Better Late Than Never ! Pope Apologizes for Sacking Constantinople in 1024 A.D.
By James Boyne
July 03, 2004 A.D.
As billions of Christians and Muslims throughout the world waited with rapt anticipation, it finally happened. The Pope, on June 24, 2004 apologized for the annihilation of Constantinople (currently called Istanbul , Turkey ) by Christian Crusaders during 4 days of madness, mayhem and murder in April of the year 1204 A.D. Yes, 1204 A.D.
Three hundred million Eastern Orthodox Christians were ecstatic about the long overdue apology. The world rejoiced. The multitudes went wild, taking to the streets in celebrations never before seen. Finally, world peace is at hand. The apology that we were all waiting for now is a reality.
As we all know, the sacking of Constantinople (known as the Fourth Crusade) was one of the most significant historical events between the fall of the Roman Empire and the discovery of America in the New World . It changed the course of world civilization. It changed the history of European international trade for the next ten centuries. (What! You didn't know that?)
At least it cannot be said that the Catholic Church does not own up to its mistakes. It's never too late to apologize. It's never too late to say you're sorry. Who cares if its 900 years overdue.
Saying sorry doesn't come easy. No wonder President Bush couldn't bring himself around to apologizing to the victim's families of the 9/11 catastrophe.
According to teachings inspired by and handed down by God himself, the Pope is infallible (incapable of making a mistake or misjudgment) when it involves Church doctrine. This rule does not apply to launching all out war and attempting the conquest of, and Christianization of the world.
The Pope delivered an emotional apology to Orthodox Christians this week for the Catholic plundering of Christian Constantinople a short eight centuries ago, saying it caused him "pain and disgust". The Pontiff said, "We can not forget what happened in the month of April 1204 A.D. How can we not share, at a distance of eight centuries, the pain and disgust".
This is truly amazing. It took 900 years for the Catholic Church to finally admit they may have made a slight boo-boo by annihilating Istanbul , the then center of what was left of the Roman Empire .
This apology and reconciliation with the Orthodox Church has been the focal point of the Pope's 25 year reign, notwithstanding the "pedophile priest" scandal, the War in Iraq , the First Gulf War, the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda , and the rise of worldwide religious terrorism and fanaticism.
Yes, it is never too late to say, "I'm sorry".
On a visit to Athens , Greece in 2001 the Pope asked for God's forgiveness for Catholics (yes, that may mean you), who he said had committed sins against Orthodox Christians for 1000 years.
I myself had 11 years of Catholic schooling. We were told on a daily basis that we were committing sins, right and left, night and day.
We were told we had Original Sin from the moment of conception. We were told we had sin that had to be exorcised from our souls during the last few seconds of life by the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. We were told we would go to hell for using condoms, prolonged kissing, having an abortion, having impure thoughts, touching oneself in an impure manner (unless a nice friendly priest assisted in the process, I guess), missing Sunday Mass, eating meat on Friday (unless we received dispensation from the Bishop), getting divorced, marrying a Protestant, even thinking about entering a Synagogue, denying Christ as the one true Savior, joking about denying Christ as the one true Savior, not signing up to be an altar boy, not continuing on to Catholic High School (any girl who elected to go to a Public High School was ostracized as a "whore" and shunned by the entire School) and finally, if, when we received Communion, if the Communion wafer stuck to the roof of your mouth rather than dissolving on your tongue we could find ourselves doing 100,000 years in Purgatory. Wow! That's a lot of guilt.
Nothing like spreading the guilt around! And now this week I find out it wasn't the then Pope Innocent III's fault for the annihilation of Constantinople . It was the collective fault of all Catholics. We are all guilty. No wonder I can't get a good nights sleep. Now I have Constantinople to add to the list.
The Pope also apologized to Muslims for the Crusades against Muslim lands. Finally. I'm glad we got that apology over with. Now maybe those Muslims will settle down a bit.
The Pope made his comments during a visit to the Vatican by Bartholomew I (not exactly a household name here in America ), the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and the head of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians. Most American Catholics don't even know there are bunch of people, 300 million strong, called Orthodox Catholics, or know where in the hell they come from. For my 11 years of Catholic education they were never even mentioned. Just swept under the rug, so to speak. I have vague memories of a guy called a Patriarch who dressed in a black robe and a funny black hat and was kind of a quasi Pope but the nuns never really explained who the hell he was. It was a secret. 300 million Orthodox Catholic people. They were a secret.
The Pontiff's meeting with the Patriarch (Boy, I love those titles) came 40 years after two of their predecessors""Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagorus (Remember them!)""shared a historic embrace in Jerusalem . (Nothing like having regularly scheduled meetings every 40 years.).
It is hard to believe I am writing all this and it is true. I usually write satires on President Bush but the Pope is moving up on the list of people I may need to pay more attention too. I wonder if he has a good health care insurance plan with the Vatican ? I was thinking of applying for a job as one of those Swiss Knights that carry the spears and wear the colorful pantaloon outfits with the pointed hats, that guard the Pope. I could do that.
The great thing about being Pope is that you are infallible. You can't make a mistake. So you don't need a Senate or a Congress or a Supreme Court like President Bush does. If you are Pope you just do it! No one can question you. You may break the rules the Pope makes. But, off to Hell you will go! Because "you know who-- GOD-- is watching your every move.
For those of you Americans who have been distracted by the pedophile priest scandal or the Abu Ghraib Prison embarrassment, a few historical facts may be in order:
It was Pope Innocent III (yes, that was his real name) who ordered more than 20,000 French Knights to attack and conquer Egypt and continue on to the Holy Land then known as Palestine in the name of Christ and Christianity. The purpose was to kill, rape, pillage and plunder; to subdue the infidel Muslims (if any survived); convert them to Christianity so they would learn to be Christ-like; and to bring back all the loot (gold, silver, treasures, and slaves) to the Papal Empire.
One small military logistical detail that was overlooked (which Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld never would have missed) was the fact that the 20,000 French Knights (the Crusaders) had no way of crossing the Mediterranean Sea. Poor military planning on the part of Pope Innocent III, I guess. Believe me, all this is true. I researched it myself.
The Crusaders took it upon themselves to strike a deal with the Merchants of Venice who would advance a large loan in order to buy or build more than 250 ships of all sorts and sizes in order to transport the Crusaders across the Mediterranean Sea to Egypt . The Merchants of Venice were the Medieval day version of America's multi national corporate CEO's so they expected big bucks in return from the Knights and from Pope Innocent III or there would be hell to pay when the Crusaders returned. Basically, it was a medieval version of modern day blackmail and extortion.
Upon hearing of this deal, which he did not give his financial approval to, Pope Innocent III excommunicated all of the 20,000 Crusaders. But, it was too late. Once you have 20,000 French Knights sitting around in Venice ready to attack Egypt and the Holy Land there is no turning back. The Pope couldn't just pick up the phone in the year 1202 A.D. and say, "Hey Crusaders, let's call the whole thing off 'cause this is getting too expensive". "I don't have that kind of money in my budget".
Before setting sail the Crusaders attacked the Roman Catholic port city of Zara for its benefactors in Venice . You see, Zara was in revolt against the authority of Venice . Having whet their appetite for conquest the 20,000 French Knights, fully armed with spears, swords, spiked chains, torture specialists and torture equipment, catapults, and ladders to storm Egyptian fortifications as well as thousands of horses and oxen, pigs, chickens, sheep and slaves---they set sail for Egypt.
However, "cold feet" set in as they realized that conquering Egypt would be no easy task since it was inhabited by Muslims (who liked to behead people), and that converting them to Roman Catholicism was not going to be a picnic in the sun. So, the Crusaders changed course and instead attacked Constantinople, which was then considered the seat of the Roman Empire , but was ruled by an usurper, Alexius Angelus. (Boy, this gets confusing doesn't it?) It was one of the most violent events of the Middle Ages, changing the course of World Civilization to this very day.
Constantinople had withstood the onslaught of Moslem armies for 5 centuries and now here it was being attacked by French Knights, known as Christian Crusaders""the Fourth Crusade""a Christian Army attacking a center of Christian culture. The city was stormed without mercy. As a matter of fact, the word mercy did not exist.
Untold treasures of gold, silver, and holy relics were plundered. Literary classics, great and wonderful works of art were carried off to Europe to pay back the Venetian benefactors. Priceless treasures, relics, bones, heads and arms of saints, Christ's infamous crown of thorns itself, St. Thomas the Doubters finger, and countless treasures were taken. Tombs were robbed. Women and even nuns were raped. Churches were desecrated. Horses were ridden in the sanctuaries. Communion cups and sacred vessels were used in drunken orgies. Prostitutes danced on the altars and portraits of Christ were used as gaming tables. It was Christians against Christians. The then Patriarch fled on an ass without a single bodyguard. (Believe me, I am not making this stuff up).
The Crusaders had so much fun that they stayed for sixty years until the year 1261 A.D. whereupon (they must have been exhausted from so much partying), they were revolted against and driven out. This Fourth Crusade was the most important event in the history of European trade.
The Crusaders never did attack Egypt and never reached the Holy Land, or the entire Middle East might be Roman Catholic today. Instead, even before the Protestant Reformation, it solidified the split of the Catholic Church into Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Catholics (who don't recognize the authority of the Pope). What a mess!
We have the Pope as the head of the mighty and all powerful Catholic Church. We have the Patriarch Bartholemew I, the head of Eastern Orthodox Catholics. We have a Patriarch Slexy II, Patriarch of the Catholic Russian Orthodox Church. We have the Mormon Church of the Latter Day Saints that owns most of Utah , but drives out to my house in Connecticut to knock on my door and give me a pamphlet. We have Protestants---dozens upon dozens of Protestants, who should save their time and energy since the Pope claims they can't get to heaven because, well, they are Protestants. We also have those Anglicans""the Church of England--- that was started just so King Henry (I think( could get a divorce. Can you imagine snubbing the Pope and starting your own Church just so you could get a divorce. What a mess religion is in. No wonder I can't sleep.
Then we have Buddhists who I assume just want to be left alone to meditate. Sounds good to me! Hindus too. I don't know much about them except they sure don't get along with the Pakistanis. They both have nuclear bombs and would like to blow each other up. I wonder what God thinks about that. I don't think God likes to get involved in policy decisions. We are kind of on our own. God kind of likes to stick to the simple stuff like making it snow, and rain, and whip up tornadoes to scare the bejeebees out of people in the Midwest .
Anyway, getting back to the Pope and the Fourth Crusade""..
The current Pope's master plan also has long had on its agenda a meeting between the Pope and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Slexy II (yes that's his real name), who so far has refused to see the Pope, accusing Catholic priests of trying to steal converts on Russian soil ever since the USSR broke up and the Russian Orthodox Church was able to "come out of the closet"; and convert the Russian Catholics back to the Roman Catholic fold controlled by the "real" Pope.
The sheer intrigue of this all is bewildering.
I realize that this is the year 2004, an election year in America . I realize that there are 18 million unemployed workers in America; 50 million Americans with no health insurance; tens of millions more who have inadequate health insurance; 6 million people who have declared bankruptcy in the last 4 years; a one half trillion dollar military budget; an Iraqi War that is child's play compared to the Fourth Crusade; cultures and religions that are at each others throat; international corporations that have taken over the world economy; and world leaders and religious leaders that meet for photo opportunities as the polar ice caps melt.
It's beyond me why President Bush claims (and brags) about being a born again Christian. If he ain't Catholic he isn't going to heaven anyway. He can call the Pope up and ask him. That's what I was told for 11 years in Catholic school every day of my live between age 5 and age 18. Catholic may be Christian, but Christian ain't Catholic, so Bush isn't going anywhere but to a place worse than Abu Ghraib Prison. Besides, if it would help him win the election he would probably claim he was a born again Muslim, and have Laura where one of those burkas--- those long, hot, heavy canvass robes with the little mesh screen to look out so you can see out but nobody can see who you are.
I wonder, when President Bush met recently with the Pope, if they both discussed the sorrow and outrage over the sacking of Constantinople by Catholic Crusaders in the year 1204 A.D. Mr. Bush recently visited Constantinople ( Istanbul ) with a plea for more NATO help after we sacked Iraq in the year 2003 A.D. I don't remember him mentioning the Fourth Crusade in his speech. It may have been appropriate for the President to have mentioned it since he was standing on the very spot where the sacking of Constantinople took place. But no, not a word!
Undoubtedly, President Bush has never heard of the Fourth Crusade (just as I never did until the Pope brought it up). For the Pope to have as his focal point for his 25 year reign, the making of amends for the Fourth Crusade, seems strange
I wonder why they call the Holy Land, the Holy Land when it appears to be the single most violent place on earth for the past 2000 years. Everyone hates everyone else there. Everyone claims to be the original owners of the Holy Land ---Christians, Catholics, Jews and Muslims. Abraham, Moses, Charlton Heston, the Roman Empire , the Ottoman Turks. Everyone wants that Holy Land .
It would be interesting to know how many people have been killed in all the wars since the beginning of time. If 100 million humans have been killed in all the wars since the year 1900, I would imagine that a billion or more have been killed since the beginning of time. I doubt anyone knows the answer. It's never going to stop. It's a mess. Where the hell is the Pope when you need him. If he isn't attacking Egypt or Constantinople in the year 1204 A.D. then he is apologizing in 2004 for having attacked them in 1204 A.D. What a mess !
We sure have had a lot of wars. Wars for territory and land. Wars for religious beliefs. Cultural wars. Wars against savages. Wars against infidels. Wars against believers. Wars against non-believers. And now wars against terrorists. And wars against nations that harbor terrorists. Wars for gold, silver, jewels and treasures. Wars at sea, wars under the sea, on land, in the air, and soon in space. Wars with stones and clubs, knives and spears, bullets and cannon balls, missiles and rockets, gases and chemicals, and now biological wars to come as well as the bomb of all bombs----the Hydrogen Bomb. What a mess!
They even have those Orthodox Jews over there in the Hold Land banging their heads against the Wailing Wall. I bet if they hurt their head that United Healthcare or Blue Cross Blue Shield would consider any injury resulting from such behavior a pre-existing condition. Just a thought. They better be careful. Health insurance companies don't cover injuries from war or from banging your head against a wall. I'd be careful.
And what about Iceland . How come no one ever attacks Iceland and Iceland never attacks anyone. Who let them off the hook. I think we need troops from Iceland to land in Iraq and kick some butt. Maybe Bush and Cheney can get on this deal. Who the hell let Iceland slip through the cracks?
Maybe it's just me. Maybe I am out of touch. God, no wonder I can't sleep.
James Boyne
James Boyne is a satirical, political freelance writer and has five other articles published on www.opednews.com. He has previously been a diehard, staunch, conservative Republican who has voted for Goldwater, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I and Bush II, and now has made a 180 degree turnabout and supports the candidacy of Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who appears to have the most integrity, honesty, common sense, straightforwardness, enthusiasm, optimism, and "fire in the belly" to be possibly the best President in recent memory. He is a progressive, populist, liberal, Democrat and is a man of principal, intelligence and experience. Mr. Kucinich comes from a humble background and clearly spells out his positions on issues on his web site www.kucinich.us so there is no question where he stands on issues.
**It is the responsibility of all Americans to vote. You should know where all the candidates stand on different issues; why they believe what they do; how they plan on carrying out their plans (rather than just empty promises); and get a sense for their character, honesty, commitment, integrity and their vision for America and for the world. You should know what their background is. How did they get to where they are now. Know their life, and you will know them.
Other Articles By James Boyne on www.opednews.com:
President Booosh: We Are In A Pickle
Whoops! Billion Dollar Cancer Drug Found to Cause Cancer To Hasten Death
Bush: The Greatest Liberal of the Century
"So Rush Just Wanted A Rush"---the Media Gives Rush Limbaugh a Break
Was I Globalized or Circumcized? (What It's Really Like To Get Laid Off)
Bush's Secret Iraq Exit Strategy
I'm A Stem Cell and I'm Mad As Hell
Father's Day Chat Between George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush
Everything In America to be Renamed After Ronald Reagan
Bush Honors Veterans By Slashing $1 Billion From Veterans Benefits
National Rifle Association Opens Office In Baghdad
