A Seat at the Table: The Pope's Remarks on Islam

So last week, Pope Benedict was in Germany, and he quoted from some Byzantine Emporer who said that Islam's founder was "evil and inhuman." And surprise, surprise, this sparked controversy. Now we've had two apologies from the Vatican, including a person apology from Pope Benedict himself, and we've had, at last report, several Catholic Churches burned, a little desecration, and a nun who may have been murdered as revenge for the Pope's remarks.

And I read the news and I am incredulous.

Some think that the Pope's remarks were terribly inappropriate, the words of a stupid person. Folks, the Pope ain't stupid.

Some think that the Pope's remarks were taken out of context, since he was quoting a historical document, and he did not actually say himself that Mohammed was 'evil' or 'inhuman'. Folks, don't be fooled. As I said, the Pope ain't stupid. He knew just exactly what he was saying and how it would be taken.

Think about it - what possible purpose would an off-the-cuff remark like that have in a speech? Is there any way it could have gotten in there by accident? Do you not think that every word the Pope says is carefully, very carefully, crafted and examined?

This man was the head of the Inquisition. He is a very clever person.

And so. What was that all about? Why say such a thing, if he a) intended it and b) had a pretty good idea what would happen when he said it?

Let's think about this.

Before the Pope said what he said - was the situation in the Middle East being discussed alongside the word "Catholic" or "Pope?" No, it was not. The news around the world spoke of the US, Israel, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Hezbollah, and so on - but not about Catholicism, not about the Pope.

Oh, there was a small news item - during the bombing and so on that was happening in Lebanon, the Pope ordered the Maronite churches there to open their doors and give sanctuary to the trapped domestic workers (mostly Catholic) who were from the Philippines and were trapped in Lebanon with nowhere to go. But that was about it. Jews and Muslims, Jews and Muslims - and the US Army. That's pretty much it.

So does the Pope have a really big ego and just like to hear his name? Well, that's possible I suppose, but I propose a simpler solution.

The Pope wanted a seat at the table. If we're going to talk about these problems in the Middle East and what might be done about them, he wants to be dealt in to this particular card game. The Holy Lands are not just about Jews and Muslims - Christians are in the mix too. And with one stroke, he got his face in there, didn't he? Clever guy. And by apologizing right away, but by keeping his voice out there, now he can try to keep some attention on himself and the Catholic Church, try to shift the light of public attention onto himself for awhile.

And there's more.

The Pope knows well that Catholicism is becoming splintered, and nowhere is it more obvious than in the USA. One of the first things he did when he became Pope was to fire the Editor of America magazine in NYC - a Jesuit organ that had been a thorn in his side when he was Grand Inquisitor and they thumbed their noses at him. Everyone knows that annulment is rare in the rest of the world, but common in the USA - US Catholic Divorce, they call it. Here in the USA, we're a tad liberal in our Catholicism, and Pope Benedict...well, he ain't.

So by making a statement like this - he gets the rats out of their holes. Church members cannot restrain themselves from making opinions and public statements - an Archbishop here, a Cardinal there - and bang, he's got 'em.

He also knows that this will make a strong showing among the hard-core conservative Catholics. They'll accept his original statement as being 'code' for what he really believes - that Islam is evil and should be destroyed. They'll think he's signalled to them just how far he'll go in support of them. They'll think his apology was the fake - the statement that caused it was the real deal. As they rally - making public statements in support of the supposed original meaning of the Pope's statement - they'll also self-identify. A list is made, a few names written down.

Conservative Christians who are not Catholic will also be forced to make more conciliatory gestures towards the Pope. After all, he's said what they've been saying on PTL and the 700 Club for awhile now - that Islam is bad, and one must call evil by it's true name and not shirk from the angriness of public opinion. A new link forged, even if many Conservative Christians are openly hostile towards and suspicious of Catholic motives.

Of course, when the Pope suggests, via an ancient manuscript, that Mohammed might be 'evil and inhuman', I am sure he was aware that violence would ensue. And what kind of violence? Of course. Religious violence, and all of it Muslims directed at Catholics. Makes the news, eh? And look, look at these martyrs. Why, it does seem interesting that if you say that Muslims are violent by nature, and some Muslims respond by, um, being violent, that you might have gone some distance to prove your point. Of course, only those who realize it is manipulated behavior would see past the violence itself.

So when I heard this, I did not for a moment think that the Pope believes that Mohammed was 'evil and inhuman' or that he put the ancient quotation into his speech by accident.

This was all very calculated. And it worked very well.

I leave it as an exercise to the reader and to history to see if I was right about this one.

Makes my head hurt...

Wiggy