While the Pope knew he would disappoint many Catholics and non-Catholics in the West for what appears as unnecessary humiliation and capitulation, he also knows that the West, given its rejection of Truth and Reason and its fixation with the ratiocination of modern science, is simply incapable of defeating Islam.

There appears to be only two possible explanations for Pope Benedict XVI’s trip to Turkey and his behavior while there. One understanding would be the Pope was caught off guard with the reaction to his earlier speech in Germany, wholly unintended, which forced him to begin back pedaling until he found himself a supplicant in a mosque in Turkey, shoes off, hands in traditional Islamic prayer position, facing Mecca. While the Elite around the world praised the Pope for his ability to “reach out” to the Muslim faithful by acting like one in prayer and speaking of the glory and nobility of Islam, others viewed this as a pathetic capitulation of a scholarly and holy man to a murderous bunch of thugs. The other more gracious understanding, and one that takes seriously this Pope’s powerful and penetrating intellect, would suggest that the Pope’s speech was quite intended and his humility and civility in Turkey was meant as an instruction to Muslim leaders what it means to be a man of faith and a leader of millions.

Permit me to put my cards on the table. Many religious conservatives, including among the Jews, have placed a fair amount of hope in the Church to save the West from itself and from Islam. In truth, there are only two groups that might. One is the one we speak of here: Conservative Catholics led by the Church. And, it is precisely because of this Pope’s intellectual integrity, his strong positions as Cardinal Ratzinger, his position as both the religious head of the Church (sanctified by the somewhat nebulous doctrine of Infallibility), and his political and moral leadership for, and extending from the Vatican that would suggest circumstantially and organizationally such is a possibility.

The other group is conservative Evangelical Christians. The advantage this group holds over the Church is that Evangelicals tend to be more conservative and more politically active than Catholics. However, they are not organized hierarchically and that presents the challenge of organizing grassroots bottom-up political efforts rather than top-down. But even with this practical difficulty, anyone who knows about such efforts knows that grassroots efforts, for the reason that they represent a body of a real and moving commitment, can carry much greater impact than even a well-organized, tightly controlled top-down effort which gives the appearance of contrivance.

But let’s return to the Pope and his trip to Turkey. The standard take on the entire trip is that the Pope had planned this trip well in advance of the outrage over his speech at an elite gathering of Catholic scholars at the University of Regensburg, so the trip itself cannot be seen as an effort to make amends for poorly chosen words. The very fact that the Pope insisted on making the trip given the murder, mayhem and threats against his life is, supporters maintain, a sign of the Pontiff’s faith and courage. We agree, although we must admit that we think the trip ill-advised from the start.

So to most of the civilized world (and by this qualification we purposefully omit the Muslim world), the Pope was caught off guard when he made a statement in a rather secluded setting, in very scholarly German, about matters philosophic which very few could claim to understand in any real sense, to a select audience of fellow scholars. Somehow, the word got out and in ways the Pope did not intend. One, the speech intended for select scholars became public fare. Two, what was read around the world was poorly translated initially from the German to English (and then into other languages), exacerbating the problem yet further because certain qualifying words insulating quotations from the Pope’s own views were not properly translated. And, three, the offending portions of the speech were taken out of context and subsequently contextualized by the media and pundits with an ax to grind to make it appear that the Pope himself considered Islam a murderous ideology.

The result of this “unintended” public airing was what we have come to expect from the now infamous Arab Street. At least two murders, several churches destroyed, and violent protests and demonstrations everywhere in the Muslim world (and that includes Europe).

By the time the Pope actually stepped foot into Turkey, he had already apologized to the Muslim world profusely. Initially, the apologies sounded like the standard PR spin, “I am sorry you took offense,” leaving unsaid, “but I am not sorry for the content of what I said.” But a day or two later, we got the full blown back-pedaling apology.

In this context, the Pope’s visit and behavior in Turkey was what one would have expected. Capitulation and humiliation. The capitulation was not merely symbolic. A mere two years ago, the Pope, as Cardinal Ratzinger, was quoted as saying:

"In the course of history, Turkey has always represented a different continent, in permanent contrast to Europe," Ratzinger told the magazine, noting that the history of the Ottoman Empire, which once invaded Europe as far as Vienna. "Making the two continents identical would be a mistake," he said. "It would mean a loss of richness, the disappearance of the cultural to the benefit of economics." The born [sic] cardinal said Turkey "could try to set up a cultural continent with neighboring Arab countries and become the leading figure of a culture with its own identity."

Once in Turkey, the Pope was quoted by the Turkish Prime Minister as saying: “We are not politicians but would like Turkey to join the EU.” The Vatican did not dispute this turn of events.

But might this humiliation and appearance of a forced conversion be something else altogether? We are not yet ready to jump on the band wagon of the obvious. Some things just don’t fit.

First, no one should believe that a man as smart and holy as the Pope would have underestimated the power of his words in Regensburg. Could he not have known that they would reverberate and echo in the Muslim world? Had he not witnessed the seemingly calculated effect of a few silly cartoons?

Did the Pope forget that he had a trip scheduled in a few months to the heart of the old Ottoman Empire? Did he not know of the anguish and anger his statement against EU membership had caused in Turkey? Could he have been so “tone-deaf”, as the media terms it, or blind as he would need to have been, to have created such a stir and then agree to go to the very Muslim country he had insulted twice over?

While anything, we suppose, is possible, the far likelier scenario is the Pope had planned all of this with some care. He knew what he was doing from the moment he made his earlier comments about Turkey’s entry into the EU and most certainly what the response was to be from his remarks at the German university. He in fact wanted to become the spokesman for the West and the Christian world to the Muslims. He knew there was and is no one else. He understood Muslims and calculated that he must cement his position by angering and insulting them. There is no better way to get a Muslim’s attention than by being his enemy, real or perceived. And, indeed he accomplished this task.

So, that being the case, what was all of the self-effacement about? How could the Catholic Pope pray in a mosque and do so without shoes and in a way that suggested he was praying as a Muslim? Certainly he was not doing so. But why the charade?

The best answer one could come up with, assuming the best, is that the Pope understands Muslims quite well; especially the Muslim leaders. He knows that “face-saving” is a valuable commodity in the Muslim world. Men murder their daughters and sisters for a little face-saving. The Pope went to Regensburg fully intending to humiliate himself and give his Muslim hosts and the Muslim world enormous public face-saving credits. They had cowed the leader of the Christian world. Moreover, the leader of world Christendom prayed with and like a Muslim in public and in front of the world’s media. And more, the Pope effectively recanted and disavowed his earlier negative view of Turkey joining the EU.

But the question remains: Why? Why did the Pope go through this exercise? The only plausible answer we can supply is that the whole affair was pedagogical. Quite simply, the Pope was trying to teach Muslim leaders how to behave like civilized men of faith. He was attempting to elevate them and their religion.

The Pope also understood that he had little to lose. First, no one could formally accuse the Pope of a conversion. Second, the Pope knew the Elite power brokers of the West would praise him for making such an extreme effort to appease and to pacify the Muslim savages who had reacted so violently to his earlier speech and to almost any non-event, like the publication of a cartoon. This graciousness and multi-cultural liberality under fire would in turn provide the Pope with enormous credibility among the Western Elite, including if not especially the media, for the battle lines he understands will be forming in the not-so-distant future. Third, as to Turkey joining the EU, Pope Benedict also knows it will not happen, his reversal notwithstanding, until the Moslems begin to flex their electoral muscles in Europe, which is still a few years off.

While the Pope knew he would disappoint many Catholics and non-Catholics in the West for what appears as unnecessary humiliation and capitulation, he also knows that the West, given its rejection of Truth and Reason and its fixation with the ratiocination of modern science, is simply incapable of defeating Islam. He feels compelled, given that assessment, to sacrifice the dignity of the Church in order to create an environment in which the Muslim leadership in Turkey, and elsewhere in the Muslim world, will feel compelled to return at least publicly these supreme gestures.

We must say, if we are correct, that the Pope’s assessment of the situation in the West needs to be a frightening alarm. If this is the best defense we have against the onslaught of Islam, the West and America are in trouble – the Pope’s good intentions notwithstanding.