Posted on 09/19/2006 7:22:26 AM PDT by NYer
Pope Benedict faced a growing chorus of demands on Tuesday for an unequivocal apology for remarks seen as portraying Islam as a violent faith, despite attempts by Western leaders and churchmen to defuse the crisis.
Even President Bush got involved, saying on Monday the Pope had been "sincere" when he said sorry to Muslims and that his words had been misunderstood.
But for many Muslims, the Pope's attempt to explain himself on Sunday did not go far enough and observers were waiting to see if he would speak about it again at his general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday.
The Pope enraged Muslims in a speech a week ago in Germany quoting 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who said everything the Prophet Mohammad brought was evil "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
The leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics said on Sunday he was "deeply sorry" for the reaction caused -- but stopped short of apologizing for his words or retracting them.
In a telegram to the order of an Italian nun killed in Somalia who may be the crisis' first victim, the Pope hoped her sacrifice would help build "real fraternity among people with reciprocal respect of everyone's religious convictions."
But the deluge of criticism and threats continued. Italian media said an al Qaeda group in Egypt called for the German-born Pope, who is 79, to be punished by strict Islamic sharia law for insulting their religion. An al Qaeda umbrella group in Iraq has also vowed war on "worshippers of the cross."
Workers at Turkey's Directorate General for Religious Affairs, or Diyanet, petitioned for the arrest of the Pontiff when he makes a scheduled visit to Turkey in November.
They held banners saying "Either apologize or don't come."
The Pope's comments annoyed the Turkish government but there are no plans yet to cancel the trip.
In Iraq, where an effigy of the Pope was burned on Monday, parliament speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani called his apology "inadequate and not commensurate with the moral damage caused to Muslims' feelings."
The Grand Mufti of the Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, said the Pope must make "a personal and clear apology to 1.5 billion Muslims in this world for the insult caused by his lecture..."
But the cleric asked for an end to attacks on churches in the area, after seven were vandalized this weekend.
WORDS TWISTED?
The president of mostly Catholic Slovenia, Janez Drnovsek, said on his Web site that Muslims were justifiably upset and that the pope should be big enough to learn from his error.
In Italy, politicians and churchmen defended the Pope and said his words were taken out of context and his explanation was quite clear. Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published it in Arabic on its front page to try to clarify his meaning.
But while some Muslim clerics say the alleged insults are the latest skirmish in a new Western "crusade" against Islam, some Catholic churchmen say the Pontiff's words have been purposefully twisted by militant Muslims.
"We pray for the Pope whose words have been maliciously interpreted," Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe said in Naples at the annual "miracle" of fourth century Saint Gennaro, whose blood turns from powder to liquid in what is seen as a good omen.
The head of Australia's 5.1 million-strong Catholic church went as far as to say that violent reaction "justified one of Pope Benedict's main fears" about Islam.
Cardinal George Pell said this showed "the link for many Islamists between religion and violence, their refusal to respond to criticism with rational arguments, but only with demonstrations, threats and actual violence."
Local Muslims called Pell's comments "unhelpful."
Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Stick to your guns, Pope Benedict. All People of courage should speak out against this evil before it is too late.
Mufti, you need not kiss my ring, my ass is fine.
I'd love to see the Pope (and his proxies) simply refuse to say another word on the subject. Go right on to whatever his next topic is, just as if nothing happened.
Reply from the Pope:
Nuts
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
LOL! Don't wait for me to apologize for slavery, either :-).
Not only do I hope the Pope doesn't apologize, I wish he'd give another speech wherein he remarks that in light of the recent riots, mayhem, and threats, perhaps the 14th century quote was more accurate than previously believed.
If the Muslims cannot handle the truth, that is due to their own moral failing, not yours.
The actions of the Islamists in the wake of the Pope's patently non-inflammatory remarks more than betrays the truth in his quoted remarks.
The Islamist mufti would do well to tend to the beam in his own eye before calling for the Pope's mote to be examined.
To the best of my knowledge, Japan has never apologized for Pearl Harbor but still wants an apology for Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
islam is a cult of demons.
Oo-rah. Well said.
Here's the apology Muslims are entitled to:
I personally and unequivocably apologize for recognizing that there are utterly hostile, completely insane murderous fanatics among you who want to kill me, my wife, my children, everyone I ever prayed with, knew or wanted to meet.
I'm really sorry that it had to come to this, but there you go, Muslims. All better now, right?
My advice to the Pope: Don't go. Turkey is 99+% Islamic, and far more of its residents are radicalized than is commonly thought.
I am SO READY for this to come to a head.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Concur. This would clearly be twitching the devil by the tail, literally.
The Pope doesn't have a mote - he was, and is, absolutely right!
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