Cyprus (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Friday the killing of a leading Catholic bishop in Turkey should not be allowed to hurt dialogue with Islam or stain the image of Turkey and its people.
The pope, beginning a three-day visit to the divided island of Cyprus, also told reporters aboard his plane that he hoped the Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla would not result in lost hope for Middle East peace.
Benedict spoke of his "profound sadness" over the stabbing Thursday of Italian Bishop Luigi Padovese, a leading Catholic official in Turkey, who was killed by his Turkish driver.
"We are still awaiting a full explanation but we don't want to mix up this tragic episode with Islam. It is a case apart which saddens us but should not be allowed to darken the dialogue (with Islam) in any way," Benedict said...Were he truly standing up for his faith he would have said there's nothing to discuss with Islam, a supremacist, triumphalist, supersessionist religion, and the murder of the Catholic bishop was--is--an outrage.
Update: Fortunately there's at least one Catholic who isn't afraid to "stain the image of Turkey."
As a Catholic, I am taken aback by this -- although it could be a "turn the other cheek" moment. I don't know how faithful (pardon the expression) the reporting is. What I will say is that at Catholics, we are called upon to forgive, but not (as the cliche suggests) to forget. Make no mistake, we keep our guard up.
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