We’d wondered if the glassed-in Popemobile would be in use at this week’s General Audience. Nope:

What he said, especially about ManuelGate:

Looking back at the stages of his visit to Germany, Benedict XVI said: “A particularly beautiful experience for me on that day was to give a speech before a large audience of professors and students of the University of Regensburg, where I taught as a professor for many years. With joy, I was able to meet once again the university world which, for a long period of my life, was my spiritual homeland. As a topic, I chose the relationship between faith and reason. To introduce the audience to the drama and actuality of the topic, I cited some words of a Christian-Islamic dialogue from the XIV century, with which the Christian interlocutor, the Byzantine Emperor, Manuel II Paleologos – in a way that is incomprehensible and brusque for us – presented to the Islamic interlocutor the problem of the relationship between religion and violence. This quotation, unfortunately, lent itself to possible misunderstanding. For the careful reader, however, it emerges clearly that I did not want to make my own in any way the negative words pronounced by the medieval emperor in this dialogue and their controversial content did not express my personal conviction. My intention was rather different: starting out from that Manuel II said later in a positive way, using a very beautiful word, about how reason should guide in the transmission of faith, I wished to explain that not religion and violence, but religion and reason, go together. The theme of my conference – in response to the University mission – was the relationship between faith and reason: I wanted to invite the Christian faith to dialogue with the modern world and all religions. I hope that on several occasions of my visit – for example, in Munich, when I underlined how important it is to respect what is sacred to others – my profound respect for world religions and for Muslims, who ‘worship the one God’ and with whom we ‘promote peace, liberty, social justice and moral values for the benefit of all humanity’ (Nostra Aetate, 3), is clear.”

The pope added: “I trust that after the initial reaction, my words at the University of Regensburg can constitute an impulse and encouragement toward positive, even self-critical dialogue both among religions and between modern reason and Christian faith.”

In case you are fuzzy about the "negative views" of the "Medieval emperor" that Benedict is insisting are not his own views – we can safely assume it is not the general question about religiously-motivated violence that Manuel raises, but rather the single statement/question that is embedded in the discourse:

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, a brusqueness which leaves us astounded, 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.

That is the phrase that seems to have been passed around the world as a reason to riot and call a "Day of Anger."  So that is the idea that Benedict is asserting is not his own – that Mohammad’s "new" contributions were only evil and inhuman.

And I have to say that every time I read that, the crazier the "response" becomes. Not that we should dignify what’s happened with the word "response," anyway.  Benedict has nothing to apologize for. It’s the press that should apologize for mendacious manipulation and trouble-making, and leaders of groups and in areas where violence has occurred and death threats have been made for not stopping  insane ignorance from catching fire.

Note the greater point – violence, compulsion and authentic religious faith do not go together – is completely, thoroughly and consistently re-iterated by Benedict.

As in, "Now. Answer the question, people…."