Rod Dreher, at his Beliefnet blog, takes on the NYTimes editorial:

(His annotation in bold)

In 2004 when he was still the Vatican’s top theologian, he spoke out against Turkey’s joining the European Union, because Turkey, as a Muslim country was “in permanent contrast to Europe.”

[Oh, so it’s impermissible to have a negative opinion about relations between nations without being accused of fomenting "discord"? The Pope happens to be right about the Turkish situation; Turkey — where they put people on trial for mentioning that the Turks committed genocide against the Armenian Christian population a hundred years ago — is an Islamic society, with its own traditions, traditions that run deeply counter to Europe’s. The Pope might have been wrong in what he said — I don’t think he was at all, but let’s grant that he might have been — but expressing a political and cultural judgment about the suitability of a large Muslim nation joining the European Union is perfectly legitimate. If Turkish Muslim leaders were to say the same thing from their point of view, would the Times take them to task for fomenting discord? Of course they wouldn’t, nor should they. The Times, though, has absorbed the liberal/dhimmi mentality, which is geared toward appeasing Muslim hotheads at all costs. Reprehensible.]