Western Resistance

According to Reuters, he stated to the assemblage of (mainly Turkish) Muslims:

"Terrorism of any kind is a perverse and cruel decision which shows contempt for the sacred right to life and undermines the very foundations of all civil society," he said in the prepared text of an address for leaders of Germany's Muslim communities.

In the most straightforward and forceful language he has used on the topic since his election in April, the Pope said the world would be exposed to "the darkness of a new barbarism" unless religions worked together to combat terrorism.

"I am certain that I echo your own thoughts when I bring up as one of our concerns the spread of terrorism," he said.

"Terrorist activity is continually recurring in various parts of the world, sowing death and destruction, and plunging many of our brothers and sisters into grief and despair.

"Those who instigate and plan these attacks evidently wish to poison our relations, making use of all means, including religion, to oppose every attempt to build a peaceful, fair and serene life together," he said.

An aide had previously been reprimanded by Benedict XVI for suggesting that the 7/7 London bombings were anti-Christian, but today, his message was slightly more positive, if a little vague. Al Jazeera reports that there are some 3.5 million Muslims in Germany, one of the highest figures for Western Europe.

But in warning on Saturday that the world risked exposure to "the darkness of a new barbarism," he stressed that Muslim leaders must guide Muslim believers and train them in the Islamic faith.

"Teaching is the vehicle through which ideas and convictions are transmitted. Words are highly influential in the education of the mind. You, therefore, have a great responsibility for the formation of the younger generation."

Benedict said that by working together, Catholics and Muslims could "turn back the wave of cruel fanaticism that endangers the lives of so many people and hinders progress toward world peace."

The Pope spoke of terrorism striking in "various parts of the world" but did not mention any specific attacks.

Israel sharply criticised the Vatican last month after Benedict condemned terrorist attacks in Britain, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey but did not mention a bombing in Israel that killed five Israelis.

Benedict also alluded to another of his themes - the need for reciprocity in religious freedom for Christians and other minorities in some Islamic countries.

He did not name any but said "the defence of religious freedom ... is a permanent imperative and respect for minorities is a clear sign of true civilisation".

According to Canada.com:

Ridan Cakir, president of the Turkish Islamic Union, said the participants shared the Pope's position. "With this common platform, we are able together to fight terrorism," he said at a news conference afterward.

Mr Cakir is, I feel, being optimistic or mendacious if he thinks that terrorism can be defeated by allying Muslims and Catholics. Sure, there have been Islamist terror attacks in Turkey, which is the most secular of Islamic countries. But he also seems to be typical of many Turks - they seem to either ignore, or even be downright ignorant of, what is said in the Koran. "Kill the infidel where you shall find them." Or in the Hadith:

"Verily, Allah has prescribed proficiency in all things. Thus, if you kill, kill well; and if you slaughter, slaughter well. Let each one of you sharpen his blade and let him spare suffering to the animal he slaughters. (it was related by Muslim)."

Has his Infallibleness acually read or studied the Koran? I feel that the Turks present at the Pope's audience were only doing their own public relations exercise - being seen to be mixing with the right people to bolster their own image. The Pope should firstly read the Koran's death-tracts before he advocates that anyone else should be taught its insidious designs for global domination, achieved through force. In the past, Islamic conversion was with the sword - now it is with high explosives aimed at innocent civilians. The Koran advocates murder.

The Jewish Old Testament has plenty of accounts of battles and violence against pagans, but first and foremost of Moses' Ten Commandments is the commandment "Thou Shall not kill".

There is much good that the Pope can do by fostering better relations with Jews, and yet he still does not seem to openly support Israel, which is undergoing such national pain as it concedes to World leaders and pulls out of the Gaza strip, which it has occupied for 38 years. The Times today carried a critical account of the Pope's attitudes towards Jews. Despite repeated requests from Jewish leaders for the Vatican to open its files on how much collaboration the Catholic church had with Nazis in Second-World War Germany, the Vatican has refused. As Rabbi Tietelbaum said: "This would be an important gesture 60 years after the end of the Shoah".

The Times mentioned that:

Weeks ago, the Pope conspicuously failed to mention Israel in a list of countries hit by terrorist attacks. That provoked angry condemnation from the Israeli government which claimed the Pope "deliberately failed" to condemn Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Tensions worsened when the Vatican issued a harshly worded statement telling Israel to stop trying to lecture the Pope.

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Pope Benedict XVI, as Cardinal Ratzinger, was a hardliner against the South American "liberation theology" bishops and priests who opposed corruption and oppression in their countries. His hardliner front seems to be now tinged with appeasement for Muslims, and patronising attitudes to Israelis, who suffer more from Islamic terrorism than any other nation.

Come on Ratzinger, stop pretending you're infallible. You're talking from under your skirts. Look at the facts, and for the sake of your God, speak the truth about the evils of Islam. Enough people are leaving your church to go into "humanist" alternatives. If you showed some chutzpah, proved you have a pair of balls under your frock, even spoke about the way the old Holy Roman Empire saved the West from all becoming Muslim - then, and only then, will you find me taking Holy Communion.

We live in dangerous times. If you could be hard on your own bishops in the past, then be hard with the truth now, before it is too late. Or you will turn your church into an organ of Islamic appeasement. Then, after you have died and gone for your Heavenly rewards (72 virgins? Sorry, wrong religion - and you're still a virgin, aren't you?) your holy Vatican will become a mosque, and we will all be doomed to servitude......