Word: benedicts
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This past Monday it was Sept. 11 in Bavaria too, but you never would have known it if you'd been following Pope Benedict XVI's homecoming visit to his native region. The German pontiff stuck to his itinerary and prepared texts, staying mum on Islamic terrorism even as the fifth anniversary of 9/11 dominated headlines and discussions around the world. Aides said Benedict prayed privately for the victims of the attacks, noting that it is rare for popes to speak out on foreign trips about news events not related to the country being visited. But some reporters grumbled unfavorable...
...Vatican press corps is slowly learning that it's best to cover Benedict on his own terms. For the 79-year-old would not stay silent for long on the topic of faith-based terror. On Tuesday, in a riveting and provocative university lecture, the Pope explored the philosophical and historical differences between Islam and Christianity-a speech that would become the surprise centerpiece of a five-day visit that many had expected would be mostly just a walk down memory lane. There is little doubt left that Benedict is indeed highly attuned to the risks of fundamentalist terrorism...
...discourse Tuesday sought to delineate what he sees as a fundamental difference between Christianity's view that God is intrinsically linked to reason (the Greek concept of logos) and Islam?s view that "God is absolutely transcendent." Benedict said that Islam teaches that God's "will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." The risk he sees implicit in this concept of the divine is that the irrationality of violence can potentially be justified if someone believes it is God's will. "As far as understanding of God and thus the concrete practice...
...This is indeed Benedict doing it on his own terms. Rather than tackling the challenge of fundamentalist terrorism with a pithy remark packaged for the 9/11 anniversary or reaching for a John Paul-inspired sweeping gesture, the professor Pope went digging into his books. He went so far as to quote a 14th century Byzantine emperor?s hostile view of Islam's founder. "The emperor comes to speak about the issue of jihad, holy war," the Pope said. "He said, I quote, 'Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil...
...guest of honor on Benedict's travels in Bavaria on Monday was his brother Father Georg Ratzinger, 82, who has long lived in the town of Regensburg, where he directed the church choir. Georg has been spending more and more time with his younger brother (who still has a full-time job), passing much of the summer at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. So this fall, many expect that a small living area where Georg has stayed in the Apostolic Palace will become the papal brother's permanent address. That's one Curia assignment that had only one viable...