Quote:
Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
I was waiting for your liberal Catholic ass to show up and chime in on the Benedict topic. I even said as much to Less over free Sapphire martinis.
Where were you the last 10 days, confession?
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It's the busy season around here.
I thought Benedict's overall discussion was intellectually interesting and worth discussing; it was also more subtle than anyone is giving him credit for. The mistake he made was forgetting that he is now Pope and every word out of his mouth has political as well as intellectual weight. Quoting an emperor who spent much of his life prodding the Pope to call out the crusaders to save his weak and decrepit Byzantine ass from the Muslims wasn't really a wise move. Manuel II Paleologus also wasn't particularly erudite, though I'm sure this particular Pope likes him because he and his son made the last serious effort at reconcilation of Orthodoxy and Catholicism (with the basic deal, of course, being we'll recognize the Pope as long as you let us keep our service and rituals and save us from the Ottomans).
Of course, the Islamic reaction to Benedict displayed an inability to read past the headlines. Yet another way in which fundamentalists on all sides seem to behave similarly.
Are you happy?
