The Pope well knows from his readings that prison
Mat 5:25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

And Rev 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity

But the Pope has bigger problems. Wouldn’t the church boss of a perpetrator priest (sexual abuse cases) be as equally guilty if knowing of charges against the priest just transferred the perpetrator to another church?

If the Pope is ever charged and found guilty, wouldn't his library be confiscated?

I doubt anything will ever come out of this lawsuit. The muslim activist is just doing it to make a point, so it will probably get dismissed and we'll never know or hear more about it.

Well, on a purely legal basis (if I interpret all of this correctly) this lawsuit is not only stupid, but has no grounds as well. Filing suit in Italy against the Pope should be pointless, as Vatican City is regarded as it's own mini-country politically, and Italian courts would have no jurisdiction. (Kind of like France indicting Cheyney--sure, they could...but the point would be...?)

Were this defense found unworkable, the countersuits would level the playing field, because "The only God is Allah, and Muhammed is his prophet" clearly implicates religious superiority vis a vis the implied statement by the Pope. It works both ways, if at all.

And besides, don't pretty much all religions say that only they've got it right and everyone else is wrong?

[Edited on 1-3-2004 by Q]

you're right Q

the Pope could just as easily countersue since the Muslims do claim superiority of their religion too.

Honestly speaking I find more Christian clerics interested in good relationships with other religions than I do Muslim clerics. Not to criticize anyone.

Each religion believes their religion is the "right" one. This is obvious. For this man to sue over comments made in a book in 1994 by the leader of one religion stating differences between his religion and another is asinine. He stated an accurate point. Certain aspects of Christianity are not focused on in Islam. In Islam they focus on things relating to Muhammad more than they do on the New Testament and Jesus. So this Mr. Smith here is suing the Pope for stating facts 10 years ago. Great. And yeah, the Vatican is it's own sovereign domain.

A Constitution saying that all religions are equal does not prhibit someone from claiming that their religion is superior, it should just prohibit the Government from doing so.

That, and the fact that the Vatican is it's own nation.