Religion of Peace Members Plot to Kill Pope

Five men in Britain were arrested in a plot to kill The Pope during his visit there.  I wonder if they might be part of any particular religious group?

Police have arrested five suspected Islamist terrorists, working as street cleaners in London, over an alleged plan assassinate the Pope.


The men were arrested during raids at 5.45am at a rubbish depot in central London based on an intelligence tip off received overnight.


The suspects, aged 26, 27, 36, 40 and 50 were arrested by officers from Scotland Yard’s Counter Terrorism Command on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

This comment from Jim Treacher at The Daily Caller:

How come the Pope gets to practice his religion, but the people who are trying to kill him aren’t allowed to practice theirs?

Heh.

Religious Photo of the Day

If he turns the hat backwards you know he's going to a hip-hop mass:

Political Photo of the Day

From left to right: President Obama, Pope Benedict, Morticia (h/t Gateway Pundit):

Rick Warren Spoils a Party, Pope Piles On

The Rick Warren choice for inaugural invocation continues to ricochet around among gay Obama supporters:

Not that he was planning to attend, but Barack Obama should know that my sister's inauguration night party -- the one for which she was preparing Obama Punch -- has been canceled. The notice went out over the weekend, by e-mail and word of mouth, that Obama's choice of Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation had simply ruined the party. Warren is anti-gay, and my sister, not to put too fine a point on it, is not. She's gay.

You always hurt the ones you love.

Pope Benedict piled on to their pain with his comments today:

Pope Benedict XVI has said the world needs to be saved from homosexual or transsexual behavior.

He said the issue was just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.

The pope said: 'The tropical forests do deserve our protection. But man, as a creature, does not deserve any less.'

In a pre-Christmas speech to Catholics, he reiterated the Catholic Church teaching that homosexuality is not sinful but homosexual acts are.

He compared behaviour beyond traditional heterosexual relations as 'a destruction of God's work'.

All Obama needs to do now is invite the Pope to the inauguration and heads will explode worldwide.

George W. Bush - Catholic?

The president met with the Pope yesterday, and one story from The Telegraph suggests that Bush might be considering switching teams:

George W Bush and Pope Benedict XVI have held an intimate meeting in Rome as rumours mounted in Italy that the president may follow in Tony Blair's footsteps and convert to Catholicism.

The President presented the Pope with a picture of the two of them

The two men spoke for half an hour in the 12th century Tower of St John, a private area in the Vatican gardens which is used by the pope for private reflection.

The usual protocol for heads-of-state is a meeting in the pope's library in the Apostolic Palace, but a spokesman for the Vatican said Benedict wanted to reward Mr Bush for the "warmth" of his reception at the White House earlier this year.

The two men have grown increasingly close in the past two years, and Mr Bush was overheard whispering: "What an honour, what an honour, what an honour!" as he ascended the steps to the tower.

After a stroll through the Vatican gardens, the men listened to a recital by the choir of the Sistine Chapel. However, Mr Bush did not, as expected, kneel in prayer before the Grotto of the Madonna of Lourdes. It was thought that he may have prayed with the pope in private. Mr Bush prayed with Benedict in the Oval Office during the Papal visit to the US in April.

Several Italian newspapers cited Vatican sources suggesting that Mr Bush may be prepared to convert. One source told Il Foglio, an authoritative newspaper, that "Anything is possible, especially for a born-again Christian such as Bush."

Call me a skeptic on that one.

Pope Gets a High Profile Lift From the Airport

We've all had people come to the airport to pick us up, but until this week, nobody has ever had the President of the United States come and pick them up:

WASHINGTON — The leader of the world's 1 billion Roman Catholics has been to the White House only once in history. That changes this week, and President Bush is pulling out all the stops: driving out to a suburban military base to meet Pope Benedict XVI's plane, bringing a giant audience to the South Lawn and hosting a fancy East Room dinner.

These are all firsts.

Bush has never before given a visiting leader the honor of picking him up at the airport. In fact, no president has done so at Andrews Air Force Base, the typical landing spot for modern leaders.

A crowd of up to 12,000 is due at the White House on Wednesday morning for the pope's official, pomp-filled arrival ceremony. It will feature the U.S. and Holy See anthems, a 21-gun salute, and the U.S. Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps. Both men will make remarks before their Oval Office meeting and a send-off for his popemobile down Pennsylvania Avenue.

The White House crowd will be the largest of Bush's presidency. It even beats the audience last spring for Queen Elizabeth II, which numbered about 7,000.

The evening festivities will mark the first time the Bushes have put on a high-profile meal in honor of someone who isn't even a guest. Wednesday is the pontiff's 81st birthday, and the menu celebrates his German heritage with Bavarian-style food.

But Benedict's prayer service that evening with U.S. bishops at a famed Washington basilica preclude him from coming to the dinner, according to the White House. Catholic leaders will be there instead.

The president explained the special treatment — particularly the airport greeting.

"One, he speaks for millions. Two, he doesn't come as a politician; he comes as a man of faith," Bush told the EWTN Global Catholic Network in an interview aired Friday. He added that he wanted to honor Benedict's conviction that "there's right and wrong in life, that moral relativism has a danger of undermining the capacity to have more hopeful and free societies."

The Bush-Benedict get-together will be the 25th meeting between a pope and a sitting president.

I'm sure Barack Obama is hoping the Pope's visit will knock his "bitter America" comments off the front page.