a group of ultra-nationalist Turks in Istanbul's symbolic Hagia Sophia.
And, of course Hagia Sophia was chosen for it's symbolic meaning. This greatest of all Eastern Cathedrals was converted into a mosque when Istanbul fell in 1453.
Posted on 11/24/2006 7:30:34 AM PST by presidio9
Sales of a controversial Turkish novel on a conspiracy to kill Pope Benedict XVI are on the rise ahead of the pontiff's historical visit to Turkey beginning next Wednesday - his first to an overwhelmingly Muslim nation. 'The Plot Against The Pope' is a highly speculative potboiler narrating how the conservative Roman Catholic society Opus Dei, a subversive masonic lodge and the CIA collude to make the pontiff's murder a pretext for a US attack against Iran.
Yuvel Kaya's book, which features Benedict XVI in front of a burning cross with a bearded gunman aiming a rocket launcher at him, is on sale at major Turkish bookstores such as D&R, Kabalci, Pandora.
Despite the absence of any promotional campaign - no billboards, posters or pamphlets at bookstores - sales are rapidly picking up, according to Lale Yilmaz from Kabalci, one the country's biggest book stores. However she told Adnkronos International (AKI) exact sales figures could not be released to the public.
"More copies of the book have been bought over the last 10 days than any other time," Zeynep Yaman an employee with Alfa Dagitim, one of the six companies distributing the books, told AKI.
To date some 10,000 copies of the book have been sold, a relatively modest figure by some international standards but for Turkey, "in its category, more than average," Yaman said.
The book, despite it fictional content, adds further unease to Benedcit XVI's visit to Turkey which comes just two months after a speech by the pontiff on Regensburg, Germany angered many in the Muslim world.
On Wednesday police used tear-gas to break up a protest against Benedict XVI by a group of ultra-nationalist Turks in Istanbul's symbolic Hagia Sophia. An ancient Eastern Orthodox Church, the Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque by the Ottoman Turks after they conquered Constantinople. In 1935 the building was turned into a museum but remains a focal point of sectarian rivalry in Turkey.
In February a Muslim teenage boy shot dead an Italian Roman Catholic priest in the northern city of Trabzon. The killing which appeared to be religiously motivated took place at the height of worldwide protests by Muslims againt cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published in European newspapers.
ping
(read the whole thread)
The book in question is FICTION!!
Is it outselling Mein Kamph yet?
Don't go down that road with me buddy. That's a liberal myth perpetuated by those who hate the Catholic Church for other reasons, but see this as one of the best means of discrediting it. It is believed by those who confuse the Pope for a political leader, instead of a spiritual one. Pope Pius XII didn't have an army, and he was situated in the middle of a fascist allied country. His hand was not completely free. Catholicism was savagely perseucted in Germany and Eastern Europe, and in Spain during their own facist experience. That being said, after the war his efforts were widely credited for saving over one million Jews by Holocaust survivors and Isreali diplomats, including Albert Einstein and Golda Meir. You've been misinformed and are barking up the wrong tree with that one.
Is not much of a comeback. I take that to mean you have no idea what you're talking about.
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I suspect this kind of incident will increase over the next week. Pope Benedict is a brave man.
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Exactly right. How many times have we seen this tired old charge made on these threads?
After a while, it's a toss-up as to whether it's annoying or laughable.
a group of ultra-nationalist Turks in Istanbul's symbolic Hagia Sophia.
And, of course Hagia Sophia was chosen for it's symbolic meaning. This greatest of all Eastern Cathedrals was converted into a mosque when Istanbul fell in 1453.
And, of course, they plan on the same sort of redcoration for Saint Peter's at some future date.
It's beautiful. What a shame.
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I'm sure you're right. There are some whose hatred seems to have no bounds.
Religion was persecuted in Spain by the Communists and anarchists, not by the fascists (Franco's party). Incidentally, after the Spanish Civil War, under Franco, Spain took in more Jews than just about any other country. Franco believed that they were the people of Jesus Christ and that therefore they were our people, too, and they deserved protection. And guess who said, "we are all spiritually Semites": Pius XII. This was basically Franco's inspiration.
Well isn't that special? The Muslims should be downright proud about this- a minority of extremists hijacking their religion while they sit back and do NOTHING to counter the perception that Islam is turning into a religion of hate and putrid vile! http://sacredscoop.com
tinfoil hat book jmo
Very nice to see a photo of Hagia Sophia without minarets.
For Christmas you might get these titles to read and read them during the course of 2007:
1. Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic ChurchAnd I would recommend looking into critical articles that sift through the fiction regarding the Vatican, Hitler, and the War. The person Hitler hated most was Pope Pius XII, and Hitler planned to kill all Catholic priests once he was victorious in the war.
2. Triumph by H.W. Crocker
3. Theology and Sanity by Frank Sheed
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