In Tehran the Shiite Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri, Secretary-General of the World Forum for Rapprochement Among Islamic Schools of Thought, stressed that Pope's statements were a "great setback" to the dialogue among divine religions. (5) "Instead of preaching peaceful coexistence among the great divine religions, the pope is planting seeds of division," Grand Ayatollah Saafi Gholpaygani separately added. (6)
The Vatican said it hoped the self-inflicted "wave of hate" sweeping the world did not lead to "grave consequences" for the church. Burning of effigies of the Pope and anti-Vatican riots in many countries tarnished its image of tolerance and hand-stretched initiatives for inter-religion dialogue, an image that was carefully promoted by his predecessor.
The Pope's quotation is also going down into Muslims' collective memory as fitting into the U.S.-led war on "Islamic terror," which is cloaked in anti-Islam terminology like President Bush's blunders of "crusade," "Islamic terrorists," and his latest "Islamic Fascists."
It boils down to be serving as a Catholic justification for an American political-military anti-Islam campaign. "Many Muslims are on the defensive in our modern world with its dominance of western secular perspectives, backed up by brutal military force which is often indistinguishable from the terrorism it claims to be fighting." (7)
The Pope's attempts to portray his speech as a scholarly and theological matter is not convincing enough to distance the Vatican from being embroiled in political involvement or to shadow the fact that the Pontiff is also a politician and a head of a state, which helped to undermine communism; no one can expect him to be happy or eager to see a U.S. defeat whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or the overall war on terror.
"Why the pope chose to throw a hand grenade into a powder keg, and why he chose to do it at this moment in history"? asked George Friedman.
"Bush has been trying to portray the war against Islamist militants as a clash of civilizations, one that will last for generations and will determine the future of mankind. Benedict, whether he accepts Bush's view or not, offered an intellectual foundation for Bush's position," Friedman added. (8)
Whether it was his intention or not, the Pope has cornered his church in the role of providing a Catholic justification for the US-led Evangelist WWIII on Islam. "Ironically, despite the lip service by leaders like President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI about the need to isolate the lunatic jihadi fringe, by word and deed they have succeeded in accomplishing exactly the opposite." Wrote an Indian Hindu. (9)
Nor Muslim observers can isolate the Pope's defaming quotation from his record of anti-Islam indications:
Benedict XVI during his 17-month papacy has been lecturing Muslims on the need to teach their young to shun violence, suggesting that violence is part of Islam.
In March he decided to merge the Vatican's office for dialogue with Muslims with its culture office and to send the English prelate who headed it, Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, - considered a top Islamic expert - to Egypt as papal envoy.
Recent statements by senior Catholic bishops have singled out Lebanon's Hizbullah and the Palestinian Hamas in names as violent groups under his papacy.
His insensitivity could not also be forgiven on the backdrop of the latest anti-Islam cartoons blunder.
The Pope's reported opposition to Turkey's membership in the European Union because of its Islamic different culture is cited as another anti-Islam indicator.
His quotation is also viewed within the context of the Vatican's intolerance of other churches. How could a church be tolerant vis-ï ¿ ½-vis another religion when it cannot afford to accept Christian Protestants as "sister churches" and describe them as "ecclesial communities"? (10)
Similarly Muslims could not view positively the Vatican's reported anti-immigration into Europe of immigrants of different cultures, especially Muslims, within the context of its preoccupation with a campaign to incorporate Christian ethics and values in the constitution of the European Union in the face of a strong secular opposition.
The Vatican said it hoped the self-inflicted "wave of hate" sweeping the world did not lead to "grave consequences" for the church. Burning of effigies of the Pope and anti-Vatican riots in many countries tarnished its image of tolerance and hand-stretched initiatives for inter-religion dialogue, an image that was carefully promoted by his predecessor.
The Pope's quotation is also going down into Muslims' collective memory as fitting into the U.S.-led war on "Islamic terror," which is cloaked in anti-Islam terminology like President Bush's blunders of "crusade," "Islamic terrorists," and his latest "Islamic Fascists."
It boils down to be serving as a Catholic justification for an American political-military anti-Islam campaign. "Many Muslims are on the defensive in our modern world with its dominance of western secular perspectives, backed up by brutal military force which is often indistinguishable from the terrorism it claims to be fighting." (7)
"Why the pope chose to throw a hand grenade into a powder keg, and why he chose to do it at this moment in history"? asked George Friedman.
"Bush has been trying to portray the war against Islamist militants as a clash of civilizations, one that will last for generations and will determine the future of mankind. Benedict, whether he accepts Bush's view or not, offered an intellectual foundation for Bush's position," Friedman added. (8)
Whether it was his intention or not, the Pope has cornered his church in the role of providing a Catholic justification for the US-led Evangelist WWIII on Islam. "Ironically, despite the lip service by leaders like President Bush and Pope Benedict XVI about the need to isolate the lunatic jihadi fringe, by word and deed they have succeeded in accomplishing exactly the opposite." Wrote an Indian Hindu. (9)
Nor Muslim observers can isolate the Pope's defaming quotation from his record of anti-Islam indications:
Benedict XVI during his 17-month papacy has been lecturing Muslims on the need to teach their young to shun violence, suggesting that violence is part of Islam.
In March he decided to merge the Vatican's office for dialogue with Muslims with its culture office and to send the English prelate who headed it, Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, - considered a top Islamic expert - to Egypt as papal envoy.
Recent statements by senior Catholic bishops have singled out Lebanon's Hizbullah and the Palestinian Hamas in names as violent groups under his papacy.
His insensitivity could not also be forgiven on the backdrop of the latest anti-Islam cartoons blunder.
The Pope's reported opposition to Turkey's membership in the European Union because of its Islamic different culture is cited as another anti-Islam indicator.
His quotation is also viewed within the context of the Vatican's intolerance of other churches. How could a church be tolerant vis-ï ¿ ½-vis another religion when it cannot afford to accept Christian Protestants as "sister churches" and describe them as "ecclesial communities"? (10)
Similarly Muslims could not view positively the Vatican's reported anti-immigration into Europe of immigrants of different cultures, especially Muslims, within the context of its preoccupation with a campaign to incorporate Christian ethics and values in the constitution of the European Union in the face of a strong secular opposition.
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