Carl Olson has an excellent post on The (False) Tale of Two Popes. A recent meme by some Muslim’s, the media, and some in the Church attempt to invent some contrast between Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, that JPII never wrote anything critical of Islam and that Benedict has dashed all he built up. He gives some what should be provocative quotes on the Koran that never got the media’s attention so what is the difference? I think it is because the one quote in the Regensburg lecture is sound bite size. JP II’s writing had no gotcha moment that was easy to misrepresent.
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and I love how all the media is suddenly JPII’s best friend. Longing for the days when John Paul “wouldn’t have done this” et al.
I could believe that John Paul never wrote anything critical of Islam, and never wrote anything praiseworthy of it either. He was busy enough with the Catholic Church, why should he bother?
Just because I don’t put down cottage cheese doesn’t mean I’m crazy about the stuff!
Well he did kiss the Koran…
Anyone who thinks JPII never “wrote anything critical of Islam” has never read CROSSING THE THRESHOLD OF HOPE. (Of course, that’s not a magisterial document, but then, neither is BXVI’s Regensburg speech.)
JP2 let them build a huge Mosque right in the middle of Rome. The Italian Govn’t actually asked if it was Ok, and he said yes. And 27 years of ecumencical platitudes, and mass immigration with no conversion outreach (might have seemed unecumenical). They muslims loved him for a reason. He lubricated the road the Dhimmitude for the West.
Absolutely right. And the Koran-kissing incident should have had Catholics outraged. He was putting Muslim scriptures on the same level as ours.
Call me a dumb Protestant, but we can not start ripping at John Paul over the Koran business or we’re going to start sounding like the Muslim fanatics ourselves.