my beef with the Pope...

I can’t help but think the Pope’s efforts to ‘apologize’ are a bit lame. There has been tons of coverage, but we haven’t seen the Pope’s face, or heard from his mouth.

The story: “Speaking in Germany on Tuesday, the Pope quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor who said the Prophet Muhammad had brought the world only "evil and inhuman" things.”
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/)

The major message that has been sent out has been that he was quoting someone else’s words, not declaring Islam evil himself. Well, if I ever pull out a quote to read in a speech I’m giving, it’s not usually something that I disagree with, it’s a perspective that I want to share with my audience. I’m thinking the Pope has some apologizing to do, in person.
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More quotes from http://news.bbc.co.uk/:

Benedict said "I quote" twice to stress the words were not his and added that violence was "incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul".
"The Holy Father is very sorry that some passages of his speech may have sounded offensive to the sensibilities of Muslim believers," the statement said.
But Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said the statement did not go far enough and called on the pontiff to apologize in person.
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I agree with the above statement from the Brotherhood, we need to see the Pope’s face. He’s not putting out a humble, apologetic message by hiding behind his officials. I suppose it’s possible that he hasn’t shown his face for safety reasons, but I’m sure he can make a video inside Vatican City, and send it out to news outlets easily.
“The Vatican has also rejected the interpretation of the pontiff's remarks as an attack on Islam, and has said he intended no offence.”

Well, we are all human. We don’t intend to offend people, but in our selfishness, we often do. And when we do, we should apologize, with our mouths and from our hearts. I’d appreciate it if the Pope would be an example of this to us.

It’s not even that I think his statement was outrageously off track, or immoral – the point is that it offended loads of people – people that are bombing churches and holding screaming protests. The point is that he is a public figure, a very important one; he should be telling us more than “they weren’t my words,” or “it was misinterpreted.”