The future Pope Leo defended Pope Benedict XVI’s Regensburg speech in 2006

Benedict XVI's Regensburg Address caused a global uproar in 2006.

 

The whole address in English

A quote about Muhammad fueled Islamic-Christian conflicts. The current Pope Leo XIV defended Benedict early on.

The current Pope Leo XIV defended the controversial Regensburg Address of Pope Benedict XVI from 2006 early on. This is evident from a lecture given in Brno (Czech Republic) by the then-Augustinian Superior Robert Prevost on September 25, 2006, two weeks after the Pope's Regensburg Address. It is included in a book published on Monday, which presents contributions by the current Pope from the years 2001 to 2013.

In his address, Prevost said: "We all know what happened after the speech: Because of a quote taken out of context—let's leave aside the question of whether it was opportune or not—protests were triggered in the Islamic world."

Prevost believes Benedict was misunderstood

After describing these protests, Prevost continued by observing that few had grasped the central point of Benedict XVI's speech: "It was that if the West no longer finds a conception of God, it cannot engage in any fruitful dialogue with the other great cultures of the world, which have a profound religious understanding of reality. And among these cultures is, of course, Islam. The entire speech revolves around this idea."

At the University of Regensburg on September 12, 2006, Benedict XVI quoted from a debate dating back to 1391. At that time, the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos had said to a Muslim scholar: "Show me what Muhammad brought that was new, and you will find only evil and inhuman things, such as his prescribing that the faith he preached should be spread by the sword."

This quote sparked fierce Islamic protests and even outbreaks of violence in several countries. Benedict XVI later emphasized on several occasions that he did not endorse the emperor's fundamental critique of Islam, but rather wanted to draw his listeners' attention solely to the connection between faith and reason.

Source

And in German!