'Concentration camp' remark threatens Pope's visit to Israel

London Times ^ | January 8, 2009 | Richard Owen

[Steelfish]

'Concentration camp' remark threatens Pope's visit to Israel Pope Benedict is scheduled to visit the Holy Land in May Richard Owen in Rome A diplomatic row between Israel and the Vatican cast doubt over Pope Benedict XVI’s planned visit to the Holy Land yesterday, after a prominent cardinal said that Gazans were living in a “big concentration camp”. In his annual speech to diplomats in the Vatican the Pope sought to damp down the dispute. He said that the war was “provoking immense damage and suffering for the civilian populations” in Gaza and Israel. He urged “the rejection of hatred, acts of provocation and the use of arms” and added: “Violence, wherever it comes from and whatever form it takes, must be firmly condemned. The military solution is never an option,” he said. His remarks came amid outrage from Israelis over a statement by Cardinal Renato Martino, the head of the Vatican Council for Justice and Peace and a former Holy See envoy to the United Nations, who compared Gaza to a concentration camp. The cardinal criticised Israel for killing civilians who had taken shelter at a UNrun school in Gaza. Israeli officials said that they were “deeply shocked that a man of religion is using the vocabulary of Hamas propaganda”. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which monitors antiSemitism and hunts down Nazi war criminals, said that Cardinal Martino had used the language of a “Holocaust denier”.

[BlessedBeGod]

Martino has a reputation for being an idiot and saying stupid things.

Let’s hope Il Papa dumps him immediately, since he’s past the age of retirement.

[nickcarraway]

Is Pope Benedict supposed to have made this remark? It doesn’t sound like him.

[Mr. Mojo]

In his annual speech to diplomats in the Vatican the Pope sought to damp down the dispute.

The best way to do that is to say that the Cardinal was out of line in comparing Gaza to a concentration camp.

[Steelfish]

No, not BXVI: An idiotic liberal Cardinal.

[LibFreeOrDie]

More about Martino’s remarks:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2160643/posts

[Uhaul]

Excommunicate him - and then shoot him.

[FlyVet]

The military solution is never an option,” he said

So, Israel should just go on absorbing rockets and mortars indefinitely.

If they were pumping rockets into Vatican City, I'm sure the cardinal would roll over and take it.

[norge]

If the Vatican, and I repeat, IF, the Vatican cannot tell evil from good, then we are in trouble. The UN can indulge in moral equivalency, but not the Vatican.

[nickcarraway]

I don’t pay any attention to what Cardinal Martino says. I wish everyone else didn’t either.

[NoLibZone]

He didnt say this, a prominent cardinal did.

After the Pope fires that man , he should be allowed in.

[skinkinthegrass]

...after a prominent cardinal said that Gazans were living in a “big concentration camp”.

Its' they're own fault (Pali-Arabs), They lost "the War in '48 "
The surrounding Arab Rulers; at the time ordered the Pali-Arabs to evacuate their lands/properties in '48, So they could launch unfetter attacks on the Israeli Forces....well, the Arabs lost, very badly.

If the Pali-Arabs, would committed to peace instead of "rocketing" the Israeli, every night.
They (& the Israeli), could've had one of the highest standard of living in the Mideast (if not Asia) by now.

"Troika / Footstool of Liberalism...Corruption, Nationalization & Propaganda" Rush Limbaugh
“Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P.J.O’Rourke

[familyop]

As usual, the Vatican's timing for those comments is very telling.

Vatican Condemns Israel for Attacks on Lebanon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1665678/posts

Hopefully, our US Government won't follow the cue this time.

US pressure prompts delay of [Israel's] offensive ("We do not want escalations" - White House)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1680983/posts

Israel Asks U.S. to Ship Rockets With Wide Blast-State Department seeks to delay supply
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1681771/posts

Commencement Address at Boston College (Secretary Condoleezza Rice, Boston, Massachusetts, May 22, 2006. US Department of State)

Excerpts:

As a student of a Catholic high school, the Sisters of Loretta taught me, I am pleased to be at an institution of higher education with such strong and celebrated Catholic and Jesuit traditions . . . You see, I got my Master's Degree at Notre Dame. (Boos.) I acquired a passion for the fighting Irish . . . and my family has been college educated and Presbyterian ever since. (Laughter and applause.) . . . I wandered into a course on international politics taught by a Czech refugee who specialized in Soviet studies, a man who had a daughter by the name of Madeleine Albright. With that one class, I was hooked. I discovered that my passion was Russia and all things Russian.

Rice: Better to have Hamas in power than in streets
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1733397/posts

Rice: Palestinians deserve to live free of 'occupation'[at an event of pro-Palestinian group]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1717847/posts

US Supplies Fatah With Arms, Rice Decries "Occupation"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1718348/posts

[Big_Monkey]

"Excommunicate him - and then shoot him.

Wow. That's rough. Let me gues. Pre Vatican II guy?

[tpanther]

If the Vatican, and I repeat, IF, the Vatican cannot tell evil from good, then we are in trouble. The UN can indulge in moral equivalency, but not the Vatican.

---

It’s biblical, even the elect shall be deceived. Makes me wonder if we’re not indeed closing in, there’s just a certain surreal otherworldly lunacy in the air.

[montag813]

Pope Benedict did not say this bullshit. There are scumbag cardinals everywhere, whether Arabs or that illegals lover in L.A., or leftists like this one.

I am a Jew and I love this Pope. Please do not let this nonsense do anything to sully the trip to Israel.

[montag813]

Oh I forgot that scumbag Jew-hater “Cardinal” Desmond Tutu, may be not be long for this earth.

[Steelfish]

Three cheers! Well said!

[DoughtyOne]

I believe it would be a good idea for Israel to ask for clarification on this. It would motivate Pope Benedict to clarify the Vatican’s view on the Palestinian people, and whether they were being treated unfairly by Israel in light of current events.

Pope Benedict could then hit one out of the park, as they say.

I am not as familiar with his views as I should be. If he is going to Israel at all, it should be an indication that he is not diametrically opposed to the nation’s policies.

This statement was unfortunate, to put it mildly, and I realize the Pope did not make it.

[The KG9 Kid]

Here's a picture of the old leper: