Regensburg lecture

Pope Benedict XVI, January 2006

The Pope Benedict XVI Islam controversy began when Pope Benedict XVI gave a lecture titled "Faith, Reason and the University — Memories and Reflections" on 12 September 2006 at the University of Regensburg in Germany, where he was previously a professor of theology. The lecture has been subject to much condemnation, criticism and subsequent defense by political and religious authorities.

Many in the Islamic world registered their protest against what they said was an insulting mischaracterization of Islam, particularly Benedict's usage of the quotation:

Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.

The quote originated from a 1391 “Dialogue Held With A Certain Persian, the Worthy Mouterizes, in Anakara of Galatia” and the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus, touching on such issues as forced conversion, holy war, and the relationship between faith and reason. “Dialogue Held With A Certain Persian, the Worthy Mouterizes, in Anakara of Galatia”

Pope Benedict XVI's lecture

The lecture on "faith and reason", with references ranging from ancient Jewish and Greek thinking to Protestant theology and modern atheism, focused mainly on Christianity and what Pope Benedict called the tendency to "exclude the question of God" from reason. Islam features in a part of the lecture: the Pope quoted strong criticism of Islam, which he described as "astoundingly" and "surprisingly harsh" (translation from the German in erstaunlich schroffer, uns überraschend schroffer Form).

In three paragraphs at the beginning of the speech, Pope Benedict quoted from and discussed an argument made by Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos in a 1391 dialogue with an (unnamed) educated Persian, as well as observations on this argument made by Theodore Khoury, the scholar whose edition of Manuel II's dialogues the Pontiff was referencing. Pope Benedict used Manuel II's argument in order to draw a distinction between the Christian view, as expressed by Manuel II, that "not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature", and the Islamic view, as explained by Khoury, that God transcends concepts such as rationality, and his will, as Ibn Hazm stated, is not constrained by any principle, including rationality.

In part of his explication of this distinction, Pope Benedict referred to a specific aspect of Islam that Manuel II considered irrational, namely the practice of forced conversion. Specifically, the Pope (making clear that they were the Emperor's words, not his own) quoted Manuel II Palaiologos as saying: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only bad and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The Pontiff was comparing the older Islamic teaching that "There is no compulsion in religion" with the newer teaching that allowed "spreading the faith through violence"; the latter teaching being offered by Pope Benedict as an unreasonable one, on the belief that religious conversion should take place through the use of reason. His larger point here was that, generally speaking, in Christianity, God is understood to act in accordance with reason, while in Islam, God's absolute transcendence means that "God is not bound even by his own word", and can act in ways contrary to reason, including self-contradiction. At the end of his lecture, the Pope said, "It is to the great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures."

Key paragraphs

Quoted below are the three paragraphs (of sixteen total) which discuss Islam in Pope Benedict's lecture:

I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Münster) of part of the dialogue carried on — perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara — by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both. It was presumably the emperor himself who set down this dialogue, during the siege of Constantinople between 1394 and 1402; and this would explain why his arguments are given in greater detail than those of his Persian interlocutor. The dialogue ranges widely over the structures of faith contained in the Bible and in the Qur'an, and deals especially with the image of God and of man, while necessarily returning repeatedly to the relationship between — as they were called — three "Laws" or "rules of life": the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Qur'an. It is not my intention to discuss this question in the present lecture; here I would like to discuss only one point — itself rather marginal to the dialogue as a whole — which, in the context of the issue of "faith and reason", I found interesting and which can serve as the starting-point for my reflections on this issue.

In the seventh conversation edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. The emperor must have known that sura 2, 256 reads: "There is no compulsion in religion". According to the experts, this is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat. But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Qur'an, concerning holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels", he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God", he says, "is not pleased by blood — and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats… To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death…

The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature. The editor, Theodore Khoury, observes: "For the emperor, as a Byzantine shaped by Greek philosophy, this statement is self-evident. But for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality." Here Khoury quotes a work of the noted French Muslim R. Arnaldez, who points out that Ibn Hazn went so far as to state that God is not bound even by his own word, and that nothing would oblige him to reveal the truth to us. Were it God's will, we would even have to practice idolatry."

Translation differences

The original German text of the Pope's lecture as published at the Vatican website differs slightly in several respects from both the English translation, despite both versions being official (though "provisional") Vatican versions. It is unknown whether this had an impact on perceptions of the speech.

Commenting on a quote from the Byzantine emperor, Pope Benedict states in the English translation of his lecture, "he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness". According to the German text the Pope's original comment was "He addresses his interlocutor in an astoundingly harsh — to us surprisingly harsh — way" (wendet er sich in erstaunlich schroffer, uns überraschend schroffer Form).

This difference was corrected on 17 September. The official (though still "provisional") passage now reads: "he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness, a brusqueness which leaves us astounded". ^{(emphasis in original)}

Another difference involves the use of the word "jihad", which is present in the German version but not in the English one: the original statement "The emperor touches on the theme of jihad, holy war" (kommt der Kaiser auf das Thema des Djihad, des heiligen Krieges zu sprechen) became in the English rendition "The emperor touches on the theme of the holy war."

A third difference involves the emperor's quote employed by the Pope: "...things only evil and inhuman...". What the Pope said, and which is found in the German text and verifiable with the audio from the lecture, was "... things only bad and inhumane ... ". The word used was "Schlechtes" (bad/wicked), whereas the English word "evil" would have corresponded to "Böses", a word the Pope did not use. Similarly, the German word "inhuman" (inhumane) was used, and not "unmenschlich" (inhuman).

Initial reactions

Political leaders

Africa

• Somalia – Sheikh Abubukar Hassan Malin, a hardline cleric allied with Somalia's Supreme Islamic Courts Council (ICU) urged Muslims to "hunt down the Pope" in a speech, saying: "We urge you Muslims wherever you are to hunt down the Pope for his barbaric statements as you have pursued Salman Rushdie, the enemy of Allah who offended our religion. Whoever offends our Prophet Mohammed should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim. We call on all Islamic Communities across the world to take revenge on the baseless critic called the pope." Other senior clerics of the ICU made critical, albeit less strident remarks about the Pope. ICU executive member Sheikh Ahmed Abdullahi said of the Pope: "He must apologise because he has offended the most honorable person who ever lived in the world." Shortly thereafter, gunmen murdered Sister Leonella Sgorbati and her bodyguard.

• Egypt – Foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit: " This was a very unfortunate statement and it is a statement that shows that there is a lack of understanding of real Islam. And because of this we are hopeful that such statements and such positions would not be stated in order to not allow tension and distrust and recriminations to brew between the Muslim as well as the west." The Vatican envoy was also summoned.

• Template:MOC – Morocco recalled its ambassador to the Vatican.

Americas

• United States – President George W. Bush, in his speech to the United Nations, reasurred Muslims that he is not waging war against Islam, regardless of what "propaganda and conspiracy theories" they hear. "My country desires peace. Extremists in your midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. This propaganda is false and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of terror. We respect Islam." (The President's speech was not specifically addressing the comment made by the Pope, but rather asserting that extremists are trying to justify their violence by falsely claiming a war is waged against Islam, in the midst of this controversy.)

Asia

• Afghanistan – The parliament and foreign ministry each demanded an apology.
• India – Hamid Ansari, Chairman of India's minority commission, said, "The language used by the Pope sounds like that of his 12th-Century counterpart who ordered the crusades... It surprises me because the Vatican has a very comprehensive relationship with the Muslim world."
• Iran – The Guardian Council said the pope was part of "a series of Western conspiracy against Islam" and had "linked Islam to violence and challenged Jihad at a time when he apparently closed his eyes to the crimes being perpetrated against defenseless Muslims by the leaders of power and hypocrisy under flag of Christianity and Jewish religion". President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that "Regarding the issue of the Pope's comments, we respect the pope and all of those who are interested in peace and justice."

• Iraq – Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said that "The Pope's remarks reflect his misunderstanding of the principles of Islam and its teachings that call for forgiveness, compassion and mercy," but also called on Iraqis not to harm "our Christian brothers."

• Indonesia – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stated that the Pope's comments were "unwise and inappropriate," but also that "Indonesian Muslims should have wisdom, patience, and self-restraint to address this sensitive issue....We need them so that harmony among people is not at stake."

• Malaysia – Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said, "The Pope must not take lightly the spread of outrage that has been created. The Vatican must now take full responsibility over the matter and carry out the necessary steps to rectify the mistake."

• Pakistan – Pakistan's parliament, issued a statement saying "The derogatory remarks of the Pope about the philosophy of jihad and Prophet Muhammad have injured sentiments across the Muslim world and pose the danger of spreading acrimony among the religions." Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said, "Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence."

• File:Palestinian flag.svg Palestinian Authority – Hamas leader Prime Minister Ismail Haniya issued a condemnation to reporters after mosque services, saying the Pope's remarks "are not true and defamed the essence of this holy religion and it defamed the history of the Islam. ... In the name of the Palestinian people, we condemn the pope’s remarks on Islam. These remarks go against the truth and touch the heart of our faith. We say to the pope to re-examine these comments and to stop defaming the Islam religion that more than 1 and half billion Muslims believe in." The Islamist leader then denounced the Palestinian attacks on some half-dozen churches in the West Bank and Gaza, saying, "The Christian brothers are a part of the Palestinian people, and I heard the highest Christian authority in Palestine denouncing the statements against Islam and against Muslims."

• Turkey – Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: "I believe it is a must for (the Pope) to retract his erroneous, ugly and unfortunate remarks and apologise both to the Islamic world and Muslims. …I hope he rapidly amends the mistake he has made so as not to overshadow the dialogue between civilizations and religions." Salih Kapusuz, deputy leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said that "He [the Pope] has the same mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages."

• Yemen - President Ali Abdullah Saleh has threatened to sever diplomatic ties with the Vatican.

Australia

• Australia – Prime Minister John Howard has backed the Pope's comments adding that, "I don't, at the moment, note terrorist groups killing people and invoking the authority of the Catholic Church".

Europe

• Germany – Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "Whoever criticises the Pope misunderstood the aim of his speech… It was an invitation to dialogue between religions and the Pope expressedly spoke in favour of this dialogue, which is something I also support and consider urgent and necessary."
• Italy – Prime Minister Romano Prodi said: "There cannot be any controversy... Religious dialogue and respect for every faith are essential today and religion does not justify any type of violence."
• Switzerland – Interior Minister Pascal Couchepin stated the Pope's speech was "intelligent and necessary."
• France – President Jacques Chirac warned against "anything that increases tensions between peoples or religions".

International

• File:Flag of OIC.svg The Organisation of the Islamic Conference said "The OIC hopes that this sudden campaign does not reflect a new trend for the Vatican policy toward the Islamic religion… and it expects the Vatican to express its real vision of Islam", called it "character assassination of the Prophet Mohammed" and a "smear campaign.", and asked the United Nations Human Rights Council to address the Pope's remarks.
• Europe – A European Commission spokesman objected to "picking quotes out of context", and said the commission would not "clarify or interpret" the speech, because they consider it "a theological contribution to a theological debate." He added that "reactions which are disproportionate and which are tantamount to rejecting freedom of speech are unacceptable."

Religious leaders

Christian

• The Coptic Pope Shenouda III, while admitting that he hadn't heard the exact words used by Pope Benedict XVI, said that "any remarks which offend Islam and Muslims are against the teachings of Christ."
• Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church, said: "There are elements in Islam that can be used to justify violence, just as there are in Christianity and Judaism."
• Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey dismissed Muslim charges the Pope had "rubbished" Islam and stated that "Muslims, as well as Christians, must learn to enter into dialogue without crying 'foul'."
• Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger said “We are faced with a media-driven phenomenon bordering on the absurd... If the game consists in unleashing the crowd’s vindictiveness on words that it has not understood, then the conditions for dialogue with Islam are no longer met.”
• The director of the Vatican press office stated: "Pope Benedict’s remarks about jihad may have been taken out of context but they were not an aberration. On the contrary, they stem from his thinking about Islam and the West in the one and a half years since he became Pope. …It was certainly not the intention of the Holy Father to undertake a comprehensive study of the jihad and of Muslim ideas on the subject, still less to offend the sensibilities of Muslim faithful. Quite the contrary, what emerges clearly from the Holy Father’s discourses is a warning, addressed to Western culture, to avoid 'the contempt for God and the cynicism that considers mockery of the sacred to be an exercise of freedom.'"
• Abbot Primate Notker Wolf, head of the worldwide Roman Catholic Benedictine Confederation of the Order of Saint Benedict, said the Pope used Palaiologos's dialogue with a Persian to make an indirect reference to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "I have heard he plans to write a letter to the Pope," Wolf added. "I think this would be a good opportunity to take up the gauntlet, so to speak, and really discuss things."
• Cardinal George Pell of Australia has backed the Pope's comments, saying he does not "rule out the link between Islam and Violence" and that "The violent reaction in many parts of the Islamic world justified one of Pope Benedict's main fears".

Islamic

• Ali Bardakoğlu, the head of the Religious Affairs Directorate of Turkey, commented that the Pope's statements "were extraordinarily worrying, very unfortunate, both in the name of Christianity, and in the name of shared humanity," and called on Pope Benedict to either retract or apologize for his conduct. He added "if there is a religious antagonism in the West, it's the responsibility of the logic-ignoring Christian church", citing historical incidents of religious oppression in Europe and the Americas. He also implied that the Pope should consider cancelling his trip to Turkey that was originally planned for November 2006. Bardakoğlu later admitted to not having read the Pope's lecture before making his statements.

• Muhammad Abdul Bari of the Muslim Council of Britain expressed his expectation that religious leaders, including the Pope, are "to act and speak with responsibility and repudiate the Byzantine emperor's views" for the sake of harmonious relations between religions and cultures. He added that his failure to do so has "understandably caused a lot of dismay and hurt."

• Mohammed Mahdi Akef from the Muslim Brotherhood said the remarks "threaten world peace" and "pour oil on the fire and ignite the wrath of the whole Islamic world to prove the claims of enmity of politicians and religious men in the West to whatever is Islamic."

• Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, grand sheik of Al-Azhar University in Cairo, conveyed the university's position that the Pope's comments about Islam "indicate clear ignorance" of the religion and "attribute to Islam what it does not contain."

• Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Egyptian muslim cleric and head of Islamic Scholars' Association; " Our hands are outstretched and our religion calls for peace, not for war, for love not for hatred, for tolerance, not for fanaticism, for knowing each other and not for disavowing each other. We condemn this and we want to know the explanation of this and what is intended by this. We call on the pope, the pontiff, to apologise to the Islamic nation because he has insulted its religion and Prophet, its faith and Sharia without any justification."

• Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric of Bosnia and Herzegovina criticized the recent speech of Pope Benedict XVI on Islam saying that the Balkan Muslims had been over the past one hundred years victims of violence and oppression by some radical Christians. Ceric called on the Pope to visit Srebrenica which had witnessed the massacre of nearly 10,000 innocent Muslims by Christians.

• Ahmad Khatami, one of Iran's most influential clerics asked the pope to "fall on his knees in front of a senior Muslim cleric and try to understand Islam."

• Mohammad Khatami, president of Iran from 1997 to 2005, and member of the UN Secretary General's Alliance of Civilizations: "I hope that the reports in this regard are misinterpreted as such remarks [as reported in the press] are usually made by uninformed and fanatic people but my impression of the pope was rather an educated and patient man".

• Fethullah Gülen, an influential Muslim scholar from Turkey, called the Pope’s lecture "impertinent... reckless, most unfortunate and damaging" and said "Uttering of such words by the leader of a Catholic world of over a billion people may only give encouragement to those radical groups with the crusader mentality to cause an upheaval in the world."

Jewish

• In a letter to the Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar criticized Benedict's remarks, writing: "our way is to honour every religion and every nation according to their paths, as it is written in the book of prophets: 'because every nation will go in the name of its lord.'"

Protests, attacks and threats

Thousands of people took part in many protests. The flags of Germany and the United States and effigies of Pope Benedict were burnt. About 2,000 Palestinians in Gaza City protested the Pope's statement on 15 September; a Greek Orthodox and an Anglican Church in Nablus were fire-bombed. A group called the Lions of Monotheism claimed responsibility for the attacks and said they were carried out to protest the pope's speech. Palestinians bombed and engaged in shootings against five churches in the West Bank and Gaza. Security has been discreetly stepped up around and inside the Vatican City, because of concerns about the possibility of acts of violence.

On 17 September 2006 two Somali gunmen shot and killed an elderly Italian nun, sister Leonella, working at the Austrian-run childen hospital of Mogadishu, with her Somali bodyguard. A senior Somali Islamist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "There is a very high possibility the people who killed her were angered by the Catholic Pope's recent comments against Islam"; however, he offered no specific evidence for that motive . Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, member of the Supreme Islamic Courts Council, said there was a "concrete possibility" that the murder of the nun was "a reprisal for the Pope’s remarks on Islam". Somali Islamist officials also vowed justice against the nun's killers, and two men have been arrested. (http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/09/19/10068611.html)

The Iraqi militia Jaish al-Mujahedin (Holy Warriors' Army) announced its intention to "destroy their cross in the heart of Rome… and to hit the Vatican." A previously unknown Baghdad-based group, Kataab Ashbal Al Islam Al Salafi (Islamic Salafist Boy Scout Battalions) threatened to kill all Christians in Iraq if the Pope does not apologize to Muhammad within three days. A Supreme Islamic Courts Council of Somalia cleric has called for the Pope's assassination, urging Muslims to "hunt down the Pope for his barbaric statements.", another demanded that "whosoever offends our Prophet Mohammed should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim".This ironically proves that the pope was right.

Several organizations, such as Al-Qaeda and the Mujahideen Shura Council threatened in a joint statement: "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose the jizya tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (being killed by) the sword. ... God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the Mujahideen."

Employees of Ankara's Directorate General for Religious Affairs, the state body that organizes Muslim worship in Turkey, asked the authorities on Tuesday to open legal proceedings against Pope Benedict XVI and to arrest him when he visits the country in November. They said the pontiff had violated Turkish laws upholding freedom of belief and thought by "insulting" Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Subsequent Vatican statements

Official Vatican declaration

On 16 September 2006, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, the Secretary of State of the Holy See, released a declaration explaining that the "position of the Pope concerning Islam is unequivocally that expressed by the conciliar document Nostra Aetate" and that "the Pope's option in favour of inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue is equally unequivocal."

As for the opinion of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus which he quoted during his Regensburg talk, the Holy Father did not mean, nor does he mean, to make that opinion his own in any way. He simply used it as a means to undertake — in an academic context, and as is evident from a complete and attentive reading of the text — certain reflections on the theme of the relationship between religion and violence in general, and to conclude with a clear and radical rejection of the religious motivation for violence, from whatever side it may come. [The Pope] sincerely regrets that certain passages of his address could have sounded offensive to the sensitivities of the Muslim faithful and should have been interpreted in a manner that in no way corresponds to his intentions. ^{(emphasis in the original)}

Response to official declaration

For most Muslim leaders, the declaration on 16 September was insufficient to rectify the situation. A representative for the Muslim Brotherhood rejected the Vatican statement, noting "Has he presented a personal apology for statements by which he clearly is convinced? No." Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh, Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority, called the pope's declaration "lies", adding that they "show that reconciliation between religions is impossible." On the other hand, the Muslim Council of Britain had a more favourable view of the declaration, issuing their own statement on 16 September that the Pope's expression of "sincere regret" was "a good first step."

Pope's Angelus

On 17 September, before his regular weekly Sunday Angelus prayer, Pope Benedict XVI stated the following:

At this time, I wish also to add that I am deeply sorry for the reactions in some countries to a few passages of my address at the University of Regensburg, which were considered offensive to the sensibility of Muslims. These in fact were a quotation from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought. Yesterday, the Cardinal Secretary of State published a statement in this regard in which he explained the true meaning of my words. I hope that this serves to appease hearts and to clarify the true meaning of my address, which in its totality was and is an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect.

Reactions to Angelus

The Angelus speech received a mixed, but predominantly negative response. Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo, the Sunni Arab world's most powerful institution, stated "We have no objection if the pope holds another speech and declares publicly that what the Byzantine emperor had said was wrong. At the same time, the pope has to apologize frankly and justify what he said," Mohammed el-Sayed Habib, deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's main Islamic opposition group originally, not long after the Pope's Sunday statements, called them a sufficient apology. However, later in the day, he retracted that statement, saying, "The pope's comments that downplayed his earlier remarks are not enough. We will not accept anything less than an apology," Mohammed Habib also said:

It does not rise to the level of a clear apology and, based on this, we're calling on the Pope of the Vatican to issue a clear apology that will decisively end any confusion.

This sentiment was shared by the the governments of Malaysia ("inadequate to calm the anger") and Jordan ("a step forward", but "not sufficient") , by Turkish State Minister Mehmet Aydin ("you either have to say this 'I'm sorry' in a proper way or not say it at all. Are you sorry for saying such a thing or because of its consequences?") and scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who called for a "peaceful international day of rage" on his popular TV show on Al-Jazeera: "[The pope's latest statements] were no apology. They were an accusation against Muslims that they didn't understand his words." Australian Muslim leaderAmeer Ali said Australian Muslims must accept the Pope's apology over remarks that offended Islam and move on.

See also

• 2006 Fox journalists kidnapping
• Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
• Steve Centanni
• Theo van Gogh (film director)

External links

• Official English translation of the Regensburg lecture
• The lecture in pdf format
• Original German text of the Regensburg lecture
• Audio recording of the Regensburg lecture (mp3) (German)
• Video stream of the key disputed sentences of the Regensburg lecture
• Declaration by the Vatican issued on 16 September (Italian and English)