Pope and Islam 3

Pope ‘deeply sorry’ for comments on Islam

“These (words) were in fact a quotation from a Medieval text which do not in any way express my personal thought,” Benedict told pilgrims at his summer palace outside Rome.

Right now, I think we can do little except take the Pope at his word. He says the views quoted aren't his. It is unclear to me why he would have chosen to quote them.

I also have to admit, I'm generally a little suspicious of 'apologies' for statements of this sort. When Pat Robertson said, after 9/11, that it was some sort of divine retribution for American sins (homosexuality, etc.). After an uproar, he apologized. He followed the same pattern when he made statements seeming to support the assassination of Pres. Chavez of Venezuela. What do these apologies mean? He said it. He thought it. He must have meant it.

I can see apologies when one expresses a thought poorly, leading to a misunderstanding. Most of these types apologies strike me more as, "I'm sorry I got caught" apologies.

Perhaps the Pope's is different. He says the views he quoted aren't his. Perhaps his apology falls into the 'unartful statement' category. Perhaps he just wasn't clear in what he was trying to say.

But, he has thrown himself under a cloud of suspicion in the Muslim world- and not just the radical Islamist world. If his heart is right on our Muslim brothers and sisters, then this will pass.

GP