To: MrLee
You are not reading it wrong by our western standards, but the islmics are not satisfied. Reason being, it was said as an appeasement. Read the entire context of the Pope's statement.
Pastoral Visit which I recently made to Bavaria was a deep spiritual experience, bringing together personal memories linked to places well known to me and pastoral initiatives towards an effective proclamation of the Gospel for today. I thank God for the interior joy which he made possible, and I am also grateful to all those who worked hard for the success of this Pastoral Visit. As is the custom, I will speak more of this during next Wednesdays General Audience. 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.
33 posted on
09/17/2006 6:19:55 AM PDT by
EBH
(All great truths begin as blasphemies. GB Shaw)
To: EBH
"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 Pope is genuinely saddened by the mindless and violent reaction of the Muslims to his sincere request for dialogue.
He was challenging them to take a good, hard look at their religion and its beliefs about God. Unfortunately, they are so blind that they can only perceive one sentence in the text, and they have taken it entirely out of the context in which the Pope intended it.
I personally think the chances of a sincere dialogue are zero. But I pray that some hearts might be moved in the right direction.
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