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Catholic World News News Feature

Pope offers explanatory notes on Regensburg speech October 09, 2006

Pope Benedict XVI has produced an annotated version of the speech that he delivered in Regensburg on September 12, in an effort to clarify his intent.

In comments that he includes as footnotes to the annotated text, now available on the Vatican web site, the Pontiff affirms his respect for Muslims, and emphasizes that a quote from Emperor Manuel II Paelologus was not intended as an affront to Islam.

"I hope that the reader of my text can see immediately this this sentence does not express my personal view of the Qur'an," the Pope writes in a footnote attached to the quotation from the 14th-century Byzantine ruler. A later footnote adds that he cited the controversial passage purely in order to set for context for another statement, in which the Holy Father affirmed: "not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God's nature." In making available earlier versions of the Pope's speech, the Vatican had indicated that Pope Benedict might wish to add some notes, as he has now done. But the footnotes that the Pontiff has furnished go beyond mere bibliographical references; they offer an explanation for his inclusion of the quotation that roused so much indignation in the Islamic world.

The Pope says flatly that he used the quotation "solely to draw out the essential relationship between faith and reason." He adds: "On this point I am in agreement with Manuel II, but without endorsing his polemic."

The new version of the Pope's speech, together with the 13 notes that he has added, now constitute the official version that will be conserved in Vatican records.