I pray I haven't been guilty of the sin of calumny against a pope! In several Free Republic threads over the years I took as an accepted fact that the Pope kissed the Koran, and in several, commented that the Pope had erred on the side of peacemaking, by making this unscripted gesture of respect. I was surprised by finding some denials of this event. 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...