Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday canceled a speech at Rome's La Sapienza university in the face of protests led by scientists opposed to a high-profile visit by the head of the Catholic Church to a secular setting.
So, what does the Pope do?
Cini said of Benedict on Thursday: "By cancelling, he is playing the victim, which is very intelligent. It will be a pretext for accusing us of refusing dialogue."
More like this
John Allen, at National Catholic Review, has an interesting analysis of the motives behind the recent Evolution Study Day the pope held.
With everything else that has been going on lately, I never got around to discussing Pope Benedict's latest statements on evolution.
Here's what Reuters had to say on the subject:
Advisers worry that Benedict is not as media savvy as John Paul.
Since this blog has basically turned into a forum for my opinions about religion, I thought I'd offer my comments on Pope Benedict's challenge to Islam and secularism
"By cancelling, he is playing the victim, which is very intelligent. It will be a pretext for accusing us of refusing dialogue."
I don't like to see disruptions in communications between any people or groups. Whether the Pope didn't want to hear from the scientists before, or only after the protests, he now has a legitimate reason to downplay the scientists importance.
I think this is a case that shows it always pays to try to be extremely respectful, considerate and circumspect when working on interpersonal or inter group negotiations.
Dave Briggs :~)