Twice Muslim extremists tried to murder Pope John Paul II, and now they are trying to silence his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, this time with words instead of bombs and bullets (so far).

Pope Benedict released a storm of outrage in the Muslim world last week during his six-day trip to his native Bavaria when he quoted a medieval Byzantine emperor during a lecture at Regensburg University. The supposedly offensive passage the Pope cited occurred in an exchange the medieval Christian Emperor Paleologus II had with a Persian scholar, in which he called the Mohammed’s teachings regarding Holy War “evil and inhumane.” Benedict XVI went even further in his lecture, saying that to spread a faith through violence is against reason and therefore against God, since God is a rational being.

As with the Danish cartoon scandal earlier this year, the Muslim world erupted into almost uncontrollable fury against the German pope, charging that he had insulted Islam. Besides numerous demonstrations accompanied by demands for an apology, an Italian nun has been shot dead in Somalia and three churches have been firebombed in the West Bank and Gaza. A leading representative of Turkey’s ruling party, Salih Kapusuz, also compared the Catholic leader with Hitler and Mussolini.

“He has the same mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages,” said Kapusz of the German pontiff, a former theology professor himself, who has written 85 monographs and hundreds of essays and articles.

Vatican and other European security officials also now fear an attempt may be made on the pope’s life. A Turkish Muslim extremist severely wounded Pope John Paul II in an assassination attempt in 1981, while an al-Qaeda plot to kill him with a bomb on a visit to the Philippines was broken up in 1995.

Observers say what Pope Benedict actually intended with his comments in Regensburg was to invite Muslims into a dialogue of religions, specifically on the subject of violence -- which is needed at the moment, considering the Islamist terrorist cells constantly being uncovered in Western countries and the large number of Muslims living in the West, who want Shari'a law. The violence referred to, however, just doesn’t include Holy War, but also concerns such matters as the stoning to death of adulterous couples or executing those who convert from Islam to another religion. Benedict has always stated he is against any use of violence in the name of religion.

But also like the Danish cartoon scandal, the real reason for the supposed worldwide Muslim “anger” isn’t the perceived slight to Islam. Rather, Muslim leaders have malevolently distorted Benedict XVI’s words and intentions, speaking of blasphemy and slander, as they see in the Pope’s comments a ready-made opportunity to subordinate Christendom’s highest and most important representative to Muslim demands. In other words, they want to turn him into a “dhimmi,” a person of another religion in an Islamic country who holds a second-class existence. Such Muslim leaders had a trial run with Denmark nine months ago, intimidating that small European country and showing the precariousness of liberal freedom in Europe, which has probably emboldened them now to go after bigger game.

Which begs the question: after Salmon Rushdie, Denmark, and Pope Benedict XVI, who is next? 

The pontiff issued a statement yesterday, in which, fortunately, he didn’t apologize, but wrote that he deeply regrets the reactions to the short passage he cited at the University of Regensburg. These, he said, “in no way represents my personal thinking.” Also fortunately, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Bavaria’s Minister President Edmund Stoiber, both conservatives, supported Germany’s native son.

“Whoever criticizes the Pope, misunderstands the intention of his speech,” said Merkel, while Stoiber insisted there were “no grounds for criticism.”

Hopefully, the Roman pontiff will also stay true to the course of confronting the twin dangers facing Western Europe: militant Islam and an intolerant, aggressive secularism. In an earlier column, I wrote Benedict XVI was elected pope to save the Faith in Western Europe, where church attendance has dropped below ten percent in some countries, much like Pope John Paul II was elected to rescue Christianity in Central and Eastern Europe from Communism’s militant atheism. It is no coincidence the former Cardinal Ratzinger chose the name Benedict, since the latter is credited with saving Christianity in Western Europe during the Dark Ages.

But what this latest development clearly shows is that bridges Pope Benedict has hoped to build with Islam since his election to the chair of St. Peter are going to be more difficult, if not impossible, to construct.  It is evident that if one wishes to discuss such sensitive-yet-important topics as violence and Islam, one will have to give up the right to freedom of expression, probably retreat and chant the politically correct mantra that Islam is a religion of peace. In other words, Islam gets a free pass. The “protest imams,” as one journalist called them, who can build an immediate and solid front in the Islamic world, see to that.

Hopefully, some Muslims will act on the Pope’s Regensburg remarks and enter into the dialogue Benedict XVI wanted to initiate. But with the world still waiting for massive demonstrations in Islamic countries against the bloody terrorism of Osama bin Laden or even against the genocide in Darfur, don’t hold your breath.

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