivencia gave way to coercion and exile.
Spain Was Forged by the Reconquista
The
Pope's broader argument - that Spain's history is a lesson in encounter
over confrontation - inverts the historical record. The Spanish
language, monarchy, and institutions were shaped by eight centuries of
military and political struggle to reclaim the peninsula.
Picture: Vatican Media, #newsNcazvyzzpy