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Pope Says ‘I Am Sorry’
Pope Benedict XVI has apologised in person for causing offence to Muslims in a speech in Bavaria last week.
He said the medieval text which he quoted did not express in any way his personal opinion, adding the speech was an invitation to respectful dialogue.
The Pope has been under intense scrutiny amid angry reactions from throughout the Muslim world. Read on…
23 Responses to “Pope Says ‘I Am Sorry’”
As a Catholic, I’m embarrassed by this Pope. He gets caught spewing hate, which isn’t the first time for him, and now says it was nothing but a way to open a “respectful� dialog?!?! If that was true, he may have used the quote, but then go into a dialogue THEN not after.
This has nothing to do with the pope “spewing hate”, that is just not true. It has everything to do with the fact that extremist muslims are not mentally equipped to have a serious dialogue about their evil interpretation of jihad. Moreover, it points out that you cannot reason with people who are determined to spread islam employing the “holy instrument of murder”. Don’t forget, if it were up to the very people who took the pope’s comments out of context, islam would be the official religion from Spain to Iraq.
T – I agree with the general assessment of your comment.
Those who say that the Pope was “spewing hate” simply have not read his lecture. It is as simple as that. Seemingly they rather listen to what others, who enjoy a nice controversy here and there, make of it, than to read it themselves.
It was not spewing hatred, it was, instead, an academic lecture, quite inspiring at times, and very insightful. His message was not that Islam is evil, the only thing he had to say about Islam is that Jihad (spreading one’s religion by the sword) is not in line with God’s nature. That is it.
If he wanted to open a dialog why did he use such an inflammatory one-sided comment on Islam from the 14th Century in his speech? Anyone with some common sense would have known there’d be a strong reaction and would not help to open a respectful dialog with the Islamic people.
This isn’t his first time on this topic either, as a previous post even brings it up. I was against Ratzinger becoming pope because of his extreme reactionary stances see, here and here.
I had hoped we’d have another unifying Pope like John Paul II who worked to bridge differences by finding common ground.
Rambie,
As a Catholic, I’m embarrassed that a fellow Catholic would criticize the Pope without reading and understanding his words.
Michael, I agree the Islamic reaction was over-the-top, just like the reaction to the Dutch cartoon. The Islamic extremists need to be stopped. I should have thought more before posting angry. I did read many articles about the lecture, but I never found the speech in its entirety.
Rambie no problem: here you go (click on word ‘here’)
I find it both sad and frightening that a man as powerful as the Pope could be forced into apologizing for a statement that was taken WAY out of context and that provoked a gross over-reaction. The whole situation is ironic on many fronts:
1. The over-reaction obviously does much more harm to your image than something the Pope says in a speech no one would have heard about, if not for your protest.
2. By acting OH SO OFFENDED they involuntarily aligned themselves with the ultra-liberals that kneel at the altar of Political Correctness.
3. Words taken out of context that offend Muslims they have a problem with, but somehow I think they’d be very surprised if we reacted the same way every time THEY’RE religious leaders say the same about us. And they don’t just quote centuries old texts, they come right out and call Jews dirty dogs and preach death to the non-Muslim world. So obviously they think that we have to be ultra-sensitive to they’re beliefs, but tolerate they’re much more hateful speech.
4. It seems that Muslims pay a whole lot more attention to the Pope’s words than Catholics do.
I guess this just sends the message. Gays, you know what to do; riot, burn the Pope in effigy and give veiled (and not so veiled) threats. He’ll take back all those things he said!
Lynx,
I’m with you that he shouldn’t have apologized. The glad, though, that he did it in that manner of “I’m not sorry for what I said because I said nothing wrong…I’m sorry for the way you reacted to it though.”
C Stanley, I’ll admit that I hadn’t actually read the text of the apology. I have now and am somewhat reassured, since as you say he’s more regretting the reaction than his own words. I still think it sends the wrong message, like conceding, even a little bit, to a two year old with a tantrum, but it’s better than an outright surrender, I suppose.
Lynx: I agree.
Here’s the problem:
Rambie said :
Anyone with some common sense would have known there’d be a strong reaction and would not help to open a respectful dialog with the Islamic people.
Why don’t you tell us what would open up respectful dialog with people who react to speech they don’t like by firebombing religious buildings? The fact is, they don’t respect the concept of free speech. Almost as bad are the number of people who think we should
alter our own freedoms to appease them.
The Pope should not have apologized. He should have called on all Christians to continue to act differently from these Muslims.
MichaelF, that’s a very good question and I never claimed to have the answer. Do you? Lynx already stated the statement wasn’t an apology of what he said, but the negative reactions. I haven’t finished reading all of the speech that MVDG linked, but I read the section all the fuss is about:
(clip) “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached”. The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. “God”, he says, “is not pleased by blood – and not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. (end)
There have been other statements of Benedict XVI I’ve disagreed with but this isn’t one. He was opening a dialog not just making the statement and moving onto another subject.
Rambie :
MichaelF, that’s a very good question and I never claimed to have the answer. Do you?
My point is that you CAN’T !
I cannot believe the Roman Catholic Church had to apologize to a bunch of people who cannot police their own religious followers. I am a moderate realist, but stories like this really raises my dander and would like our forces to line up across these provocateurs and sock it to them in the mouth.
MichaelF: My point is that you CAN’T !
Well, that’s mature now isn’t it?
exactly. His intention was not to insult, in fact, when one reads the entire lecture, it has become obvious that the Pope tried to initiate a ‘socratic dialog’, as Ed Morrissey points out (who is also a Catholic himself).
Lynx: great comment I agree completely. As I wrote, we must always remember that those who calling for an apology in cases like this, are true hypocrits: they preach hatred towards Jews and all infidels, for that matter, but when a Westerner says something critical about Islam, they all act offended. It is a sham, that is all it is.
ES: indeed, this is very frustrating.
Yes, Rambie. Facing a reality you don’t like is a sign of maturity. Trying to create a dialog with people who are incapable is a practice in futility
Rambie, you have nothing to be embarrassed about, its muslims who should be embarrassed about the violent murderous behavior of their fellow adherents, but they never are.
Holly hit the nail right on the head.
The Pope has nothing to apologize for. He quoted the truth, that islam is a violent religion who’s adherents spread their faith by the sword. I’m sick of the world groveling to muslims, and caving in to muslim threats. And western liberals, instead of defending free speech, truth, and defending those who stand up to the tyranny of islam, become part of the problem by urging people to not say anything negative about islam, even though its the truth. And furthermore, the irony of muslims protesting with expressions of violence and murder against those who call their faith violent, is completely lost on them.
MichaelF: Facing a reality you don’t like is a sign of maturity. Trying to create a dialog with people who are incapable is a practice in futility
Laura: …the irony of Muslims protesting with expressions of violence and murder against those who call their faith violent is completely lost on them.
I agree with both statements. Yes, the quote was inflammatory -and perhaps wasn’t the best choice- but it was not used in a vacuum. I think we can also agree that it probably doesn’t matter what was said, as these groups tend to go off like a powder-keg no matter how you broach the subject.
I think MVDG asked in another thread: Are there any moderate Muslims left in the Middle East? I too am sick of these groups running around acting persecuted and proving the stereotype by their actions. So if there are any, they need to get to work.