Muffti doesn’t really think this is a big deal, but after reading an editorial at Jpost, he thought he’d post quickly. On Sunday, the Pope had the following to say about terrorism:


These days of peace and rest have also been disturbed by the tragic news of the execrable terrorist attacks, which have caused death, destruction and suffering in several countries, such as Egypt, Turkey, Iraq and Great Britain. While entrusting to divine goodness the deceased, the wounded and their loved ones, victims of such gestures that offend God and man, we invoke the Almighty to stop the murderous hand of those who, moved by fanaticism and hatred, have committed them and to convert their hearts to thoughts of reconciliation and peace.

Five points if you can name a country that suffers regular terrorist attacks but was not mentioned. 10 points if you can guess the Holy See’s explanation for the omission. 20 points if you can convince yourself that nothing else influenced the decision. 100 points if you get Muffti a trust fund.

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21 Comments

  • Thanks Tom Morrissey. Muffti will sin no more. However, he thinks that you may have presented a false dillema in listing the possible causes of the omission.

  • I always get a kick out of non-Catholic reaction to the Holy See’s regular screw-ups. (You can’t predict how, exactly, it’ll screw up– you just know that it will, and on a steady basis.) When the Jews get pissed off, you think, “now you know how Catholics feel! Welcome to the club!”

    We can dismiss the post facto backing-and- filling. I strongly suspect Papa Ratzi sought to single out Muslim fundamentalism of the al-Qaeda variety, but did not do so clearly enough. In other, less-reported comments, the pope broke with his predecessor in declining to identify Islam as a “religion of peace,” and stated that the Koran contains passages inconsistent with peace and tolerance.

    So, failing to do that clearly enough, he left himself open to Israeli criticism.

    My other, alternative theory: pure ineptitude. A possibility never to be excluded.

    (Private note to Muffti: spoke with my sources, and all is forgiven. Go and sin no more, my son.)

  • Wow, wow people, stay away from my points. You heard the man, I’m in the lead!

  • Mufti is being arbitrary re. the admirably erudite Esther. She deserves that extra point, say I.

  • Ummn…yeah, Muffti guesses that is worth some points. But really he’s not totally sure it’s worth 25. After all, Ratzinger says ‘execrable terrorist attacks’, and surely we don’t think any of the terrorist attacks were of Jewish origin; it’s just that some have Jews as their target.

    So, Ms. Show-off-her-Chaucer-knowledge, Muffti grants you only 9 points, keeping Hila in the lead. Partly coz she wasn’t a smart ass about it.

  • Hey, that Vatican Correspondent job sounds great…

    But maybe El Popito was using the little-used fifth definition of “execrable,” meaning “of non-Jewish origin.” It had its origin in Middle English, as you can clearly see from this lost Chaucer fragment:

    O Jewes yure knighots rallye not for Christyndym;
    Ere ye peryshe in tormennnt, renounce yure pathes!
    Embrace in steade the execrable tennets of faith and then–
    May you suffer naught and ne’er again.

    I’m going to assign myself 25 points for this one, if you don’t mind.

  • Ybocher:

    The points can’t be exchanged for anything. As Hila clearly understood, you just want them, partly for their own sake and partly because they let you win.

    As for the unofficial Jewlicious Vatican correspondant, he, well, kinda got high and wandered off…

  • If muffti comes cheap so I guess there also lousy return policy that comes with him, right?
    What I can exchange your points for? I am not sure it was made clear.

    And where is the unofficial Jewlicious Vatican correspondent when you need him, huh?

  • Yes, Muffti will accept checks. And yes, Ybocher, Muffti comes cheap.

  • Are you trying to bribe me??? I am shocked and appalled!

    Do you accept checks?

  • muffti I d go for the hundred but I need to know what and where I can exchange these points for?

  • One other thing: I know that Jews don’t want to hear this but I think the fact is that on some level there is indifference to Jews. We just are not visible to the powers that be in the Catholic church. We are mere gnats, and sometimes annoying. If the Chief Rabbi had any impact in connecting with the Pope we would have seen the difference.

    The fact is that there are a gazillion RCs and with that a leadership more concerned with the bif things, and not mere gnats like Israel or Jews. Someone would really have to stick it to the RC elite to make them notice. I think that ultimately there is a combination of indifference and prejudice (aka, bigotry).

  • Muffti,

    I have personal major resentment against the papacy so I am not sure I could comment. Well, okay, the papal shtick is consistent, but getting kinda old.

    IMO, if it weren’t for the media, who agree and direct all discourse, the papacy elite wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. The media largely do not question or criticise. Hence, the papacy gets overlooked, like the rest of the world. I would not be singling out the papacy either, cause, IMO, it is no different than the other elite in the world who mindlessly mouth the popular party line.

    IMO, this is all of a piece with all other major reps in the world, who buy into the convenient fantasy that Israel is somehow to blame for most things. This fantasy is validated and supported by most of the world media. Everyone is content with the way they think about things. I would not ascribe the ability to think independently to the Vatican. I think you give them too much credit.

  • Well, so far. We’ll have to see if any gets Muffti a trust fund. You can secure your victory right now if you put up a petty 50,000$ for Muffti’s personal use.

  • I think I’ll have to be satisfied with the 10 points this time. But I’m still the winner, right? 😉

  • 10 points to Hila, but not the bonus 20 because she clearly doens’t believe the explanation…

    BJ, Muffti is glad you agree, though what you agree with goes a little beyond what Muffti intended. In this case, though, it wasn’t the media but the papacy that put on the blinkers.

  • I agree with GM in the sense that the media have total blinkers and so do most official parties, about Israel. It’s a weird blindness. I think it is promulgated by the media- a form of brainwashing.

    Words matter. Bigtime.

    IMO, most info is controlled by the media and there is a totalitarian aura to it.

  • “The Holy See’s explanation was that the pope left out Netanya because he was only referring to the latest incidents.”

    That must be the lamest excuse I have ever heard.
    The attack in Netanya was after the one in London. That’s the best they can come up with? How pathetic…