September 27, 2006 | Graham

Church in disarray in Rome, still militant in Somalia



The Pope may be finding ways to soften his message about Islam, but his frontline is holding firm, according to this report from Yahoo! News. When news of killings in response to Pope Benedict’s Regensburg speech arrived in my in-box I didn’t notice that one of the dead was in fact a Muslim. But that appears to be what happened judging on this moving excerpt from the homily delivered at the funeral of Italian nun Leonella Sgorbati by Giorgio Bertin, bishop of Djibouti and Somalia:

“Her life shows that a new earth is possible, that a new Somalia is possible,” Bertin said, adding it was probably no coincidence a Somali bodyguard died with her.
“The death of an Italian with a Somali, a European with an African, a white with someone almost black, a Christian with a Muslim, a woman with a man, tells us that it is possible to live together as we die together,” he added.

The funeral was held in Kenya but the nuns say they are keen to return to Somalia as soon as possible.



Posted by Graham at 2:41 pm | Comments (2) |
Filed under: Australian Politics

2 Comments

  1. Like the pope can talk about Islam! the most barbaric events throughout history where by the hand of the Catholic church, and the Pope has anything to say about any other belief?
    Crap, Shut up Pope!, lean about Quantom physics” Oh thats right the Catholic church are the devil who consealed this knoledge over the last two or three thousand years, among a great deal of other information. The ultimate acts of treason against all of Humanity committed by the Roaman Catholic church.The American Government should be grilling the Pope for information,Bugger Alkida we are faced with bigger threats than that as a world.

    Comment by Thomas — October 4, 2006 @ 10:36 am

  2. “Crap, Shut up Pope!”
    Well that says it all. As a secular person I am loathe myself to lecture Islam on its need for reform.
    But if the Pope cannot quote from history in what hopefully will be the greatest theological debate of our time, then who can? Nobody apparently. Because we must not speak if Muslims tell us to be quiet, do not question, just submit. But Men are not Men when they simply submit without questioning.
    To say that such a man and indeed an academic theologian and the very leader of more than one billion people in our world must “shut up” is without doubt the bullshit of the century!
    Muslims hate free speech and they hate free thought – the evidence is everywhere that Islam = mediaeval groupthink in need of reform. “Islam” means “submission” and people who say ‘Shut up’ I suspect may have already been colonised by this doctrine.
    Even poor old atheist me, knows that “sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me”. Yet that is a Western not a Muslim idea and Islam needs reform to understand how it takes more courage and different faith to turn the other cheek rather than to seek revenge ..
    Grow up mate – you’re just a wanker and you offer no hope to reasonable people who ALREADY DISCUSS these unpalatable truths like the ugly brutality of muslim crusaders spreading today, as it was yesterday, via the sword.
    Grow up mate and face the inevitable death of militant bloody Islam. It is better to talk your adversary round than kill him just because he will not convert.
    “Debate”, “dialogue” and yes, sometimes extremely hairy but non-violent discussions too are some of the difficult concepts we in the west must teach muslims if they are ever going to survive.

    Comment by RN — October 9, 2006 @ 12:18 pm

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