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Update: The first casualty of "Muslim rage"-- an Italian nun in her 70s, shot in the back three times at a hospital in Somalia. Muslim machismo. Sickos. Sure you guys don't just want to sit down and talk? Michelle Malkin has more on the nun and the work she has done in Mogadishu.
The Pope had another "sorry" to say today, but he still loaded it with quite a bit of "I'm sorry you misunderstood" sentiment, as he should have.
Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday he was "deeply sorry" about the angry reaction sparked by his speech about Islam and holy war and said the text did not reflect his personal opinion.
"These (words) were in fact a quotation from a medieval text which do not in any way express my personal thought," Benedict told pilgrims at his summer palace outside Rome.
"Guys, I was quoting someone."
The pope's lecture was meant as a reflection on "the relationship between religion and violence in general, and to conclude with a clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence, from whatever side it may come,'' said yesterday's statement from the Vatican.
"But I was still totally calling y'all out for all this beheading and conversion-at-gunpoint crap, and I still am."
The lecture was an invitation to a "frank and sincere dialogue with great reciprocal respect,'' the pope said today. "I hope that this will placate spirits and clear up the true meaning of my speech.''
"So, you wanna talk now that you're done burning things?" Update: Guess not.
Yeah, the Muslim world hasn't been so big on the "frank and sincere dialogue" and "reciprocal respect."
Surprisingly, the Muslim Brotherhood accepts the apology:
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said Pope Benedict had apologized sufficiently on Sunday for remarks on Islam that angered many in the Muslim world.
"We consider that the new statements represent a retreat from what went before," Brotherhood deputy leader Mohammed Habib told Reuters.
"We can consider them a sufficient apology, even if we had wanted the pope to outline his ideas and vision of Islam," said Habib, whose opposition Islamist group has inspired similar movements across the Arab world.
The Pope said he was "deeply sorry" At the anger caused by his remarks on Islam and said a quote he used from a medieval text about holy wars did not reflect his personal thoughts.
Update: Muslim Brotherhood: "Can we please get the outrage memos coordinated better? We can't be accepting apologies while our brothers down in Somalia are still issuing fatwas, 'kay? We have got to stay on message, people."
The Vatican's No. 2 says there's no reason as of yet to cancel the Pope's trip to Turkey, and that he hopes the Pontiff will make the trip. I'm betting he will. He's pretty brassy.
"And, you ain't keepin' me from going to Turkey either because a) I'm blessed and b) I got a Popemobile, 'cause that's just how I roll."
Update: Go on wit yer bad self, Mr. Howard. From his multicultural spokesman:
"And because it is your faith that is being invoked as justification for these evil acts, it is your problem.
"You can't wish it away, or ignore it, just because it has been caused by others.
Cue the enraged rioters.
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