Posted by
Mark McConnell on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 5:34:09 PM
Samir Khalil Samir, sj correctly titles his good summary of the pope's speech, The Pope’s speech: lending Islam a helping hand to avoid a downward spiral.His explanation of the bewildering reaction, is that the protests began long before any of the translation was available, and even to date the only English version available is "provisional". Nevertheless, with people poised to be offended, it's always something.
It's to be hoped, when the real meaning of the speech is made clear, the reaction will be more than, "Never mind".