[pissant]

There is no backtracking of what he said. Period. Just that it was not intended to upset the muslims.

[bonfire]

Of COURSE it was intended to offend the Muslim sensibilites!! Why backtrack? He KNEW it would offend them!

[mware]

This is scary. Seems to be a heck of a lot of books and movies about assassinations.

Benedict XVI is set to visit Turkey in November, for those looking to descry omens, here’s one that’s not terribly encouraging: A potboiler novel currently on bestseller lists in Turkey titled Papa’ya 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.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

OK. Tell you what--read this and then tell me if you see these words of a confident, courageous man or a total wuss?

http://www.theindiancatholic.com/newsread.asp?nid=3443