Hopefully the anger at the Pope's unfortunate remarks will now fade away following his personal apology to the Muslims and Christians who found his remarks unhelpful in the present climate. Sadly there has been violence and reports of church burnings and the death of a nun in Somalia. Those on the Muslim side who react with violence stand condemned by all Moslems.
"While anger over the pope's (Regensburg) remarks is necessary, it shouldn't last long because while he is the head of the Catholic Church in the world, many Europeans are not following (the church) so what he said won't influence them," Head of the Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Mahdi Akef said in Cairo on Sunday.
"Our relations with Christians should remain good, civilized and cooperative," said the leader of Egypt's largest Islamic political group.
And in an unusual step, the Vatican's press office released translations in English and French of the pope personally saying Sunday he was sorry about the flap. The pope's Sunday remarks, delivered in Italian, typically are not translated by the Vatican.
Benedict said Sunday that he was "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction sparked by his speech about Islam and holy war and said the text did not reflect his personal opinion.
"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. He noted that the Vatican secretary of state on Saturday had issued a statement trying to explain his words which he delivered Tuesday in a speech during a pilgrimage in his native Germany.
"I hope that this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect."
In Turkey, the pope's "apology" was also seen as insufficient. State Minister Mehmet Aydin said the pope seemed to be saying he was sorry for the outrage but not necessarily the remarks themselves.
"You either have to say this 'I'm sorry' in a proper way or not say it at all," he told reporters in Istanbul. "Are you sorry for saying such a thing or because of its consequences?"
Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
2 comments:
At least in the American media, one does not get the impression that official condemnation of the violence has been very strong or widespread. Meanwhile, the pundits are arguing that the appropriate Western response is to unite to condemn Muslim violence rather than offer apologies for books, cartoons or speeches. The violence clearly feeds western prejudices and stereotypes. For example, the Washington Post further comments that "The head of Australia's 5 million-strong Catholic church, Cardinal George Pell, said violent reaction "justified one of Pope Benedict's main fears" about Islam." Americans and other westerners need to reexamine their prejudices about Muslims, but perhaps the Muslim world needs to develop a thicker skin.
It makes me smile to see the Western backlash against the Muslim anger - have they forgotten the 300,000 tortured or killed by the Inquisition!
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