Good timing....

With the immense level of tension between the Muslim and Christian worlds, Pope Benedict has decided that this is the perfect time to revise the revisionist history of the Crusades. His predecessor had taken steps to try and smooth some of the differences between the two religions, by offering apologies for past 'errors of the Church', including the Crusades and Inquisition.

Benedict, at the time Cardinal Ratzenberger, was among those who opposed this step. He's now sponsoring a conference that will discuss the Crusades in the light of being a venture undertaken with the 'noble aim to reclaim the Holy Lands."

Now, granted...if you look at your history, he's right. The First Crusade started when the Emperor of Byzantium appealed to the Pope, on behalf of Christian pilgrims that were being ambushed while traveling through Muslim lands. The Second and Third Crusades were nominally for the same purpose...though the realities of what happened leave one inclined to be cynical about the purity of intent (I mean, they DID sack Constantinople, which no doubt contributed to the eventual fall of the Byzantine Empire--resulting in yet more land in the hands of Muslims--so that kind of went counter to the stated purpose of the venture.) And the Christians, despite even further attempts at revisionist history, were not the only ones to indulge in some truly barbaric displays in the course of these wars.

But when you've got the Muslim world just starting to settle down after a series of rampages over inflammatory cartoons, it doesn't seem like the opportune moment to start blowing on the embers...especially when the log you're about to throw on the fire is actually a stick of dynamite. Benedict started his reign over Catholicism with calls for peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Christians.

Maybe he, like some of those Crusaders, is a little unclear about how his actions are going to accomplish his stated goals.