Pope “Sorry” About Reaction to Islam Remark

Pope Benedict XVI issued a rare apology for comments that spurred angry reactions from Muslims around the world, but the Vatican reiterates its opposition to any violence in the name of religion. Extremists reacted to the comments with church bombings in the West Bank and Gaza and the murder of a nun who worked in a Somali children’s hospital. In his lecture, the pope had called attention to a contradiction in the Koran, and suggested that the Prophet Mohammed’s verse about “There is no compulsion in religion” came before the verse that suggested spreading Islam with the sword. Indeed, that order was inaccurate, and the more peaceful admonition is the latter verse. In his lecture, the pope embarked on an academic analysis on the relationship between reason and faith, after quoting one brief, harsh comment from a 14th century Byzantine emperor. That emperor, Manuel II Paleologus assisted in introducing Islam to the West with a book based on a series of conversations about the religion and also said: “To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person.” – YaleGlobal