Pope in World Press

Benedict's Papal bull is worthy of Blair
21 September 2006
The Pope's sectarian attack on Islam at Regensburg was strikingly reminiscent of Tony Blair's Los Angeles speech on August 1, whooping it up for the War on Terror.
Benedict XVI outlined a conflict between the rational tolerance which he suggested was characteristic of Christianity and the irredeemable backwardness which he ascribed to Islam. Christians believe that "not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature," he claimed. Islam, in sharp contrast, "is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality."
Compared to Papal bull of this sort, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presentation to the UN General Assembly early yesterday morning was a model of balance and cool lucidity.
The Pontiff has previous in this area. In the immediate aftermath of the September 2001 atrocities, the then Cardinal Ratzinger declared that "the history of Islam ... contains a tendency to violence," but conceded that: "There are other aspects, too. It is thus important to help the positive line ... to prevail and to have sufficient strength to win out over the other tendency."
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Muslims urged to repair Palestinian churches
In the West Bank on Sunday a stone church in Tulkarem built 170 years ago was torched and another in the village of Tubas was attacked with firebombs and partially burned.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called on Muslims in America and around the world to help repair Palestinian churches damaged following recent controversial remarks by Pope Benedict XVI. CAIR is urging Muslims to help repair the churches in the West Bank and Gaza by sending a donation to the Catholic Near East Welfare Association.
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Zaman on-line Istambul
Irrespective of the announcements made by the Vatican and the pope, the fact remains the same. It’s not possible to regard the pope’s remarks as a slip of the tongue because statements are issued from this establishment, with a tradition that dates back hundreds of years, only having been carefully diagnosed. So, what’s the reason behind this?
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American Seminarians shout "Down with America", "Down with the Pope"
Yesterday’s demonstrations were quite strange: authorised if not organised by the authorities, they gathered “strangers” and “minorities”. A group of Armenians and other demonstrators gathered outside Hosseinieh Ershad mosque to protest against the pope’s “anti-Islamic” attitude. In Iran, the Armenians constitute quite an important minority that enjoys historic status of “privileged” inferiority. What’s more, they are Orthodox, but there is also an Armenian Catholic community – a Salesian priest of Armenian rite was recently ordained in Teheran. This demonstration is one of those typical signs of “peace” and obedience that allow Iranian minorities to survive.
Another particular demonstration was that held by foreign Islamic “seminarians” of Qom, including a group of Americans who shouted, apart from the classic “Down with America” and “Down with Israel”, a bizarre “Down with the pope”. Gathered outside Qom’s World Center for Islamic Sciences, they approved a manifesto addressed to “Mr Pope” and accused Christianity of having caused the last two world wars and thus of being without reason and without any right to criticize the use of violence in the name of religion.
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