The anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks brought a renewed focus-intensified by the lens of a presidential campaign-not only on that day’s devastation but on the nation’s efforts to combat radical Islam while engaging the wider Muslim world. Friday marks a related milestone-two years since Pope Benedict XVI delivered a lecture on faith and reason that sparked a conflagration of Muslim anger at Christians so fierce it was dubbed the church’s “9/12.” The date, like 9/11, became a symbol of a chasm of anger so wide it looked as though it could never be bridged. Two years later, there are signs of progress and even hopes for a rapprochement.

(David Gibson, author of “The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World,” wrote this article for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.)