Pope Benedict and violence in the Islamic world

Pope Benedict the XVI has a new book sure to draw attention.  Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection is part two of three.  Press accounts have focused on the emphasis on the half-century Catholic teaching that the Jews as a people had nothing to do with the death of Christ.  Benedict forcefully reiterates that in the book.  But the book also speaks of the slaughter of minority Christians in certain parts of the world such as Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan.  In denouncing any claim that God can be behind acts of violence, Benedict writes “Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be.  It serves, not humanity, but inhumanity.”  Pope John Paul II proved to be a man for his times.  So too, it seems, is Benedict.