Barroso speaks out on papal bull
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has expressed disappointment that EU leaders did not do more to support the Pope after his controversial remarks on Islam.
Talking to German paper Die Welt over the weekend, the commission president accused European leaders of letting the Pope Benedict XVI down, after his remarks on the prophet Mohamed in a 12 September speech led to strong outrage in the Muslim world.
“To attack the Pope because he referred to a historical document in a speech is fully unacceptable,” said Mr Barroso.
“I was disappointed that there weren’t more European leaders who said: of course the Pope has the right to express his views. The problem is not his remarks, but the reactions of the extremists.”
Obviously, the doctrine of papal infallability is bull and it is perfectly reasonable to criticise the Pope. It’s also reasonable to question his motives in when he picked his quotes and it’s more than reasonable to suggest that he’s a hypocritical bigot spouting medieval nonsense.
But to suggest that he shouldn’t be allowed to quote from a document - any document - is unacceptable. To threaten or carry out violence against Christians on the basis of the Pope’s meanderings is beyond unreasonable.
Asked why European politicians had been so reluctant to support the Pope, Mr Barroso said “Perhaps because there is concern about a possible confrontation. And sometimes [there is] a sort of political correctness: that one is only being tolerant when placing the opinion of others above one’s own. I am very in favour of tolerance, but we should stand up for our values.“
On the subject of Islamic extremists, Barroso went on to say that “some of them are very educated people who have studied at our universities. And still, they hate our open societies, our free economies. If they are prepared to kill themselves for that, don’t you believe they are also prepared to kill us?”
Monday 25 Sep 2006 | Paul | EU
But to suggest that he shouldn’t be allowed to quote from a document - any document - is unacceptable.
Did any European leaders suggest this? Or just some mufti?
As far as I know, no European leaders have said that the Pope shouldn’t have been allowed to quote what he did - or that he should apologise for having done so. But they have been less than robust in their defence of the Pope’s right to say what he thinks.
Yes, but that’s the thing. This isn’t a free speech issue, because the Pope isn’t some stupid little Jutlandish newspaper like Jyllandsposten, or an expat writer like Rushdie. He is the head of a congregation of 1 billion people, and should act like he is. He has every right to be stupid and irresponsible, but he’s still stupid and irresponsible. It’s a political issue, not a rights issue. The cancelled Mozart opera, that’s a free speech issue, because Deutsche Oper is not a political organisation of 1 billion people. It doesn’t represent anyone but itself. The Pope has shown himself to be politically inexperienced, unless he did this intentionally.
For comparison, when Ahmadinejad called for Israel’s extermination, who in the West defended his right to free speech? No one did, far as I remember. And casting that issue as a free speech would also have missed the mark entirely.
I fully agree with you that the Pope has been stupid and irresponsible in associating himself with this quote and you are right insofar as a disagreement as between the Catholic church and various Muslim leaders is a political issue.
But I think that it’s also a freedom of speech issue. If the Pope want’s to say stupid things he is entitled to do so. If others want to point out that he is being both hypocritical and disingenuous, that is also fine.
But I don’t think that it’s reasonable to limit what opinions the Pope - or anyone else - can or can’t express and, given that Christian churches in Palestine have been attacked and a nun in Somalia has been shot, I don’t think that violence is ever a reasonable response.
Ultimately, what it comes down to for me is that I don’t think anyone - regardless of how many people they claim to speak for - should be entitled to any special privileges. And neither do I thnk that anyone should face special constraints over what they can and can’t say.
Thanks for the heads up over the Deutsche Oper.
np. I’m going to walk away from this one, but I’ll take a last shot at this. You are a consistently sensible blogger, but occasionally, you take your ideology up where it doesn’t touch the ground. No one has put any formal or informal limits on the pope’s right to free expression. Censorship is not the issue. The issue is: With influence comes responsibility. The pope, like any other public figure, has to live up to the responsibility that comes with his position. A man whose words have the power to change history should think before he speaks.
Free speech is also the right to call the Pope a political illiterate - to criticise. If you read around on the net, you’ll see the cry of ‘free speech’ is being used to stifle criticism of the Pope’s choice of quotation. Quite the paradox.