Sunday, September 17, 2006

Why the Pope Used THAT Quote

In a fascinating bit of commentary, Christopher Orlet argues that Pope Benedict knew exactly what he was doing in citing that infamous statement from the rather obscure 14th century Christian Emperor, Manuel II Paleologus. The key, he says, lies in knowing who he was.

I found this quite interesting...
THE DIFFICULTY, TO MY mind, is figuring out why the Pope chose to cite this particular quotation from this particular nonentity? Certainly many popes have made similar statements about jihad and Benedict would have had a plethora of popes to quote from. It is therefore instructive to learn more about Manuel II Paleologus. He was, foremost, the antepenultimate emperor of the Byzantine Empire, the successor to the Roman Empire. At the time of his reign (1391-1425) the Muslim Turks had their sights set on the empire's capital of Constantinople. In 1399, Manuel traveled to England, France, the seat of the Holy Roman Empire, and Aragon seeking assistance from the various monarchs and courts. His visit was a complete bust. The split between the Greek Orthodox and Roman churches proved too wide. Unless the Greeks agreed to join the Roman Church there would be no troops, no assistance, and the Greeks were not about to surrender their autonomy to Rome, not even to save the empire, their religion and their lives.

The result: Within a few years the Turks would take Constantinople, rename it Istanbul, and the Roman-Byzantine Empire would disappear forever from the earth. (In an ironic aside, Manuel's son Constantine, the last Byzantine-Roman emperor, was killed in battle defending the capital. Legend has it that he discarded his purple cloak and charged into the fray taking so many cuts and blows that his corpse was unrecognizable. Thus, the last Roman emperor was laid to rest in a mass grave.)

I suspect that the Pope was hoping to make the point that unless the West comes together, heals its divisions, and faces the threat of radical Islam together, it may face a similar fate as the Roman-Byzantine Empire. Naturally Benedict couldn't come right and make such a bald statement -- just as Benedict's predecessor Pope Pius XII had to be similarly circumspect during Nazi rule -- so he couched his remark in an obscure reference by a forgotten historical figure. The pope knew that he would have to apologize later for his statement, still he believed it important enough to risk it.
(tip of the hat to Amy for this one)
PHOTO: Reuters/Dario Pignatelli


Xochilt said...

I love Benedict for not tip-toeing around the Islamic fascists. The West had better wake up before it's too late and stop pretending that there can be some sort of rapprochement with these sons of Satan.

Mark said...

I find the idea this was all calculated a bit far-fetched. The issue is simply that the Holy Father is a lifetime academic not a diplomat. His experience in the "ivory tower" of academia did not prepare him well for the world stage. Now he's doing "on-the-job" training and for the time being would do well to listen more closely to his diplomatic corp.

A secondary note, Michael, when are Christian evangelicals going to stand up and support the Holy Father in this grave crisis?

Stephen (aka Q) said...

I for one will not support the Pope in this crisis. The remark he made is utterly indefensible. He showed very poor judgement and the only appropriate response now is to apologize abjectly and pray that God will minimize the harmful fallout from his remarks.

xavier said...


Stephen (aka Q) said...

The text he quoted says that anything new to Islam is only evil and inhuman. That is, there is not a single good thing to say about Islam (except, presumably, what Islam lifted from earlier faiths). The statement is impossible to defend: the equivalent of saying that Christians have never done a single bad thing.

I'm sure the quote has been lifted out of its context in the Pope's speech. But (a) that was entirely predictable and (b) Pope Benedict is still responsible for choosing this particular text, rather than one that didn't amount to a blanket condemnation of all things Islamic.

The link above will take you to a short post on my blog. There I try to make the point that the Pope has undermined his own cause, and undermined the West's struggle against Islamic terrorism. It was a terrible error in judgement, with potentially grave consequences.

xavier said...

What positive contributions has Islam brought to the world? I can't think of any.

religion of pieces said...

Pope Benedict has been trying to warn us.

Here are twenty facts about Islam that every infidel should know. (And which the Pope probably already knows, see )

Islam ...



















