Popes Will Be Popes

I assume that by now everyone's heard about the Pope's inflamatory statements. In truth, I don't know how to refer to it. It would seem that the muslim world is in an uproar. They're angry that the pope quoted a 14th century emporer stating, essentially, that Islam is a religion of violence. Here's the quote:

‘Show me just what Muhammad 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 Pope says he was trying to start a dialog and that he was merely quoting this obscure source to get people to think about the importance of reason. And certainly, that's what the body of his speech is about. He only spent three paragraphs talking about Islam. And of that mostly he was saying that the concept of "Jihad" was against God's will. Which, on the face of it, doesn't seem that inflamatory.

Now the Pope has officially apologized. Considering how long it took the Pope to apologize for the inaction of Catholic Church during the Holocaust, it's a pretty impressive about-face.

So far, the majority of the protest (and there's been a lot of it) has been peaceful, if heavily political. But the Times is reporting threats against the Catholic Church and christians in general, as well as attacks on churches in Palestine and the drive-by shooting of a nun in Somalia. All of this linked to the Pope's statement.

It seems almost hard to believe, but some small part of the reaction to the Pope's statement seems to have been a rash of violent attacks against christian and Catholic churches. I mean, how's that for a rebuttal? How much irony is too much?

I really can't believe the Pope apologized. It seems like the Pope is always saying the most crazy things. Not just because he's Catholic. People think he's the Voice Of God On Earth (his security team calls him "VOGOE"). People seriously believe that (I think). And he's the (not-just-figurative) leader of a gigantic (and seriously old) religion. His house has it's own TLD! I think it's fair to say that this guy is not operating on the same mental plane as the rest of us. It's amazing he can speak in full sentences.

But as we've seen before, the Islamic world does not play around with this stuff. If you say "Muhammed" you better follow it up with "...was one awesome dude!" Otherwise, you know, people will die. No excuses.