PA foreign ministry condemns Pope’s blasphemous statement on Islam as anger engulfs Palestinians

The unsolicited, irreverent statements uttered by Pope Benedict XVI of the Roman Catholic Church on Thursday against Islam and Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, drew a wide-scale outrage in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

The Pope tagged Islam as a religion that “sanctions terrorism”, and that Prophet Mohammed’s teachings had brought nothing to the world but “evil”. The remarks were unprecedented from a person like the Pope.

In Palestine, anger engulfed the Palestinian people Muslims and Christians alike over the Pope’s remarks as the PA foreign affairs ministry issued a statement protesting the Pope’s statements.

Thousands of Palestinian citizens in Gaza Strip heeded Hamas’ invitation to demonstrate against the “godless” statements of the Pope, and demanded him to personally apologize.

In an interview at the Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel Friday, archimandrite Attallah Hanna, spokesman of the Orthodox Church in Palestine, flayed the Pope’s remarks on Islam, affirming that Christians lived in peace under the Islamic rule for centuries without being harmed.

The Islamic Movement in the so-called green line (1948-occupied Palestinian lands), and Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Mohammed Hussein have also denounced the Pope’s statements.

Hussein stressed that if there is a state that practices religious coercion, then it is Israel that spares no day without conspiring against the Aqsa Mosque and Muslims in Palestine.

For his part, Sheikh Mohammed Tantawi of the influential Al-Azhar institution in Egypt affirmed that such statements display absolute ignorance of Islam on the part of the Pope; while the well-known Saudi preacher Dr. Salman Al-Aoudeh shrugged off the Vatican’s assertion that the Pope was “misquoted”.

Spokesman of the Vatican attempted to soothe Muslims anger by saying that the Pope was misquoted and that he was paying Islam a full respect; yet Muslims appeared to want a personal apology from the Pope himself.

• 1 Overview
  
• 2 Early life (1927–1951)
  
• 3 Academic career (1951–1977)
  
• 4 Cardinal and Archbishop of Munich (1977–1982)
  
• 5 Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1981–2005)
  
• 6 Papacy
  
  
  
  • 6.1 Election to the papacy
    
    
    
    • 6.1.1 Prediction
      
    • 6.1.2 Election
    
    
  • 6.2 Health
    
  • 6.3 Choice of name
    
  • 6.4 Early days of papacy
    
  • 6.5 Teachings
    
    
    
    • 6.5.1 Friendship with Jesus Christ
      
    • 6.5.2 “Dictatorship of Relativism”
      
    • 6.5.3 Christianity as the Religion according to Reason
    
    
  • 6.6 Curial appointments
    
  • 6.7 Curial Reform
    
  • 6.8 Dialogue with Christian religions
    
  • 6.9 Dialogue with non-Christian religions
    
    
    
    • 6.9.1 Dialogue with Islam
    
    
  • 6.10 Beatifications
    
  • 6.11 Canonizations
    
  • 6.12 Revival of traditional papal clothing
    
  • 6.13 Apostolic journeys
    
    
    
    • 6.13.1 Future journeys
  
  
• 7 Encyclicals
  
• 8 Pastoral activities
  
• 9 Titles
  
• 10 Political positions
  
• 11 Response to AIDS
  
• 12 See also
  
• 13 References
  
• 14 External links and references

Other Topics:

The Pope speech  at the Vatican website
Vatican, Rome-Italy
Brothers ask Pope to apologise
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Muslim leaders condemn Pope’s speech, want apology
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Islamic leaders denounce Pope’s remarks
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Pope Seen Criticizing Islam
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MB Chairman Condemns Pope’s Statements
Ikhwanweb, London-UK
Ghanoushi Demands Pope To Apologize To Muslims
Ikhwanweb, London-UK
Islam and the West: a historical background
Ikhwanweb, London-UK
Jew-hating, gay-bashing jihadist cleric warns Pope: Islam means …
Hot Air – MD,USA
Pope Sets Off Furor In Muslim Nations
CBS News

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