Forming ties with the Vatican would help the government demonstrate to Malaysian Christians that it respects different religions on an international level, Mr. Shamsul said. It would also contribute to Mr. Najib’s “1Malaysia” policy, which promotes national unity and inclusiveness, he added.
A decision by Prime Minister Najib Razak to meet with on Monday signals a wish to mend ties with ’s Christians following a series of incidents, including the firebombing of churches, that have strained interfaith relations in this Muslim-majority nation, analysts say.
Mr. Najib is scheduled to visit Benedict at Castel Gandolfo, the pope’s summer residence near Rome, for talks that are expected to touch on the possibility of Malaysia establishing diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
Malaysia, where Christians make up 9 percent of the population, is one of the few countries without diplomatic ties with the Vatican. Many other predominantly Muslim countries, including Indonesia, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan, already have such ties.
While Islam is the official religion in Malaysia, the right to freedom of religion is enshrined in its Constitution. There are about 850,000 Catholics in Malaysia, which has a population of 28 million.
In recent years, Christians and other religious minorities have expressed concern over what they view as the increasing “Islamization” of Malaysia. Churches have been firebombed, and Malay-language Bibles have been seized by the authorities in a dispute over whether Christians should be allowed to use the word “Allah” for God.
Analysts say that Mr. Najib’s meeting with the pope is intended to demonstrate to Malaysian Christians that the government considers their religion important enough to warrant a state-level visit.
“Muslim-Christian relations in Malaysia have taken a hammering since the Badawi period,” said Farish Ahmad Noor, a political scientist at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, referring to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was prime minister from 2003 to 2009. “And many Christian groups now feel that they have been neglected by an uncaring government.”
“This trip has therefore been rendered all the more important, thanks to both international and local factors,” Mr. Farish said. “But the Najib administration has to show once and for all that it will not allow the harassment of Christians to continue in the country.”
Since Mr. Najib became prime minister in 2009, he has sought to project Malaysia as a moderate Muslim-majority nation.
Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, head of the Institute of Ethnic Studies at the National University of Malaysia, said the federal government had made many attempts at interfaith dialogue in recent years. But these attempts have not been very successful, he said, in part because many aspects of religious practice are controlled by the state, such as regulations regarding Muslims who renounce the faith.
Forming ties with the Vatican would help the government demonstrate to Malaysian Christians that it respects different religions on an international level, Mr. Shamsul said. It would also contribute to Mr. Najib’s “1Malaysia” policy, which promotes national unity and inclusiveness, he added.
“He is trying to use external activities to impress upon the domestic constituencies that his government is recognizing the contribution of Christians in the country,” Mr. Shamsul said.
A swing by Christian voters to the opposition in the 2008 election was partly attributed to dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of religious issues. While Mr. Najib’s meeting with the pope is likely to be received well by Christians, analysts say it may not necessarily increase their support for the governing coalition, dominated by the United Malays National Organization, ahead of elections that must be held by mid-2013.
“Symbolically it’s meant to have that effect,” said Mr. Farish. “Whether that translates into a significant shift in votes, I still think that depends on a lot of other domestic concerns. There’s no point in Najib going to the Vatican if we were to have another spate of church bombings.”
Mr. Shamsul said while some Muslims in Malaysia may express “doubt about the wisdom” of ties with the Vatican, it was unlikely that there would be major political repercussions because the country’s main opposition Islamic party, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, has been striving to present a more moderate image.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Mr. Najib and the pope would meet on Monday but said that details would not be released until Saturday.
The archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Murphy Pakiam, will attend the meeting with Mr. Najib and the pope, his office said, but it referred further inquiries to the apostolic nuncio’s office in Singapore, which it said had arranged the meeting. Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, the apostolic nuncio in Singapore who also serves as apostolic delegate for Malaysia, did not return calls seeking comment.
The Rev. Lawrence Andrew, editor of The Herald, the Roman Catholic Church’s weekly newspaper in Kuala Lumpur, said that Archbishop Girelli visited Mr. Najib in May as part of the “ongoing process” to establish diplomatic relations with Malaysia.
“The Vatican has been at it for a very long time, for decades,” he said.
He said he believed that Malaysia had not previously pursued diplomatic relations with the Vatican out of a fear among many Malaysian authorities that Christians would try to convert Muslims. But he said that fear appears to have diminished in recent years.
“They have seen that the Catholics are not the type who go and proselytize and convert the Muslims,” he said.
In Malaysia, ethnic Malays are automatically considered Muslim. Muslims who wish to convert to Christianity must obtain permission from the Shariah, or Islamic courts, but permission is rarely granted.
Religious tensions were reignited in May when a Malay-language newspaper published a report alleging that Christians wanted to make Christianity the country’s official religion, a claim vehemently denied by Christian leaders.
Father Andrew said while there may still be a “pocket of people” who champion the rights of Malays, and therefore Muslims, over other groups, he sensed that Malaysia as a whole was becoming more accepting of other religions.
“There’s an opening up and therefore I see this” — the meeting with the pope — “as a positive thing,” he said.
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