UPDATE: The Pope apologizes! Proving he’s not only fallible but also gullible….

On Saturday, it became patently clear to me that violent Muslim reaction to a homily Pope Benedict XVI delivered last week was beginning to ape their violent reaction to the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad last February. The alleged trigger that set Muslims off on this latest round of mob protests – to exact retribution for a perceived insult to their faith – was, ironically, a passage in the Pope’s homily which condemned some of Muhammad’s teachings for exhorting his followers to use the sword to “coerce conversion” and spread “evil and inhuman things.”

On Sunday, therefore, I published this article extolling the straight and narrow path the Pope was taking to address their fury. In fact, I thought it was instructive that, although he expressed deep regret that some Muslims were offended, the Pope refused to apologize for entreating Muslims to be tolerant of other religions. (I suspect few, if any, of these rabid defenders of Islam have even bothered to read the full text of the Pope’s relatively conciliatory sermon.) And I felt it was so critical that he not give into their demands to do so that I wrote the following:

…if the Pope were to even appear to give in to their demands, I fear it would compromise the integrity of not only the Catholic faith but of all Christianity. Therefore, I pray he stands on the solid rock of his conviction and does nothing to appease his virulent Muslim critics.

So, imagine my profound dismay when I read the following Clintonian apology, which the Pope and his political operatives have made three attempts to perfect since Sunday – after I published my supportive article:

I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address….These were in fact quotations from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought.

I hope it’s self-evident why my dismay was suffused with consternation and foreboding about the implications and ramifications of his apology. Because it follows from the basic article of Catholic faith that it’s an apostasy for the Pope to be seeking absolution from crazed Muslims by claiming that he was not expressing personal thoughts in one of his public sermons.

Moreover, even I, a Protestant, know that Catholic faith is predicated on the ex cathedra doctrine, which holds that when the Pope delivers a homily, it is presumed to reflect the infallible beliefs of the Catholic Church. Therefore, it is untenable and wholly unsustainable for him to now require Catholics to parse his sermons to distill passages that are intended as papal teaching from those that are intended merely as papal fluff.

Alas, it seems the Pope fears Muslim protests more than he fears God’s wrath. Because only this would explain why he has thrice denied the plain meaning and illustrative intent of his words.

But he’s really gullible if he believes any apology – no matter how broken and contrite his heart – will quell the irrational fury of those who are fanatically committed to the Jihadist doctrine, which dictates that “the world must convert to Islam or die by the sword.” Indeed, even I could have warned him that his apology would only add fuel to the incendiary fury of fanatical Muslims who, despite it, are not only vowing to kill him but have already exacted their evil and inhuman Islamic justice by executing an innocent Nun….

Ultimately, it is regrettable that, instead of apologizing for his comments, the Pope did not address his critics by pointing out that their violent reaction to his homily was, in fact, confirming what they purportedly found so offensive about it. He should have challenged moderate Muslim clerics – with whom he has openly sought interfaith dialogue – to explain to their followers why it is they, not him, who insult Islam by threatening to kill anyone who criticizes their religion. And then he should have decreed that, as a threshold matter, all people of faith, including heretofore complicit moderate Muslims, should condemn the presumption radical Muslims have that they can defile other religions with impunity but that anyone who criticizes Islam risks death!

NOTE: Even though he offended Muslims by harkening back to the 14th Century to illustrate their violent proclivities, the Pope must have stupefied Catholics by retreating back to the 1st Century to emulate the apostle Peter (the before-the-cock-crows Jesus denier) when Muslims challenged his faith. In fact, here’s how one prominent Catholic expressed his stupefaction:

This [the Pope’s apology] is really, really abnormal….It’s never happened as far as I know. [Alberto Melloni, professor of history at the University of Modena and author of several books on the Vatican]

SPECIAL REQUEST for il Papa: Since you’re in the spirit of making apologies, perhaps you’ll consider making one to the thousands of Catholic boys Catholic priests sodomized – with papal indulgence – for so many years. And, please do not retreat from this moral challenge by claiming that these cardinal (carnal) sins did not occur under your leadership. After all, you have now set an infamous precedent by apologizing to Muslim mobs for uttering words you claim were not your own….

the Pope, Muslim protests