Pope Invites Muslims to Dialogue, Slams "Holy Wars"(Hooray for the Pope!)

Reuters News Service ^ | Sep 12, 2006 | Philip Pullella and Madeline Chambers

[Suzy Quzy]

Amen!!! I think he's stronger than JP II.....LOVE him!!

[sageb1]

"I'm not Catholic but I'm definitely for giving fellow Christians more of a break and not trying to deconstruct their words; we are on the same team after all."

Bump!

Kind of like Tony Snow at today's press conference trying to make the media understand that it is UNITY that will win the war.

[Theoden]

Now, now, he lost touch in his old days due to Parkinson's disease, and his time is now over anyway. Our new pontiff is well aware of the evil of Islam, and will be much more direct with them, and I am sure he must have cringed when he saw Pope JPII do that.

[sageb1]

Where is that from? I've never seen it before.

[ArrogantBustard]

It's a detail from a frescoe painted in some moderately obscure, but very old Catholic Church in Italy. The whole frescoe depicts various unfortunates, whom the artist believed to have been damned, being subjected to various tortures in Hell. While amusing, such depiction is theologically problematic. The Church canonizes Saints, but does not proclaim that any specific person is actually in Hell (although she most definitely does teach that Hell is populated).

[Alex Murphy]

"At his university lecture, Benedict, a leading theologian who has always drawn clear lines between Roman Catholicism and other faiths, also appeared to criticize Protestant churches and contemporary Third World theologians for not stressing the link between faith and reason clearly enough."

What does the Pope mean by the above? Protestant churches in any event cover the gamut.

I believe it's a reference to papal remarks covered on this thread, in which the Pope decries the dehellenization of reason and faith.

See my post #3 for an excerpt of his remarks, in which he discusses the Protestant Reformation specifically. I believe this is what your quote, above, is referring to.

[ELS]

bttt

[Michael Goldsberry]

"How do you negotiate with someone who's starting point is your death?" -- Rush Limbaugh

[cpforlife.org]

Excellent news.

I hope Vatican security is prepared.

[ArrogantBustard]

Here's a slightly larger detail. The artist seems to have been one Giovanni da Modena, the painting is of the Last Judgement.

[ELS]

It's a detail from a frescoe painted in some moderately obscure, but very old Catholic Church in Italy.

If it is a detail of a fresco that muslims in Italy objected to a while ago (and have threatened/attempted to vandalize), then it is in the Cathedral of Bologna. The work is based on Dante's Inferno. What the muslims apparently didn't notice is that Dante also portrayed Popes and other prominent clerics in hell. It wasn't just Mohammed.

[stockstrader]

Maybe the Pope could get them to put the 'fatwah' out in Arabic first--and HOPEFULLY we could find someone to properly translate it.

Until Muslim clerics do this, do it publicly, and do it with sincerity--their words are meaningless, and they are COMPLICIT in terrorist actions--and should be judged as such.

[ArrogantBustard]

[onyx]

BUMP!

[little jeremiah]

Maybe not list material, but great. I hope there's a link to his entire lecture down the thread, I'd like to read it.

[sageb1]

Thanks for the thoughtful answer. I am Roman Catholic and understand the "problem," however right now I will content myself with being amused. :)

[sageb1]

Ah! I do recognize it, after all. Makes one wonder a bit about da Modena. ;)

[sageb1]

"What the muslims apparently didn't notice is that Dante also portrayed Popes and other prominent clerics in hell."

Didn't notice or approved of and thus did not comment?

[backtothestreets]

Watching the ABS mini series on 9-11 gave me reason to pause, reflect and see a difference in how Christians perceive God, and how Muslims perceive God. Christians pray that bad events will not happen and for protection from enemies. Muslims pray that bad events befall their enemies, especially by their own hand.

[GunnyHartman]

Someone from the EU best assign this man some extra security...what the heck am I thinking...Mr Bush, let's get some Secret Service guys over to the Vatican.