Guest Column
Pope’s Comments about Islam, Ignorant or Politically Calculated
- Pope Benedict XVI displayed his ability to make absurd comments regarding the Prophet Mohammed and the Muslim faith.
- Islam is right to express its anger against this pope. It does not bode well for our modern civilization to have a world leader who once wore the NAZI uniform leading one of the world’s most powerful religions to express a statement we all know to be untrue.
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- Robert Miranda, a frequent contributing columnist to HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/) is a national award winning columnist, Latino community activist and Publisher of the Milwaukee Spanish Journal. Email at: rmiranda@wi.rr.com
By Robert Miranda
The leader of the Roman Catholic world cited from 14th-century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Paleologos when he used these words explaining his thoughts regarding violence in religion. The pope cited Manuel II, a theologian who said, “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 citation was made by the pope at Regensburg University in Germany.
The quotation drew anger from Muslim leaders all around the world.
Pope Benedict XVI has since apologized for offending Muslims. But the apology is dry.
Why did Pope Benedict XVI feel he had to use this medieval citation from documents that are outdated and filled with inaccurate and ridiculous ideas and notions? Why did Pope Benedict XVI use emperor Manuel II Paleologos' message?
Being a leader of a faith that professes itself to be of peace and love, Pope Benedict XVI sure stirred a hornet’s nest of anger and fury from his comments.
During a time when the Muslim world views Western nations, specifically the United States, as gearing up for a modern day Crusade against Islam, the pope’s comments could have not come at a worse time.
Muslim Brotherhood Chairman Mohammed Mahdi Akef expressed anger over the pope's academic speech.
“The pope's statements come to add fuel to fire and trigger anger within the Muslim world and show that the West with its politicians and clerics are hostile to Islam.”
Pope Benedict XVI’s use of this outdated source shows his lack of care and understanding of current world politics. This unfortunate situation has increased the notion in the Muslim world that western society seeks to destroy Islam.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference in a statement said, it “regrets the quotations cited by the pope on the Life of the Honorable Prophet Mohammed, and what he referred to as spreading Islam by the sword.”
“The attribution of the spread of Islam around the world to the shedding of blood and violence, which is incompatible with the nature of God is a complete distortion of the facts, which shows deep ignorance of Islam and Islamic history.”
“Deep ignorance of Islam and Islamic history”, or a calculated global political move by Pope Benedict.
It was only a few months ago, when the issue of Turkey's accession to the European Union was mentioned, Pope Benedict opposed Turkey’s entry into the European union in the name of preserving Europe's Christian character.
The pope working with the Bush administration and the neo-cons of the United States to undermine and destroy Islam has some validity to it when history regarding such collaborative efforts between Washington and the Vatican are presented.
Indeed, it was Pope John Paul II who worked with United States President Ronald Reagan to undermine communism in Europe. It was Pope Pius XII, also known as Hitler’s Pope (John Cornwell, “Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII.”), who failed to condemn the Catholic NAZI’s horrific actions against the Jewish people.
The Vatican is a political institution.
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