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Those who believe the Pope kissed the Koran apparently include the man who was the Patriarch of the Chaldean (Iraqi Catholic) Church at the time, Raphael Bidawid: "I renewed our invitation to the Pope because his visit would be for us a grace from heaven. It would confirm the faith of Christians and prove the Popeâ€™s love for the whole of humanity in a country which is mainly Muslim. At the end of the audience the Pope bowed to the Muslim holy book the Koran presented to him by the delegation and he kissed it as a sign of respect. Finding that quote, originally from a reputably Catholic source, seemed to clinch the issue for me....

....Sure, you THINK you see the pope kiss the Koran, but I bet you also THINK you see him do so in front of the Muslim who gave it to him. Nope. The man in the picture is a Christian. Which brings up the next question: If it was the Koran, did the Pope know this? It's common Arab protocol to kiss a gift one has received, and the Pope could easily have been simply following protocol respectfully, and not recognizing that the gift was, if it was, a Koran. Has anyone ever read anything which confirms that he Pope knowingly kissed the Koran?

What clinches it for me is the complete silence from any source or quarter until now, that it was anything BUT a Koran. You'd think that someone in the Vatican would have made a statement at the time, to the effect that every news source on the planet had it wrong - or at least publish a different photo, one taken at the same event, that cleared it up.

Lots of speculation in the vanity, but no concrete evidence offered to the contrary. IMO this is a bit of wishful thinking on the part of Catholics.

Nah, your prior articles expose wishful thinking on the part of "we accept anything that is not Catholic" -- unitarians, jehovah's witnesses, the AM cult etc.

The man in the picture isn't a Moslem but a Christian.

The clincher is the complete silence from any source or quarter in the Islamic world to crow over this -- they would have been shouting it forever if it was a Korn. But the "anytin but Catholic" crowd can't see beyond their hatred for Christ's Church.

good job dangus

Really, Alex? You show me ANY Western news source about the Pope kissing the Koran NOT based on this one interview. Because I couldn’t find a single one. Which is really odd, given that the interview happened WEEKS after the Pope supposedly kissed the Koran.

Anyone who has EVER mentioned the incident in any way, shape or form has as their sole information source that one interview, so on what basis is anyone going to deny it? I didn’t deny it; I only asked if anyone can confirm or deny it. And apparently not a soul on FR can do either.

What clinches it for me is the complete silence from any source or quarter until now, that it was anything BUT a Koran. You’d think that someone in the Vatican would have made a statement at the time, to the effect that every news source on the planet had it wrong - or at least publish a different photo, one taken at the same event, that cleared it up.

Lots of speculation in the vanity, but no concrete evidence offered to the contrary. IMO this is a bit of wishful thinking on the part of Catholics.

Really, Alex? You show me ANY Western news source about the Pope kissing the Koran NOT based on this one interview. Because I couldn’t find a single one. Which is really odd, given that the interview happened WEEKS after the Pope supposedly kissed the Koran.

Anyone who has EVER mentioned the incident in any way, shape or form has as their sole information source that one interview, so on what basis is anyone going to deny it? I didn’t deny it; I only asked if anyone can confirm or deny it. And apparently not a soul on FR can do either.

Idiotic conclusions about President Bush one could reach by your logic:

* George W Bush really was a coke addict.
* He procured several abortions for Laura Bush.
* His father conspired with space aliens to destroy Ross Perot’s daughter’s wedding.
* Those damned space aliens endorsed Vice President Gore instead of him.