Dissecting the Vatican's Ramadan Diplomacy

That singular Roman dialect known as Vaticanese can sometimes turn so vague as to be incomprehensible. But on Friday, when French Cardinal Paul Poupard presented the Vatican's annual message for the end of Ramadan, there was no doubt about what was meant by the "particular circumstances" that had heightened interest in what is usually a boilerplate goodwill missive. Five weeks since Pope Benedict XVI's speech in Germany about faith, reason and violence provoked a backlash among some Muslims, the wheels of Vatican diplomacy are still working overtime to "placate the souls," as Benedict himself had put it in mid-September, in his first discourse following his return from Germany.