Benedict…
Quoting wikinews, my comments are written inside square brackets []:
Pope Benedict XVI criticises Prophet Muhammad’s teachings [wow…]
September 13, 2006
During a theological lecture at the University of Regensburg, in Bavaria, Pope Benedict XVI criticized the idea of jihad. He opined that the mujahideen idea of jihad “went against the nature of God”. The Pope said “Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul”.
[Yeah, he’s right… there’s been a long time since the Crusades… killing people for God is no longer OK!]
He quoted, without agreeing or disagreeing, Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, who, on the “issue of jihad, holy war”, said,
[Manuel was the Byzantine Emperor from 1391 to 1425, he was in fact the last byzantine emperor. Why? Well, because the 4th crusade messed up the whole empire… and then they got conquered by the ottoman turks.]
“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”.
[Wow… this citation was, no doubt, carefully picked. It’s so descriptive of the Muslim faith (in the opinion of Benedict, at least)…]
The Pope also criticized the Western world for alienating other cultures and “excluding God”.
[”Alienating other cultures”? But did not the guy just say that islam is all about murdering other people (sic)? And now he’s criticizing the western world for alienating such a religion?]
[end of citation]
Well, Benedict is obviously learning the art of gaffe.