Atheist writer leaves books to the Church

BY FREDDY GRAY
AN OUTSPOKEN atheist intellectual who died last month was so fond of Pope Benedict XVI that she left her book collection to the Catholic Church, it has emerged.
Oriana Fallaci, the controversial Italian journalist and writer, bequeathed most of her personal library to the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
"I am especially pleased to say that the great writer and journalist Oriana Fallaci left to our library a great part of her books and archives," said university rector Bishop Rino Fisichella, speaking to an audience that included Pope Benedict XVI.
`The veneration that she had for you, Holy Father, persuaded her to make this donation, which will be known as the Oriana Fallaci Archives," he added.
Ms Fallaci is said to have regarded Benedict XVI as an "ally" in her personal crusade against the Islamist influence in the West.
Last year, as she battled against breast cancer, Ms Fallaci was invited to the Vatican for a private audience with the Pontiff. Details of the meeting remain scarce but in one of her last interviews Ms Fallaci told The Wall Sweet Journal: "I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a pope think the same things, there must be something true."
Ms Fallaci earned her reputation as a journalist interview ing such leaders as former American Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
During an interview with the Ayatollah Khomeini, she ripped off a veil that she had been asked to wear. She also complained about Fidel Castro's body odour and threw her microphone at Muhammad Ali's face when he belched in answer to one of her questions.
She spent the last years of her life waging intellectual war against the rise of Islam in the West. After the temarist attacks of September 11, 2001, Ms Fallaci launched a series of attacks on Islam and the multicultural agendas of European governments. In 2001, her book The Rage and the Pride prompted accusations that she was inciting religious hatred. A judge in Italy ordered her to stand trial for defaming Islam but the case never went to court.