Criticizing
the Pope = Terrorism Click to go to our Home Page
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0211344020070502 ----- Original Message ----- From: Kevin Straub To: Kevin Straub
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 7:26 PM Subject: Criticizing the
Pope = Terrorism Criticizing
the Pope = Terrorism Category: The lunacy out of the Vatican about free
speech continues: The Vatican's official newspaper accused
an Italian comedian on Wednesday of "terrorism" for criticizing the
Pope and warned his rhetoric could fuel a return to 1970s-style political
violence. In an unusually strongly worded
editorial, L'Osservatore Romano said a presenter of
a televised May Day rock concert, which is sponsored by Italy's labor unions,
had launched "vile attacks" on Pope Benedict in front of an "excitable
crowd". "This, too, is terrorism. It's
terrorism to launch attacks on the Church," it said. "It's
terrorism to stoke blind and irrational rage against someone who always
speaks in the name of love, love for life and love for man." So what was that vile "terrorist
attack" on the Church? This is really shocking stuff: At the concert, held every year in front
of the Saint John in Lateran basilica -- Rome's cathedral where Pope Benedict
sits as bishop -- one of the presenters, Andrea Rivera, spoke out against the
Pontiff's stand on a number of issues. "The Pope says he doesn't believe in
evolution. I agree, in fact the Church has never evolved," he said. He also criticized the Church for
refusing to give a Catholic funeral to Piergiorgio Welby, a man who campaigned for euthanasia as he lay
paralyzed with muscular dystrophy. He died in December after a doctor agreed
to unplug his respirator. "I can't stand the fact that the
Vatican refused a funeral for Welby but that wasn't
the case for (Chilean dictator Augusto) Pinochet or (Spanish dictator
Francisco) Franco," he said between musical acts at the open-air
concert. Sounds like reasonable criticism to me.
But to the demagogues in the Vatican, any criticism, no matter how
reasonable, is "terrorism." This is absolute insanity |