Unspun

The Pope will do well to learn form the esteemed Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club. When caught doing something they shouldn’t, they admitted to the mistake, took responsibility for their action and put in new measures to prevent the mistake happening again.

That is the right way of doing things. The Pope, on their other hand, is now getting all defensive about his major gaff against Muslims. He did say he was “deeply sorry,” which is a good start but then goes on to  shirk responsibility by saying the Medieval text – he quoted did not reflect his personal opinion.

“These (words) were in fact a quotation from a Medieval text which do not in any way express my personal thought,” Benedict, said. Well, if it does not in any way express his personal thought then why had he chosen it and presented it without proper qualifications? Or signed off on what his speechwriter had chosen?

And what’s this silliness about personal opinions? If you’re the Pope, you’re the Pope. You are an institution. It doesn’t matter if it’s you personal opinion or you impersonal opinion. At all times you speak for the church. This applies to anyone in high office.

Shirking responsibility for his statement will only reduce hsi credibility. The Pope should just admit he made a mistake, go to confession and do pennance, rather than spin doctoring. Hmmm… does this qualify the pontiff for listing in the Unspun awards?