Least helpful thing the Vatican has done in years

Talk about re-opening old wounds! Why, oh why is this necessary now? How clueless can they be?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2093921,00.html

THE Vatican has begun moves to rehabilitate the Crusaders by sponsoring a conference at the weekend that portrays the Crusades as wars fought with the “noble aim” of regaining the Holy Land for Christianity.

The Crusades are seen by many Muslims as acts of violence that have underpinned Western aggression towards the Arab world ever since. Followers of Osama bin Laden claim to be taking part in a latter-day “jihad against the Jews and Crusaders”.

The late Pope John Paul II sought to achieve Muslim- Christian reconciliation by asking “pardon” for the Crusades during the 2000 Millennium celebrations. But John Paul’s apologies for the past “errors of the Church” — including the Inquisition and anti-Semitism — irritated some Vatican conservatives. According to Vatican insiders, the dissenters included Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

in the RCC. :(

so let's hope it's a short one, one way or another.

This is absolutely the worst thing at the worst time. There is no way to rehabilitate the Crusades. They were halfassed adventures fought for half cocked ideas that promised salvation through butchery.

The apology should stand. They were just plain wrong, no matter what ideas of who the middle east belonged to those old popes had.