Iran President to Send Letter to Pope (says Iranian Daily)

Reuters ^ | 05/18/06 | uncredited

[Convert from ECUSA]

So Haman wants to send a letter to Benedict XIV. Hmmmmm......I keep remembering Pope St. Pius V, the Rosary, and Lepanto.

[blam]

He's gonna inform the Pope that he has to start wearing a Christian identifying patch on his clothes.

[sheik yerbouty]

Exactly..

[Blzbba]

Let's see....

Our source here is Reuters...

and its source is "..a newspaper" and this is all originating from Tehran...


And lots of you appear to be accepting it as fact. Amazing!

[Allegra]

Does this guy love attention or what??

I'm beginning to think that just ignoring him completely is the best way to deal with him. He CRAVES center-stage. He reminds me of a spoiled, obnoxious four-year-old.

[reagan_fanatic]

He probably instructed the Pope on the proper technique for kneeling and praying towards Mecca, along with a deadline to do so.

[AdmSmith]

Now Pope Benedict XVI has let it be known that he does not believe Islam can reform. This we learn from the transcript of a January 5 US radio interview with one of Benedict's students and friends, Father Joseph Fessio, SJ, the provost of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida, posted on the Asia Times Online forum by a sharp-eyed reader. For the pope to refute the fundamental premise of US policy is news of inestimable strategic importance, yet a Google News scan reveals that not a single media outlet has taken notice of what Fessio told interviewer Hugh Hewitt last week. No matter: still and small as Benedict's voice might be, it carries further than earthquake and whirlwind.


And immediately the holy father, in his beautiful calm but clear way, said, well, there's a fundamental problem with that because, he said, in the Islamic tradition, God has given His word to Mohammed, but it's an eternal word. It's not Mohammed's word. It's there for eternity the way it is. There's no possibility of adapting it or interpreting it, whereas in Christianity, and Judaism, the dynamism's completely different, that God has worked through his creatures http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HA10Ak01.html

Comment: Unfortunately, Joseph Alois is probably right about the Muslims and the Quran, and Ahmadinejad is on a road to disaster for the Iranians unless they get rid of him sooner than later.

[Dajjal]

Now Pope Benedict XVI has let it be known ....

Well, with all due respect, imho having Fr. Fessio tell Hugh Hewitt & audience what he asserts the Pope said hardly qualifies as the Pope "let[ting] it be known."

Radioblogger's transcript to Fr. Fessio & Hugh Hewitt

And even if Fessio is accurate, the Pope's opinion about the views of Prof. Fazlur Rahman (1919-1988), while very learned and worthy of consideration, is simply the pontiff's personal opinion, and not an infallible ex cathedra pronouncement. Any Catholic is free to disagree, what to speak of the Bush Administration.

Prof. Fazlur Rahman's book Islam and Modernity, about which the Pope was opining, according to Fr. Fessio (who mistakenly calls him Rashan)

I'm not certain that Rahman's views can be precisely characterized as "the fundamental premise of US policy." I think a number of hairs would need to be split.

... not a single media outlet has taken notice of what Fessio told interviewer Hugh Hewitt last week

The interview was back in January, but, overall, the conclusion I would draw would be that if Pope Benedict wants to publicly criticize Bush Administration policies, he should do so with an official pronouncement, and not rely on Fr. Fessio talking to Hugh Hewitt.

[AdmSmith]

Sorry for cutting an pasting random pieces, but this is not a criticism of the administration. The important part is about the evolution of Islam, or rather the lack of it as if they think that the Quran is given by Allah and not written down by humans it can not be developed or interpreted by humans. In other religions the texts are acknowledged to be produced by humans, not so in Islam.

[plain talk]

You may want to explain your point more fully. I don't understand what you're trying to say.

[Nihil Obstat]

was there a follow-up article? were the details of the letter ever released?

[mojito]

To my knowledge, no letter was ever delivered to the Vatican. If a letter was sent, it was never publicly acknowledged, and its contents were not released. I wonder if the Germans will release the contents of the current letter. My guess is that they will not.