Posted on 09/16/2006 5:25:37 AM PDT by Dark Skies
The Pope has apologised to the world's Muslim community after making comments about the history of Islam, according to media reports.
He said he hoped the speech had not been taken as being intentionally offensive and insisted that the Vatican was "strongly upset" by the Islamic world's reaction, the BBC reports.
Delivering a speech on Tuesday at a university in his homeland of Germany, Pope Benedict XVI quoted criticisms of the Prophet Muhammad made by 14th century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Palaeologus, who claimed that the Islamic prophet had brought "things only evil and inhuman" on the world, "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".
The Pope made a point of saying "I quote" during his speech in order to distance himself from the sentiment, but his comments have attracted widespread criticism from leading Muslims.
Their demands that the pontiff apologises for his speech, which explored the relationship between violence and faith, appear to have been met today.
Commentators claim that the Pope's planned visit to the mainly Islamic country of Turkey in November is now in jeopardy.
In the Gaza Strip, several thousand Palestinians took to the streets in protest at the Pope's comments, while Pakistan's national assembly unanimously passed a resolution calling on the pontiff to retract his statement.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf warned that "sinister tendencies" to associate terrorism with Muslims were helping to fuel a sense of alienation between the west and Islam.
"Our strategy must clearly oppose the sinister tendencies to associate terrorism with Islam and discrimination against Muslims, which are giving rise to an ominous alienation between the west and the world of Islam," said Mr Musharraf, addressing the Non-Aligned Movement's summit in Cuba.
The Pope's comments have also sparked outrage in the UK, where the Muslim Council of Britain had urged the head of the Catholic church to "urgently clarify" his comments, which the organisation said had caused "dismay and hurt" to Muslims.
Meanwhile, the first Muslim woman to enter the House of Lords has said that UK politicians must put pressure on the Pope to apologise for the "disappointment and hurt" caused by his remarks.
Speaking on Radio 4, Labour peer Baroness Uddin said: "I am worried about the current climate which licenses this type of irresponsible analysis of religion. If he did not mean it he should not have said it."
Urging Muslims to "show reverence and reflection" in their response to the Pope's comments, she added: "What I do not want is any effigy burning here or any irrational discussion. Already the environment is such that demonising Islam has become acceptable. We have got to be thoughtful in our responses."
However, German chancellor Angela Merkel has defended the pontiff, stressing that critics had misunderstood the aim of his speech.
"It was an invitation to dialogue between religions," said Ms Merkel, in an article published in the Bild newspaper today.
"What Benedict XVI emphasised was a decisive and uncompromising renunciation of all forms of violence in the name of religion," she stressed.
The Vatican has attempted to quell discontent over the Pope's comments by insisting that he was attempting to put across a "clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence".
"It was certainly not the intention of the Holy Father to undertake a comprehensive study of the jihad and of Muslim ideas on the subject, still less to offend the sensibilities of Muslim faithful," Vatican press office director Federico Lombardi said.
I disagree. The Pope is not apologizing.
Kissing the Koran exactly his predecessor will be next. (Someone here on FR needs to post that picture... very apropo.)
Islamic prophet had brought "things only evil and inhuman" on the world, "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".
This is the key phrase Muslims take offense with.
They dont believe spreading their faith by sword is evil.
So now they want to cut off the popes head with a sword.
Pope did us all a favor, calling the snakes out from under their rocks.
There is no backtracking of what he said. Period. Just that it was not intended to upset the muslims.
I asked the mods to add a qualifier to the title...(sorry you're offended, that is)
Show me the apology.
So have I, 3 times, and I can't see where he apologizes or 'backtracks'.
Where do you see that?
Of COURSE it was intended to offend the Muslim sensibilites!! Why backtrack? He KNEW it would offend them!
In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled Pope: I'm sorry, Dark Skies wrote:
READ THE ARTICLE. THERE IS NO APOLOGY.
It's the equivalent of a husband saying to his wife "I'm sorry you're offended because I said you look fat in that dress."
Excatly-- and I'm sure he had this up his sleeve when he made the initial proclamation. This Pope is no dummy Long Live the Pope!!!!!!!!!
Separated at birth? No, the bottom one is much better looking.
Not offended. Just want accuracy. The title, as with most MSM, is misleading.
He has let us down. You have no idea how badly I feel about this.
Last night when my husband told me about the original part of the story, I was feeling really good about the Pope and what he said and now today, I feel like the air has been let out of my balloon. I am not Catholic but I was so buoyed to see a man of courage and now this.
Benedict XVI is set to visit Turkey in November, for those looking to descry omens, heres one thats not terribly encouraging: A potboiler novel currently on bestseller lists in Turkey titled Papaya suikast (Attack on the Pope) predicts that Benedict will be assassinated.
Written by novelist Yücel Kaya, the book is subtitled, Who will kill Benedict XVI in Istanbul? In a little more than 300 pages, Kaya manages to weave the Turkish Secret Service, the infamous Masonic lodge P2, and (of course) Opus Dei into his plot line. Inevitably, Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, also makes an appearance.
All this might seem comical were it not for the fact that in the last seven months, three Catholic priests have been attacked in Turkey, beginning with the murder of Italian missionary Fr. Andrea Santoro on February 5.
The 'upset' Muslims did a knee jerk, most without ever reading what the Pope said, and meant.. so no need for us to do the same. It's out there, let the Muslims deal with it.
Unbelievable?
Would you prefer that all the Vatican Guards mount up on horses, get out their armor, swords and spears and ride off to the Middle East (again)?
You're probably not Catholic. There is nothing unbelievable about the Pope apologizing. The Pope would prefer that we all love every single Muslim, which we all should. After all, that's what Christ wants us to do.
Actually, his speech was aimed at that part of the muslim community that claims that islam isn't violent (all three of them) and not at those who spread the faith by the sword IMO. He is upset that they are offended instead of responding rationally.
It was not intended to offend them. It was intended to say what it did and curse violent jihad. He's sorry if its offensive, not sorry that he said it.
Some day the world is going to wake up and understand the danger the murderous Islamic extremists pose to civilization; I just hope it's before they get their hands on some nukes.
And in the interim, my fervent prayers for the safety of the Pope.
At least make something similar to an effort when reading an article before posting.
It's apparent (to everyone) you've glanced at the headline and decided to post w/o being prepared.
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