Posted on 05/31/2010 3:46:57 PM PDT by markomalley
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI, often under fire for political missteps on foreign trips, is heading into a potential diplomatic storm when he visits Cyprus this week, a pilgrimage to a divided island that could anger Turkey and the rest of the Muslim world.
Divisions between Greeks and ethnic Turks, splits in the Orthodox Christian community, and concerns over damaged Christian and Muslim houses of worship will be come under scrutiny during Benedict's three-day trip starting Friday.
The visit will be a key test of whether the pope has found his diplomatic feet.
The pope's linking of Islam to violence during a speech in Germany led to outrage in the Muslim world, nearly forcing cancellation of a trip to Turkey in 2006.
Other controversies arose from his remarks on a trip to Africa that condoms can make the continent's AIDS epidemic worse and his comments in Brazil that Latin America's native people wanted to become Christian even before Europe's conquerors arrived.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
“The pope’s linking of Islam to violence during a speech in Germany led to outrage in the Muslim world...”
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I guess they expect the Pope to lie like a politician.
The author of this feeble hit piece has chosen to forget that His Holiness has the integrity and strength of character to speak the truth, and likewise chooses not to see that no amount of appeasement is enough for those whose purported divisiveness he worries about. Like you, I pray the Holy Father keeps telling ‘em like he sees ‘em.
could anger Turkey and the rest of the Muslim worldSo could two little blonde elementary school girls running a lemonade stand.
Turkey sez the next time, the flotilla will be aboard the Turkish navy.
“What are Turks, dad?”
That passage is a fraud! That was not a "humanitarian aid flotilla" at all, but rather a mission sponsored by Islamic terrorist groups with no peaceful intent at all.
Nor was it a "deadly commando raid" on the part of the Israelis. The boat people headed to Gaza were given ample prior warning that they would be intercepted by Israel if they proceeded with their mission, pursuant to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza that has been in effect for some time. The violence was initiated by the flotilla participants and the Israelis were forced to use deadly force for self defense.
Also, contrary to the what the author of that statement in the Gazette article might want the reader to believe, that false and biased passage in italics above was not released by the Vatican at all, but is the responsibility of the Canadian newspaper organization which manages the Gazette site.
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