Maddy points the finger - away from the culprit

Madeleine Bunting on Pope Benedict. Precisely. On the Pope. And not a single mention of the argument he presented, nor the reaction of Muslims throughout the world or the relevance of that reaction to the argument. She runs through a list of episodes that are supposed to demonstrate the Pope's 'bad faith' and evil intentions, blames him for the way that other people behave (it's the Pope's fault that a nun was killed in Somalia and that churches were attacked on the West Bank). And she finishes with this gem:

...the Catholic church could be failing - yet again - to deal with the challenge of modernity. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it struggled to adapt to an increasingly educated and questioning faithful; now, in the 21st century, it is in danger of failing the great challenge of how we forge new ways of accommodating difference in a crowded, mobile world. The Catholic church has to make a dramatic break with its triumphalist, bigoted past if it is to contribute in any constructive way to chart this new course.

The Catholic Church is not dealing with the challenge of modernity! But at least its way of not dealing with modernity does not involve regular bouts of adolescent hysterics, threats to all and sundry, bombings, shootings and riots. But for those who do deal with not dealing in this way, Maddy has only this to say: It's someone else's fault. (cf Andrew Robb)