Rome has historically not been a safe place for popes. The first one (St Peter the Apostle) was crucified there. The next four successors were also put to death. After a gap of three popes, the following five were also killed. The 3rd century saw three executed popes. The city became much safer for popes and all Christians after Constantine declared Christianity the state religion in the 4th century.However, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Rome eventually became so dangerous for popes that they relocated to Avignon in France in 1309 for 100 years or so. Not that Rome was much safer when the popes returned, so the 1400's saw a number of popes who needed to exercise military skill to get the city under control. As you would with any city that is constantly rioting and revolting against the rulers.
Now Rome is again turning against the current Pope. The picture on the right comes from the recent protests against Benedict XVI's now cancelled visit to speak at the "La Sapienza" University. A university ironically established in the Middle Ages by a previous pope.
It has been reported by the BBC that the main reason for the protests against the Pope's visit are his previous comments of more than 20 years ago on the trial of Galileo. However, the picture in this post tells a different story.
Homosexual activists are driving the campaign against the Pope. The main message, being reported in Italy, is that the Pope is homophobic, therefore should not turn up to speak at the university.
Homosexual activists against free speech, how unusual. (Where's the sarcasm icon?) Readers may or may not know that here in our very own NZ, a haven of homosexual activism - The AIDS Foundation, have previously lobbied for hate speech legislation in NZ. I suppose now that we have the EFA, maybe that will be next when the politicians get back from holiday. But I digress ...
The Pope has cancelled his proposed visit, so the activists may seem to have won for now. However, hopefully their actions are being exposed to the world. Even without knowing what the protests were about, I'm sure most people would consider the actions of the university protesters to be infantile.
Fr Z, whom I link to below, has a very interesting comment on why there has been this level of protest:
The Church in Italy has been very involved in some matters in the public square. After decades of having no real opposition, the Left is freaking out now because the Church and the Italian bishops are no longer being filtered through the monumentally mediocre and now defunct Christian Democrat party. The Church is weighing in on matters like assisted fertilization, civil unions for homosexuals, euthanasia, abortion, etc. The Left and the deviants don’t like this new development at all. Their reactions? Level death threats against the new president of the Bishops Conference and then behave like snotnosed delinquents when faced with opposing views.
UPDATE: Zadok the Roman explains how this is being perceived in Italy:
Mainstream political opinion in Italy is almost entirely in support of the Pope with reference to the whole Sapienza debacle. Even those who do not agree with him see this as a defeat for the principle of free speech. Amongst ordinary Italians there tends to be an attitude of great embarrassment that the Pope seems to be more welcome in Turkey than he is in the country's largest university. Some of the signatories of the notorious letter which opposed the Pope's attendance are also trying to nuance their position. They claim that the letter should have been private and that it was 'used' by the protesters in a way that was not intended. The rector of the university is speaking of a 'defeat for reason and secularism.'Related Links: Fr Z ~What does the prayer really say
See also, previous coverage by Andrei at TBR