Mediaeval Clerics need Mediaeval Clerics. Mullahs of the old school need pre-enlightenment Popes. Benedict’s perfect foot-in-mouth intervention into Christian-Muslim harmony is really just getting into character. Not Rome nor Avignon but Constantinople. The symmetry is perfect: a Crusader Pope takes on the modern-day Saladins. They deserve each other.
Vatican Radio has that lecture in full and, from the hilarious Vatican web site, here’s a helpful press release (my favourite bit of the site is the prominent link to the Vatican’s Secret Archives on the home page)…