When the Pope steps over the line.

Back in the day, there was a joke floating around concerning the Pope and sexual issues:

"The Pope?  He no playa da game, he no make-a da rules."

Well, for whatever the reason, he's concluded that free speech should have limits, particularly when aimed at religion.  He used this particular brand of idiocy:

By way of example, he referred to Alberto Gasparri, who organizes papal trips and was standing by his side aboard the papal plane. 

"If my good friend Dr. Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch," Francis said half-jokingly, throwing a mock punch his way. "It's normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others." 

His pretend punch aside, Francis by no means said the violent attack on Charlie Hebdo was justified. Quite the opposite: He said such horrific violence in God's name couldn't be justified and was an "aberration." But he said a reaction of some sort was to be expected.

This was a snippet of his response to the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris a few days back.

The problem with his desire to make a political pronouncement that is, in reality, none of his business is multi-faceted:

First, the issue of "free speech" is not a religious issue; it is, instead, a political issue.

Second, this kind of thing is frequently, and by His Holiness when taken in context, only aimed at one side of the equation... and that side is uniformly the non-islamic side.

Third, Christians as a general rule rarely break into islamic-hate filled organizations and slaughter the people there... in the name of Christ.

Fourth, this kind of thing will provide the islamic hate groups with additional justification for their acts of terror.  It amounts to providing these scum with aid and comfort.

Fifth, if this had taken place in a papal office somewhere, would he have had the same reaction?

One wonders: if the Pope found himself under some sort of edict that HIS free speech be limited by method, manner, subject or location.... how would HE take it?  Would he go along with that sort of thing?

Not likely.

Islam is a religion of hate.  They use their religion as an excuse to slaughter, as an excuse to subjugate women, and as an excuse, period, to inflict massive pain and destruction on those who would object to those activities.

There are a wide variety of reasons that sort of nonsense is wrong, but that joke popped into my head as, perhaps, the lead response to such idiocy.

If you place limits on free speech.... then you don't HAVE free speech.  You have something less.

"Free speech" has some built in limits that a civilized society can agree on.  The ubiquitous crying "fire in a crowded theater" limit comes to mind.

But the problem with the Pope shooting off his pie hole on this issue is this: what people say in opposition to the evil that is the militant islam used as an excuse for slaughter is none of his business. He needs to be spreading a message that muslims inflaming and supporting islamic terror is not acceptable because the course laid out will likely lead to conflagration.

That, I believe, should be his message.  Looking down the road, there are going to be two sides of this equation.  And things are not going to go well for one of those sides.

I personally believe that if muslims do not actively start policing their own, then we need to begin to look at doing it for them by eradicating this religion from the face of the earth.

Before they eradicate us.

Action is required.  The gloves have to come off.  The whole of the muslim world needs to be tasked to act against these terrorist scum.

For if they do not, the Crusaders will look like a fender-bender in a parking lot in comparison to what is going to happen.

Meanwhile, I would urge the Pope to remember that ALL speech has consequences.  My little blog here has consequences.  I have been attacked in almost every imaginable way for what I write here in efforts to silence me.

I will not be silenced.  And it's in the Popes best interests not to make any attempt, secularly or spiritually, to extend his limits upon those of us who take a different view.

Meanwhile, in the interests of free speech, he may feel free to say whatever and however he wants.  Like I feel free to call him out when his pronouncements will spill even more blood as he provides these scum with a justification for their actions.

"... a reaction of some sort was to be expected," indeed.