The Pope quoted the 14th Century Byzantine emperor Paleologus as 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."

As any scholar of Islam would know immediately, this quote is absolutely true in its evaluation of Mohammed and his religion of war, Islam. The Pope was merely quoting Paleologus as an example of dated thoughts about Muslims, and to possibly create new dialogue on the issue of the most violent religion the world has seen. But the real news shouldn't be what the Pope said, but how Muslims reacted to it.

Violently.

Burning effigies of the Pope. Molitov cocktails were thrown at churches in Tulkarem, Tubas near Jenin, three churches in Nablus and one in Gaza, and a Catholic nun and her bodyguard were killed in Somalia - one of the most violent Muslim areas in the world.

When the reaction to a simple quotation is thus, you do not have to wonder why it was made in the first place.

When was the last time a Jew threw himself in a German subway station and blew it up? Or when was the last time a Christian in Somalia destroyed entire villages of men, women and children?