Topic summary
Catholic Church and Islam

Relations between the Catholic Church and Islam deals with the current attitude of the Catholic Church towards Islam, as well as the attitude of Islam towards the Catholic Church and Catholics, and notable changes in the relationship since the 20th century. In the 7th century text Concerning Heresy, Saint John of Damascus named Islam as Christological heresy, referring to it as the "heresy of the Ishmaelites" (see medieval Christian views on Muhammad). The position remained popular in Christian circles well into the 20th century, with Hilaire Belloc terming it "the great and enduring heresy of Mohammed." Since the 20th century, the Catholic church has engaged in interreligious dialogue with the various confessions in Islam. Medieval Due to geographical proximity, most of the early Christian critiques of Islam were associated with Eastern Christians. The Quran was not translated from Arabic into the Latin language until the 12th century, when the English Catholic priest Robert of Ketton made the Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete translation (Robert was active in the Diocese of Pamplona, not far removed from the Arabic-speakers in the Iberian Peninsula). This translation was made at the beh