Preaching Controversy

Perhaps his erudite mind does not quite yet grasp how to transform his beloved scholarly explorations into effective papal politics. But two months before a scheduled trip to Turkey, his first to a predominantly Muslim country, Pope Benedict XVI raised a ruckus with a provocative lecture on the relationship between faith, reason and violence on a visit to Regensburg University, where he once taught theology. As a good professor might, he quoted a 14th century Byzantine Emperor. But this Emperor was making a furious criticism of Islam: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was...