Pope Benedict apologizes?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/09/17/news/apology.php<BR>
VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday that he was "deeply sorry" over the anger caused by his remarks on Islam and said a quote that he had used from a medieval text about holy wars did not reflect his personal thoughts.

The pope had been under pressure to apologize personally after a speech that he made last week in Germany provoked fury in the Muslim world. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, said Saturday that Benedict "deeply regretted" that his speech had "sounded offensive to the sensibility of Muslim believers."

The pope told pilgrims Sunday at Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence: "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," he said. "I hope 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 mutual respect."

The comments, part of his regular Sunday Angelus blessing, were made at his first public appearance since making the comments Tuesday. The Italian media said security at Castel Gandolfo had been tightened.

It was not immediately clear whether the apology would go far enough to satisfy Muslim countries and religious groups angered by what they said had portrayed Islam as a religion tainted by violence.


I am Protestant, not Catholic therefore may not understand all of this, but what I do understand is According to Catholic doctrine, the Pope is infallible in matters of doctrine, faith and morals...so why did he apologize?

He apologised first and foremost in the interests of peace and then also because he is a human being and his opinion is not representative of every Catholic in the world and also he did qualify that his was quoting form a medieval text and was not stsing his own personal opinion.

*his = he
*form = from

Taken from dictionary.com: one of 4 definitions for infallible -

Roman Catholic Church. immune from fallacy or liability to error in expounding matters of faith or morals by virtue of the promise made by Christ to the Church.

Even if it's from mideival text, according to the Catholic Doctrine, he's immune from liability of error...

Yeah but if he retracts what he says then that is also infallible. It's all in the interpretation and you can interpret things many ways and justify them all. Anyway I don't think he was saying he made a mistake but that he didn't mean to offend and was also quoting something and it wasn't his personal view. He can still be infallible and say this.

I as a catholic don't consider the Pope to be infallible or reflect my views on many things and I also think that Catholic doctrine needs to brought up to date with modern times. But having said that I think Islamic doctrine needs to be brought up to date even more so to allow freedom of speech!

That's part of my point...by him apologizing, is he showing fear of what the Muslims will do if he doesn't?

"Islam is an evil religion."

I don't think it's a case of evil religion, it's more of a case of people that should grow the fuck up. Oh certainly they may be offended by what we do or say in our society, but we are offended by the way they(muslim fundamentalists) treat their women, and you don't see us embargoing them just because of that.
That double standard is a sign of a childish and self-centred behaivour.

Yes, but it sounded like you think Islam at it's core is evil

Well, it was in the middle-ages, conquering a country and murdering some of it's occupants was pretty much the norm.

even if it was "pretty much the norm" doesn't justify it and make it right...

arrgh, it's 4 pm here and I need coffee. 😢

Prime

If thats the case all religion at some point in time are all evil.

Yes, but that's only one guy, he may have a lot of support, but I'm pretty sure most of the muslim world doesn't support him-we are talking about something like a billion people here.

'even if it was "pretty much the norm" doesn't justify it and make it right...'

Well, what good does it do to single them out? Sure they were assholes, but so were everyone else.

So what do you think the Pope should have said. "I stand by my comments so screw you!"

I think he did the right and diplomatic thing.

Primegen the extremist fanatic islamic terrorists are not represantive of Islam as a religion, indeed they only represent a fringe rebel element of it. Moderate Muslims do not agree or want to be associated in any way with the terrorist crimes and war that groups like Al-Qaeda wage.

"he may have a lot of support, but I'm pretty sure most of the muslim world doesn't support him"

and dare to the ones who detest it publicly!

You cannot directly stop a terrorist element from doing anything. You can implore them to stop but you cannot outright tell them to cease their terrorist activities even if they do it in your name or for a cause you believe vehemently in.

Primegen you are confusing extremist islamic fanaticism with moderate Islam of which the majority of followers of the Islamic faith subscribe.

"I would be hunting those responsible down"

Yeah only in your little pea sized head would you be hunting anyone down. Who the fuck do you think you are Primegen? An action hero? Superman? Right now you rant on about woman and the unfair leniencies that have been bestowed on them by the legal system to get their wicked ways over men like you. Why aren't you out being a "hunter" there? Why aren't you fighting back ie through political lobbying and marches and realsitic debate instead of just mouthing off on an astrological message board!?! If you had any balls or belief in the validity of your arguments you would be out doing something constructive.

Now you say that moderate muslims should be out there trying to silence these extremists. Exactly how they should they be doing this you don't say but grand blanket statements are your speciality so anything else like minor details of reality don't concern you. Should they be out on the street marching with flags to say that this violence is not perpetrated in their name? Should they be calling in to their Christian or Jewish neighbours to assure them that they condemn these atrocities just as vehemently as their neighbour? What do you think they should do Primegen? There are extremists in nearly every religion, usually you just need poverty, lack of education and an impressive and inspiring leader to create religious zealot or the next terrorist.

And it's a joke that you think that of all faiths Catholicism is above board and plays by the rules. Ok they don't condone violence to spread and uphold the faith but that's just because they're more modernised in certain ways than Islam. But they are probably more corrupt as an organised religion than Islam has ever been. Corruption, double standards, hypocracy, money laundering are all associated with the Catholic Church.

You more or less say that Catholicism does nothing wrong today. It still preaches natural birth control methods as a realistic way for its followers to manage the number of children they have. So there are Catholic priests and nuns in Africa, who are themselves doing excellent work in helping some of the millions of poor and sick people,yet they are also there to impart the Catholic doctrine to these people that only natural family family methods should be used when the country is RAVAGED BY FAMINE AND AIDS. Now is that realistic or humanitarian to try to indoctrinate a policy that leads more people to become infected with AIDS and have more children that they cannot feed let alone themselves—? Why aren't you out fighting this obvious atrocity carried out in YOUR OWN RELIGION Primegen?