From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
, January 2006
The Regensburg lecture was delivered on 12 September 2006 by
in , where he had once served as a professor of . It was entitled " and the University — Memories and Reflections" (: Glaube, Vernunft und Universit?t — Erinnerungen und Reflexionen). The lecture is considered to be among the most important papal statements on world affairs since 's 1995 address to the United Nations, and sparked international reactions and controversy.
In his lecture, the Pope, speaking in , quoted an unfavorable remark about
made at the end of the 14th century by , the . As the English translation of the Pope's lecture was disseminated across the world, the quotation was taken out of context and many
protested against what they saw as an insulting mischaracterization of Islam.
Mass street protests were mounted in many Islamic countries, the
( parliament) unanimously called on the Pope to retract "this objectionable statement". The Pope maintained that the comment he had quoted did not reflect his own views, and he offered an apology to Muslims.
The controversial comment originally appeared in the 7th of the 26 Dialogues Held With A Certain Persian, the Worthy Mouterizes, in Anakara of Galatia, written in 1391 as an expression of the views of the
emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, one of the last
rulers before the
to the Muslim , on such issues as , , and the relationship between
and . The passage, in the English translation published by the Vatican, was:
Show me just what
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.
A better translation of what appeared as key words politically, "Schlechtes und Inhumanes", would have been "bad and inhumane".
The pope had consulted a bilingual critical edition of this dialogue in the original Greek and with French translation.
The lecture on faith and reason, with references ranging from ancient
thinking to
theology and modern , focused mainly on
and what Pope Benedict called the tendency to "exclude the question of " from reason. Islam features in a part of the lecture: the Pope quoted a strong criticism of Islam, which he described as being of a "startling brusqueness, a brusqueness which leaves us astounded".
The author of this criticism was the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (or Paleologus) in a 1391
with an "educated " (who remained unnamed in all the dialogues), as well as observations on this argument made by , the scholar whose edition of the dialog in question the
was referencing. Pope Benedict used Manuel II's argument in order to draw a distinction between a Christian view, as expressed by Manuel II, that "not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature", and an allegedly Islamic view, as explained by Khoury, that God transcends concepts such as , and his will, as
stated, is not constrained by any principle, including rationality.
As a part of his explication of this distinction, Pope Benedict referred to a specific aspect of Islam that Manuel II considered irrational, namely the practice of . Specifically, the Pope (making clear that they were the Emperor's words, not his own) quoted Manuel II Palaiologos as saying: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only bad and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
The pontiff was comparing apparently contradictory passages from the Qur'an, one being that "There is no compulsion in religion", the other being that it is acceptable to "spread the faith through violence". The pontiff argued the latter teaching to be unreasonable and advocated that religious conversion should take place through the use of reason. His larger point here was that, generally speaking, in Christianity, God is understood to act in accordance with reason, while in Islam, God's absolute
means that "God is not bound even by his own word", and can act in ways contrary to reason, including self-contradiction. At the end of his lecture, the Pope said, "It is to the great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures."
Quoted below are the three paragraphs (of sixteen total) which discuss Islam in Pope Benedict's lecture:
I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Münster) of part of the dialogue carried on — perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near
— by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus and an educated Persian on the subject of , and the truth of both. It was presumably the emperor himself who set down this dialogue, during the
between 1394 and 1402; and this would explain why his arguments are given in greater detail than those of his Persian interlocutor. The dialogue ranges widely over the structures of faith contained in the
and in the Qur'an, and deals especially with the image of God and of man, while necessarily returning repeatedly to the relationship between — as they were called — three "Laws" or "rules of life": the , the
and the Qur'an. It is not my intention to discuss this question in here I would like to discuss only one point — itself rather marginal to the dialogue as a whole — which, in the context of the issue of "faith and reason", I found interesting and which can serve as the starting-point for my reflections on this issue.
In the seventh conversation edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. The emperor must have known that
reads: "There is no compulsion in religion". According to the experts, this is one of the
of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat. But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the , concerning holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "" and the "", he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness, a brusqueness that we find unacceptable, on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: "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 emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God", he says, "is not pleased by blood — and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats… To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death…
The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature. The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes: "For the emperor, as a Byzantine shaped by , this statement is self-evident. But for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." Here Khoury quotes a work of the noted French Islamist R. Arnaldez, who points out that Ibn Hazn went so far as to state that God is not bound even by his own word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us. Were it God's will, we would even have to practice idolatry.
: " This was a very unfortunate statement and it is a statement that shows that there is a lack of understanding of real Islam. And because of this we are hopeful that such statements and such positions would not be stated in order to not allow tension and distrust and recriminations to brew between the Muslim as well as the west." The Vatican envoy was also summoned.
  – Morocco recalled its
to the Vatican.
praised the Pontiff's "love of humanity," and said: "We all need to understand that offense can sometimes be taken when perhaps we don't see it."
  – The
said the Pope was part of "a series of Western conspiracy against Islam" and had "linked Islam to violence and challenged Jihad at a time when he apparently closed his eyes to the crimes being perpetrated against defenseless Muslims by the leaders of power and hypocrisy under flag of Christianity and Jewish religion".
stated that "Regarding the issue of the Pope's comments, we respect the pope and all of those who are interested in peace and justice."
spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said that "The Pope's remarks reflect his misunderstanding of the principles of Islam and its teachings that call for forgiveness, compassion and mercy," but also called on Iraqis not to harm "our Christian brothers."
stated that the Pope's comments were "unwise and inappropriate," but also that "Indonesian Muslims should have wisdom, patience, and self-restraint to address this sensitive issue....We need them so that harmony among people is not at stake."
said, "The Pope must not take lightly the spread of outrage that has been created. The Vatican must now take full responsibility over the matter and carry out the necessary steps to rectify the mistake."
who at the time was the chairman of India's
said: "The language used by the Pope sounds like that of his 12th-Century counterpart who ordered the crusades... It surprises me because the Vatican has a very comprehensive relationship with the Muslim world.".
, in a speech at the , called for legislation against "defamation of Islam." Pakistan's , issued a statement saying "The derogatory remarks of the Pope about the philosophy of jihad and Prophet Muhammad have injured sentiments across the Muslim world and pose the danger of spreading acrimony among the religions."
spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said, "Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence."
leader and
condemned the Pope's remarks: "In the name of the , we condemn the pope's remarks on Islam. These remarks go against the truth and touch the heart of our faith." He also denounced the Palestinian attacks on churches in the
said: "I believe it is a must for (the Pope) to retract his erroneous, ugly and unfortunate remarks and apologise both to the Islamic world and Muslims. …I hope he rapidly amends the mistake he has made so as not to overshadow the dialogue between civilizations and religions.
has threatened to sever diplomatic ties with the Vatican.
  – Former
backed the Pope's comments, saying that angry response from the Islamic world is "disproportionate, strange and disappointing". He also stated that Muslims should "move on", adding that, "I don't, at the moment, note terrorist groups killing people and invoking the authority of the Catholic Church".
warned against "anything that increases tensions between peoples or religions".
said: "Whoever criticises the Pope misunderstood the aim of his speech… It was an invitation to dialogue between religions and the Pope expressedly spoke in favour of this dialogue, which is something I also support and consider urgent and necessary."
said: "There cannot be any controversy... Religious dialogue and respect for every faith are essential today and religion does not justify any type of violence."
  – Former
, in response to the demonstrations asking the Pope to apologize, asked why Muslims had not apologized for occupying Spain for 800 years as , and then called the
initiative "stupid."
   –
stated the Pope's speech was "intelligent and necessary."
   – The director of the
press office stated: "Pope Benedict's remarks about jihad may have been taken out of context but they were not an aberration. On the contrary, they stem from his thinking about Islam and the West in the one and a half years since he became Pope. It was certainly not the intention of the
to undertake a comprehensive study of the jihad and of Muslim ideas on the subject, still less to offend the sensibilities of Muslim faithful. Quite the contrary, what emerges clearly from the Holy Father’s discourses is a warning, addressed to , to avoid 'the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom.'"
said "The OIC hopes that this sudden campaign does not reflect a new trend for the Vatican policy toward the Islamic religion… and it expects the Vatican to express its real vision of Islam", called it "character assassination of the
Mohammed" and a "smear campaign.", and asked the
to address the Pope's remarks.
  – A
spokesman objected to "picking quotes out of context", and said the commission would not "clarify or interpret" the speech, because they consider it "a theological contribution to a theological debate." He added that "reactions which are disproportionate and which are tantamount to rejecting freedom of speech are unacceptable."
Cardinal , then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina and now
reportedly expressed his "unhappiness" with 's use of the quotation from Manuel II Palaeologos and is quoted as having publicly declared: "Pope Benedict's statement[s] don't reflect my own opinions.... These statements will serve to destroy in 20 seconds the careful construction of a relationship with Islam that Pope John Paul II built over the last twenty years."
said "We are faced with a media-driven phenomenon bordering on the absurd... If the game consists in unleashing the crowd’s vindictiveness on words that it has not understood, then the conditions for dialogue with Islam are no longer met."
, head of the worldwide
of the , said that the Pope used Manuel's dialogue with a Persian to make an indirect reference to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "I have heard he plans to write a letter to the Pope," Wolf added. "I think this would be a good opportunity to take up the gauntlet, so to speak, and really discuss things."
of Australia has backed the Pope's comments, saying he does not "rule out the link between Islam and violence" and that "The violent reaction in many parts of the Islamic world justified one of Pope Benedict's main fears".
said: "Addressing the world's other religious faiths is part of the Church's mission... We must all return to the original source of human life, which is love."
while admitting that he hadn't heard the exact words used by Pope Benedict XVI, said that "any remarks which offend Islam and Muslims are against the teachings of ."
and head Anglican Primate of All England of the , said: "There are elements in Islam that can be used to justify violence, just as there are in Christianity and Judaism."
Former Archbishop of Canterbury
dismissed Muslim charges that the Pope had "rubbished" Islam and stated that "Muslims, as well as Christians, must learn to enter into dialogue without crying 'foul'."
R. Todd Wise, a
minister and religious scholar, noted a heavy reliance on
rather than
in Pope Benedict XVI's lecture, and suggested a priority for considering "faith as the common ground" in the approach to Islam.
On 13 October 2006, one month to the day after Pope Benedict XVI’s address, 38 Islamic authorities and scholars from around the world, representing all denominations and schools of thought, joined together to deliver an answer to the Pope in the spirit of open intellectual exchange and mutual understanding, speaking about the true teachings of Islam.
Exactly one year later, on 13 October
Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals unanimously came together for the first time since the days of Muhammed to declare the common ground between Christianity and Islam in their letter titled 'In A Common Word Between Us and You'. The letter was addressed to the leaders of all the world’s churches, and to Christians everywhere.
, the head of the
of Turkey, commented that the Pope's statements "were extraordinarily worrying, very unfortunate, both in the name of Christianity, and in the name of shared humanity," and called on Pope Benedict to either retract or apologize for his conduct. He added "if there is a religious antagonism in the West, it's the responsibility of the logic-ignoring
[sic]", citing historical incidents of religious oppression in
and the . He also implied that the Pope should consider cancelling his trip to Turkey that was originally planned for November 2006. Bardako?lu later admitted to not having read the Pope's lecture before making his statements.
said the remarks "threaten world peace" and "pour oil on the fire and ignite the wrath of the whole Islamic world to prove the claims of enmity of politicians and religious men in the West to whatever is Islamic."
in , conveyed the university's position that the Pope's comments about Islam "indicate clear ignorance" of the religion and "attribute to Islam what it does not contain."
Sheikh , Egyptian
and head of Islamic Scholars' A " Our hands are outstretched and our religion calls for peace, not for war, for love not for hatred, for tolerance, not for , for knowing each other and not for disavowing each other. We condemn this and we want to know the explanation of this and what is intended by this. We call on the pope, the pontiff, to apologise to the Islamic nation because he has insulted its religion and Prophet, its faith and
without any justification."
, one of Iran's most influential clerics asked the Pope to "fall on his knees in front of a senior Muslim cleric and try to understand Islam."
, leader of the Nizari
branch of Islam said: "I have two reactions to the pope's lecture: There is my concern about the degradation of relations and, at the same time, I see an opportunity. A chance to talk about a serious, important issue: the relationship between faith and logic"
, an influential visiting fellow in the , said "Most did not read the pope' others had relied on a sketchy summary according to which the pope had linked Islam and violence.. certain groups or governments manipulate crises of this kind as a safety valve for both their restive populations and their own political agenda.. the mass protests... end up providing a living proof that Muslims cannot engage in reasonable debate and that verbal aggression and violence are more the rule than the exception."
In a letter to the Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
criticized Benedict's remarks, writing: "our way is to honour every religion and every nation according to their paths, as it is written in the book of prophets: 'because every nation will go in the name of its Lord.'"
The Rabbi went on to denounce Islamic violence against Christians, stating that "Our Muslim brothers would add respect to their religion if they outdid themselves and overcame the feelings of humiliation."
In an article published in , author
said, "The Bavarian is a razor-sharp reactionary cleric. I think he knew what he was saying and why. In a
world suffering from environmental degradation, poverty, hunger, repression, a 'planet of slums' (in the graphic phrase of ), the Pope chooses to insult the founder of a rival faith. The reaction in the Muslim world was predictable, but depressingly insufficient."
A different view was taken by , who wrote in "Fighting Words" for
web magazine that Pope Benedict "has managed to do a moderate amount of harm—and absolutely no good—to the very tense and distraught discussion now in progress between Europe and Islam." Hitchens also presented what he feels is a problem with the focus of the Pope's speech with respect to Reason: "now its new reactionary leader has really 'offended' the Muslim world, while simultaneously asking us to distrust the only reliable weapon—reason—that we possess in these dark times. A fine day's work, and one that we could well have done without."
, head of the Department of Philosophy at the
and a leading advocate of civilizational dialogue, wrote in a commentary: "In his lecture preaching the compatibility of reason and faith, Benedict XVI, the scholar, deliberately overlooks the fact that the insights of Greek philosophy — its commitment to the
— have been brought to medieval Christian Europe by the great Muslim thinkers of the . What he calls the 'encounter between the Biblical message and Greek thought' ... was, to a large extent, the result of the influence of Muslim philosophers — at a time when European Christians were totally ignorant of classical Greek philosophy."
On 16 September 2006, Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State of the Holy See, released a declaration explaining that the "position of the Pope concerning Islam is unequivocally that expressed by the conciliar document " and that "the Pope's option in favour of inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue is equally unequivocal."
As for the opinion of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus which he quoted during his Regensburg talk, the Holy Father did not mean, nor does he mean, to make that opinion his own in any way. He simply used it as a means to undertake — in an academic context, and as is evident from a complete and attentive reading of the text — certain reflections on the theme of the relationship between religion and violence in general, and to conclude with a clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence, from whatever side it may come. [The Pope] sincerely regrets that certain passages of his address could have sounded offensive to the sensitivities of the Muslim faithful and should have been interpreted in a manner that in no way corresponds to his intentions.(emphasis in the original)
For many Muslim leaders, the declaration on 16 September was insufficient to rectify the situation. A representative for the Muslim Brotherhood rejected the Vatican statement, noting "Has he presented a personal apology for statements by which he clearly is convinced? No."
, 's highest religious authority, called the pope's declaration "lies", adding that they "show that reconciliation between religions is impossible." On the other hand, the
had a more favourable view of the declaration, issuing their own statement on 16 September that the Pope's expression of "sincere regret" was "a good first step."
On 17 September, before his regular weekly Sunday , Pope Benedict XVI stated the following:
At this time, I wish also to add that I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims. These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought. Yesterday, the Cardinal Secretary of State published a statement in this regard in which he explained the true meaning of my words. 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.
The Angelus speech initially received a mixed yet predominantly negative response. , Grand
of Al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo, a
institution, stated "We have no objection if the Pope holds another speech and declares publicly that what the Byzantine emperor had said was wrong. At the same time, the Pope has to apologize frankly and justify what he said," , deputy leader of the , Egypt's main Islamic opposition group originally, not long after the Pope's Sunday statements, called them a sufficient apology. However, later in the day, he retracted that statement, saying, "The Pope's comments that downplayed his earlier remarks are not enough. We will not accept anything less than an apology," Mohammed Habib also said: "It does not rise to the level of a clear apology and, based on this, we're calling on the Pope of the Vatican to issue a clear apology that will decisively end any confusion.
This sentiment was shared by the governments of Malaysia ("inadequate to calm the anger"), and Jordan ("a step forward", but "not sufficient"), by Turkish State Minister
("you either have to say this 'I'm sorry' in a proper way or not say it at all. Are you sorry for saying such a thing or because of its consequences?") and scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who called for a "peaceful international day of rage" on his popular TV show on : "[The Pope's latest statements] were no apology. They were an accusation against Muslims that they didn't understand his words."
Later comments were more favourable of the Pope. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said: "We respect the Pope and all those interested in peace and justice," and said he accepted the Vatican view that the pontiff’s words had been "misinterpreted" and "taken out of context". Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said: "I suppose we could accept this. We hope that there would be no other statements that would anger Muslims." Ali Bardako?lu, the head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate said that Benedict’s "expression of sadness is a sign that he would work for world peace." Australian Muslim leader
said Australian Muslims must "accept the Pope's apology" over remarks that offended Islam and "move on". Filipino Muslims expressed support for Pope Benedict's apology and blamed certain media outlets for increasing the tensions between Muslims and Catholics.
On 25 September 2006, Pope Benedict XVI held an audience with Muslim diplomats, ambassadors of Muslim countries and members of the Consulta Islamica, the Italian government appointed consultative body on Islamic affairs. The meeting was an effort to mend relations with the Muslim community. Pope Benedict's spokesman, the Rev. , said the meeting at , the Pope's summer residence, was "certainly a sign that dialogue is returning to normal after moments of … misunderstanding."
During the session, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated his conviction that the dialogue between Muslims and Christians is "a vital necessity" for the good of a world marked by , one that "excludes the transcendence and universality of reason." At this meeting, Pope Benedict expressed "all the esteem and the profound respect that (he has) for Muslim believers." Among the ambassadors invited were those from Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Morocco, as well as many other nations and Islamic groups.
Pope Benedict has taken another step to placate anger in the Islamic world over his remarks on holy war, providing a better translation of his original text that re-affirmed that the quotation from a 14th-century Byzantine emperor was not his personal opinion. The original translation said the emperor's remark was "with a startling brusqueness" (some sources incorrectly say "somewhat brusquely" and/or incorrectly state that the original German text did not contain "the mollifying language belatedly inserted into the English-language text"). The translation was corrected to better reflect the original German text, "in erstaunlich schroffer, uns überraschend schroffer Form ganz einfach." The corrected English translation added that the phrase "a brusqueness that we find unacceptable." Pope Benedict added in a footnote:
In the Muslim world, this quotation has unfortunately been taken as an expression of my personal position, thus arousing understandable indignation. I hope that the reader of my text can see immediately that this sentence does not express my personal view of the Quran, for which I have the respect due to the holy book of a great religion.
He said he cited the text as part of an examination of the "relationship between faith and reason."
On 12 October
of the most respected and influential Muslim scholars and clerics, including the Grand
of Egypt, , , , Turkey,
and , as well as clerics and academics from the , , , Europe and , published an Open Letter to the Pope. All the eight
are represented by the signatories. The 38 signatories to the letter declare that they accept the Pope's "personal expression of sorrow and assurance that the controversial quote did not reflect his personal opinion" and responded to some of the main substantive issues raised in the Pope's treatment of a debate between the medieval Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos and an "educated Persian," includ "jihad" vs. "holy war"; and the relationship between Christianity and Islam.
The open letters also provided a surprising answer[] to Manuel II Palaiologos' question, "Show me just what Muhammad 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." It is:
What the emperor failed to realize — aside from the fact... that no such command has ever existed in Islam — is that the Prophet never claimed to be bringing anything fundamentally new.[]
On 11 October 2007, one year after the release of the open letter to the Pope, a larger group of 138 Muslim scholars, clerics and intellectuals sent another open letter, titled A Common Word Between Us and You, to Pope Benedict and the leaders of other Christian denominations. This letter emphasized that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, and share many values, including living in peace with one's neighbours.
The Pope was actually citing a quotation from Manuel II's writings, not expressing his views. Despite this, demonstrations in the muslim world took place as if the comment, the 'offending' judgement on Islam, was from the Pope himself. No distinction seems to have been drawn in the criticism trumpeted in these demonstrations as Tariq Ramadan (see above) implies. Some protests reflected a level of hysteria quite out of proportion to the text of the Pope's lecture. Security was discreetly stepped up around and inside the Vatican City, because of concerns about the possibility of acts of violence. Thousands of people took part in many protests.
At least five churches were attacked by Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. In the West Bank city of ,
left black scorch marks on the walls and windows of the city's
and . At least five firebombs hit the Anglican church and its door was later set ablaze. A group called the Lions of Monotheism claimed responsibility and said they the attacks were carried out to protest the pope's speech
Later that day, four masked gunmen doused the main doors of Nablus' Roman and
churches with lighter fluid, then set them afire. They also opened fire on the buildings, striking both with bullets. In Gaza City, terrorists opened fire from a car at a Greek Orthodox church, striking the facade. Explosive devices were set off at the same Gaza church on Friday, causing minor damage. There were no claims of responsibility for the last three attacks.
Several organizations, such as
threatened in a joint statement: "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, , , and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose the
tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (being killed by) the sword. ... God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the ."
Employees of Ankara's Diyanet ??leri Ba?kanl??? (Presidency of Religious Affairs), the state body that organizes Muslim worship in Turkey, asked the authorities on 19 September to open
against Pope Benedict XVI and to arrest him when he visits the country in November 2006. They said the Pontiff had violated Turkish laws upholding freedom of belief and thought by "insulting" Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
Outside , on 18 September 2006, around a hundred protestors held banners which included calls for the Pope's execution, "Pope go to Hell" and "Jesus is the slave of ", "Islam will conquer Rome," and "May Allah curse the Pope."
in Pakistan has issued a
asking the Muslim community to kill Pope Benedict for his "" about Muhammad.
On 17 September 2006, two
gunmen shot and killed a 65 year-old Italian nun, Sister , working at the Austrian-run children's hospital in the city of , with her Somali bodyguard. A senior Somali Islamist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "There is a very high possibility the people who killed her were angered by the Catholic Pope's recent comments against Islam"; however, no specific evidence was provided for the motive.
, member of the , said there was a "concrete possibility" that the murder of the nun was "a reprisal for the Pope's remarks on Islam". However, several humanitarian workers and Christian volunteers have been murdered by Islamic gunmen in Somalia, including Italian bishop
shot dead while celebrating mass in
in 1989, , an Italian medical doctor, killed in 1995 in
assassinated in 2003 in a unique relief center in , after 33 years of service to the poorest, and
In Iraq, the flags of , , and the , and
of Pope Benedict were burned in .
Iraq has one of the largest Christian minorities in the Middle East, where
number about one million. Since the Pope's comments, several churc however, many were being bombed since before the Pope's comments starting with the US invasion in 2003 in the power vacuum created by the fall of . A previously unknown -based group, Kataab Ashbal Al Islam Al Salafi (Islamic Salafist Boy Scout Battalions) threatened to kill all Christians in Iraq if the Pope does not apologize to Muhammad within three days. Christian Leaders in Iraq asked their parishioners not to leave their homes, after two Christians were stabbed and killed in Baghdad.
There were reports of writing in church doors stating "If the Pope does not apologise, we will bomb all churches, kill more Christians and steal their property and money."
The Iraqi militia
(Holy Warriors' Army) announced its intention to "destroy their cross in the heart of Rome… and to hit the Vatican."
Despite the Pope's comments dying down in the media, attacks on
continued and on 9 October, an Islamic extremist group kidnapped priest , in . His body was found three days later, decapitated. His relatives have said that his Muslim captors had demanded his church condemn the pope's comments about Islam (which it already had) and pay a $350,000 ransom.
Another point of controversy, widely covered in
, but much less so in Western media, was the Pope's assessment that sura (i.e. Chapter) 2 in the Qur'an, which includes the
"There is no compulsion in religion", was "one of the suras of the early period, when Muhammad was still powerless and under threat", and that instructions "concerning holy war" had come later.
of Islam have taken this as a classification of the sura as stemming from the earlier
and have shown the Pope to be mistaken by pointing out that Surah 2 was
in various stages and that this verse was revealed after Muhammad's
from , during his period of stay in
and hence is from the
which was the final stage of the
of the Qur'an when the Muslims were becoming numerous and increasingly powerful and safe from the immediate dangers that had overshadowed them for 13 years in Mecca. The scholars also point out that the Pope failed to mention that even if this verse was revealed when the Muslims were weak, they could have easily abrogated it with another verse which gave them permission to forcefully convert peopl this, however, did not happen.
In contrast to the , the media focus was not on the issues of
or injured religious sensitivities. Underlying the widely talked about question of whether or not the Pope should apologize, and whether or not his subsequent statements even constituted an apology, several competing and separate interpretations of his intentions have been proffered. These are, broadly and in no particular order:
Responses to the speech ignore the fact that the Vatican advised against the US led invasion of Iraq, supports Turkey's entry into the EU, supports allowing Muslims in France the freedom to wear headscarves, and has been part of a long campaign to promote basic human rights for Christians in Muslim dominated countries where they are persecuted and killed (, , post-war ) or marginalized (most of the rest of the Islamic world including secular Turkey[]).
The lecture was claimed by many Catholic apologists to not be directed at Islam at all and the incendiary passages were purely circumstantial to the lecture's real intention, which was to counter the demotion of theology in the university environment in particular and of faith in a society plagued by
relativism and irrationality in general.
Pope Benedict's lecture was a "calculated risk," a move designed to win the hearts of the Christians of the
who are surrounded by Muslims and whom Pope Benedict would be visiting in November 2006. Given what he sees as close theological affinities between these two churches and other personal characteristics specific to Pope Benedict ( criticism of historical-critical approach to biblical studies), "some form of reunion
from Benedict's point of view, it is highly desirable."
Pope Benedict's lecture portends a parting from the Vatican's previous policies on dialogue with Islam, away from promoting
at all costs towa that is, he wants the Muslim world opened up for Christian
in the same way that Europe is open to Muslims and
possibility. In this view, according to the Pope, the position of Christians in
must be improved. However, observers note that Europe is not run as a Christian state but from the principles of
which can be traced to the , which was inspired in part by the region's Christian principles though sometimes at odds with Church authorities. It was also the Papal Fleet at the
that protected Europe's growth by preventing a massive Ottoman invasion of Europe in 1571. European countries must allow all people regardless of religion the ability to build
due to the
nature of European constitutions. Some European countries disallow the wearing of Muslim scarves, something the Catholic church has condemned these governments for. One must also be aware that most Muslim countries are ruled by secular , though many also allow Islamic law
to govern.
The Regensburg Lecture. St. Augustine's Press, 2007
Ashbāl has been mistranslated in the media as Boy Scout. The
defines shibl (plural ashbāl ?????) as meaning " a capable young man, brave youth, young athlete." Compare with
(Saddam's Lion Cubs).
, The American Thinker, 19 September 2005
, , 12 September 2006
The re-translation of "evil and inhuman" into German is "B?ses und Unmenschliches".
. , 17 September 2006.
. , 20 September 2006.
. , 17 September 2006
, , 19 September 2006
. , 16 September 2006
, , 17 September 2006
On 15 September 2006, . . Retrieved 13 August 2007.
,, 19 September 2006
,, 17 September 2006
Fisher, Ian (16 September 2006). .
, <, 16 September 2006
McShane, Roger (17 September 2006).
Coates, S Haynes, Deborah (17 September 2006). . London:
, , 16 September 2006
, , 16 September 2006
. El Mundo.
, , 17 September 2006 (French)
, , 16 September 2006
, Catholic World News, 13 September 2006
, , 15 September 2006
, , 18 September 2006
, , 18 September 2006
Baverstock, Alasdair (15 March 2013). . The Daily Telegraph (London).
, , 18 September 2006
, , 13 September 2006
, , 13 September 2006
, <, 16 September 2006
Walker, Peter (18 September 2006). . London:
, , 16 September 2006
, November 2006
, Official Website
, , 14 September 2006 (German)
, 16 September 2006 (German)
. . 15 September 2006.
, , 16 September 2006
, , 16 September 2006
, , 17 September 2006
- . 12 October 2006
for the . 20 September 2006
, , 17 September 2006
for . 17 September 2006
for . 18 September 2006
— , Statement for the . 16 September 2006
, , 16 September 2006
, , 16 September 2006
, , 16 September 2006
, , 16 September 2006
, , 17 September 2006 (German)
, , 16 September 2006
, , 17 September 2006
. London: . 18 September 2006.[]
. . 17 September 2006.[]
. . 17 September 2006.[]
. AP. 18 September 2006.[]
Hooper, John (19 September 2006). . London:
. . 18 September 2006.
. . 19 September 2006.
Owen, Richard (19 September 2006). . London:
. . 20 September 2006.
. . 20 September 2006.
. Melbourne: . 19 September 2006.
by Pope Benedict XVI, 25 September 2006
, , 25 September 2006
Timothy Noah, Sept 18 2006. "Correction: 'What the Pope said.'" Slate.
Stuart Buck, 2006. "The translation of Benedict's speech."
Horace Hodges, 2006. "What the Pope really, actually said in Regensburg."
H.E. Ambassador Dr. Akbar Ahmed et al. (2006).
(PDF). Egypt State Information Service. Center for Inter-Civilizational Dialogue Inc 2009.
. . 14 October 2006.
. . 11 October .
, 15 September 2006
16 September 2006
but clearly showed complete ignorance of the Pope's position and role in Christianity in that he is neither Greek Orthodox nor Anglican. , , 16 September 2006
16 September 2006
. . 18 September 2006.
, 19 September 2006][]
Thomas K. Gugler. "".
, AFP, 17 September 2006
, Timesonline, 18 September 2006
, , 16 September 2006
, , 17 September 2006
, , 16 September 2006 (German)
, , 12 October 2006
(in Arabic)
(in Arabic)
(in Arabic)
(in Arabic)
. (Spanish)
However, observers note that the Pope insisted on keeping such comments in his speech even after his handlers advised him against it. According to Israeli analyst , this "quote serves exactly the requirements of .... George Bush II. He, too, wants to unite the Christian world against the mainly Muslim "Axis of Evil". Moreover, the Turks are again knocking on the doors of Europe, this time peacefully. It is well known that the Pope supports the forces that object to the entry of Turkey into the European Union." The Pope has actually called for allowing Turkey into the European Union and spoke against the US invasion of Iraq. Moreover, this non-Christian analyst cited above, Uri Avnery, fails to understand that Catholics and Evangelicals are philosophically fundamentally different and disagree on many issues. The blatantly false comment by Uri Avnery could also be seen as an attempt to ignore the deeply seated conflict in the Islamic world with Israel and blame everything on the Pope who has not commanded a military force in nearly 500 years. From Faith, Adding a Blunt Footnote on Jihad'], , 13 September 2006]
, , 18 September 2006
, , 20 September 2006]
, International Herald Tribune, 29 September 2006
, , 27 September 2006
Wikinews has related news:
(Italian and English)[]
, the author of the book Benedict cited
.-"The Word of Ratzinger". Pilar Rahola. El Periódico,17 September 2006.
: Hidden categories:}