I’m not a Catholic. Still, when the Pope speaks, as the old EF Hutton commercial goes, people listen.
A furor arose after Benedict XVI delivered an address at the University of Regensburg on September 12. The emotional response was a reaction caused by the Pope’s publicized reference to Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, a conversation that occurred in the late 14th century. According to the Medieval text that Benedict quoted, Manuel II declared, “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
Pope Benedict XVI
Reaction to the speech was swift and sure. The Pope’s words resulted in riots, burnings, proclamations of condemnation from both Western sources and Muslim leaders, vandalism of seven Christian churches in Gaza and the West Bank—two of which were destroyed—and one death—a Somali nun whose murder is being widely linked to the Pope’s address.
Fairly serious stuff, all resulting from words. These reactions certainly provided enough questions for me to go exploring, though I’m not Catholic. I’ve now read the text of Benedict’s speech, numerous news articles that reported the speech, Muslim and Western reaction to the speech and Vatican clarifications of the speech.
In deconstructing the Pope’s message, I necessarily need to look at the end result: A week and a half later, Benedict has focused world attention on two issues:
1. The disparity existing between the religion of Islam (the faith) and the violence of Islamic jihadists (the rationalization)
2. The disparity between Western modernization (the rationalization) and Western religion (the faith)
All this, along with securing a meeting, set for September 24, with Islamic leaders from Italy and ambassadors from Muslim nations (including Iran), convening at, no less, the papal summer residence, Castel Gandolfo.
Correct me if I’m wrong, here. But I have to admit that papal PR has been a success—if the goals were to focus global attention on the effects of rationalization on faith within two of the world’s great religions and to open a dialogue with Muslim leaders.
Of course, I am in no way inferring that the Pope intended loss of life or property when planning his speech. But I’m also certain that he must have considered possible reactions to it. An interesting consideration is whether he anticipated mass media response and sound byte attributes. (I’m guessing no, but I’ll discuss that a little later.)
Benedict must recognize that Catholicism today faces several problems. One is that the continent of Europe no longer reflects a predominantly Christian face. Europe has been systematically de-Christianized by the onslaught of secularism while at the same time, housing a rising Muslim population. Another problem Benedict is acutely aware of is the lack of religious freedoms for those practicing minority religions—primarily Christian—in Eastern countries, a point made by Daniel Henninger, deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal, on September 22:
Across the region (with some exceptions), non-Islamic minorities -- which by and large means Christian minorities -- are being driven out through physical abuse, legal discrimination, murder and the destruction or confiscation of homes, businesses and churches. Call it religious cleansing. It is a political strategy that would eventually give Iran, Iraq, Egypt and the Holy Lands of Palestine a cultural homogeneity that has never existed in human history, before or after Christ.
From a utilitarian viewpoint, Benedict knows the reality of religious persecution for Christians in the Middle East. Iran’s Christian population has been depleted to a third of its former size in the past three decades; Egypt’s Coptic Christians still experience brutality as a way of life and the mass exodus of minority religions from Iraq, even after the U.S. engaged in the war effort there, is plain. If Benedict had considered the greatest happiness for the entire Christian population, he would have understood that his comments would not result in justifiable gains for the majority of Christians. After all, his message was partially targeted to Western sensibilities, and not in a good way, either.
But, considered from a communitarian viewpoint, Benedict’s message resounds alternately with wisdoms or warnings—depending on your personal viewpoint—for the entire global community, a message that cuts through religious and political fronts. His remarks, while you might not agree with them, are meant to bring us all, no matter our religious or political persuasion, back to the most fundamental tie of all, that between a higher being, God, and a lower being, man. Clearly, Benedict is not extolling individual rights, though I’m sure that he would like to see minority lives protected, but instead, he is seeking to open a dialogue between two religions that have gone to war with each other in very real political contexts. It seems to me that he’s calling for one big communal time-out, a time-out during which dialogue can take place, no matter how difficult a task.
I think Benedict, or the papal press office, did consider the timing—the U.S. issued its 2006 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, shedding illumination on 197 countries or territories, within days of the Pope's speech. And I’m pretty sure that out of all the texts that discuss Islam and Muhammed, the Pope, an academic in his own right, could have figured one that wasn’t quite so provocative. That he did indicates that he anticipated focus, though I’m fairly certain that he didn’t bargain for the accompanying frenzy.
What I also don’t believe the papacy counted on was the sound byte that the media would make of the papal speech. The speech is named “Three Stages in the Program of De-Hellenization,” and I believe that what the Pope intended for the media to pick up on was the speech’s main thrust—the (highly personal) point of intersection between faith and reason. This is, anyway, what the Vatican press office succinctly points out in post-speech releases.
The fact that the media got it completely wrong, as far as the Vatican is concerned, is evidenced in a news release issued today in which the Vatican insists “that the Pope was a victim of phrases taken out of context and reactions deliberately inflamed.” Further in the release is this message, “The quotation was a way to introduce a series of reflections. This approach was not understood by many in a media culture that relies on 5-second sound bites to convey messages.” Both these statements are clear indictments of irresponsible journalism.
That the Pope has been careful to explicitly state his respect for Islam and for Muslims in every release issued since his speech, along with his plethora of apologies, are also evidence that the Pope is vitally interested in not only opening dialogue on these issues but also in maintaining that dialogue. And for that, his approach can only be seen in a communitarian light.
Question of the Day: Do you think Pope Benedict XVI should have chosen a less incendiary text to focus global attention on religion?
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