The Pope's Remarks

I don't know why the Pope quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor who said, "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." I'm inclined to believe that there is more than a modicum of truth in the emperor's words. But what was the Pope, the most prominent figure in Christendom, thinking when he inserted that quote into his speech and then delivered it at a public gathering? Is he THAT naive that he didn't know what repercussions it would have? Or was he so intent on delivering "the truth" that he didn't care about the repercussions? In either case, one must seriously question the soundness of his judgment.

But I have an even bigger question about why the scholarly and "holy" representatives of Islam whose responses I've read or heard offer no words of admonition or reproach to the "Muslims gone wild" over the Pope's remarks, choosing to scold only the Pope instead and demand that he apologize and atone for what he said.

Actually, I should have no real questions about this since it is exactly what I would have expected given what I know of the Muslim faith and have seen of Muslim behavior throughout most of the world. I have only a comment: The Muslim response to the Pope's remarks only reinforces their truth and my less than favorable opinion of the Muslim faith, and I quite suspect that I'm not alone in this regard.