Free Republic

Among the most heated debates of the last 40 years has been the debate over Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust. What did he do when the greatest evil of his day engulfed Christian Europe? Was he "Hitler's Pope," as the name of a widely read book about him charged? Was he too reticent in speaking out against Nazism and the Nazi extermination of Europe's Jews? Was he perhaps even a Nazi sympathizer? Or was he in fact a great friend of Europe's Jews who did whatever he could to save tens of thousands of Jews, especially in Italy, opening...

The violent Muslim reaction to Pope Benedict's reference to Muhammad involves far more than the issue of freedom of speech. The ultimate issue is one of theological truth on the one hand, and the true nature of Islam on the other. Pope Benedict's "indirect" disparagement of Muhammad--who was will denigrated by St. Thomas Aquinas, the touchstone of Roman Catholicism--is by definition a disparagement of Islam. Be this as it may, the Pope now calls for "dialogue." When Islam substitutes dialogue for the sword it will cease to be Islam. Islamic leaders from Muhammad to Ahmadinejad have ever declared war on...

Islam, which if an apology must be offered, is the only kind he should utter: The Holy Father thus sincerely regrets that certain passages of his address could have sounded offensive to the sensitivities of the Muslim faithful, and should have been interpreted in a manner that in no way corresponds to his intentions. On Sunday, he reiterated: Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday he was "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction sparked by his speech about Islam and holy war and said the text did not reflect his personal opinion. "These (words) were in fact a quotation from a medieval...