What Saint Francis really said to Sultan El-Kamel?
Saint Francis of Assisi: an anti-pacifist ode
Saint Francis never proposed a pacifist Christianity. He was undoubtedly for peace, ma, da santo, it couldn't have been for pacifism. Being peaceful means believing that peace (first and foremost with God) is an important value; being a pacifist means believing that peace is the highest value; and this is wrong because peace (as the absence of war) must be subordinated to the value of justice.
After the conversion, the entire life of the Saint of Assisi was marked by the anxiety of saving sinners and as regards non-Christians he was not interested in "dialogue" but in conversion.
Regarding the meeting with Sultan Melek-el-Kamel there are two important testimonies: that of Tommaso da Celano (the most famous biographer of Saint Francis) and that of Enlightened Friar, eyewitness of the meeting between Saint Francis and the sultan. Read More