We had a phrase in Ireland: "It's all over, bar the shouting." Pope Benedict XVI's true words in the Holy Land will long outlast the shouting over them.
The Register has been reporting those words, especially on our website, honoring what he said, not comparing and contrasting every word to what he said elsewhere or with what Pope John Paul II, in very different circumstances, said.
Our approach is to allow him to be who he is and what he is: a pilgrim of peace. Once the initial reactions of varied people with passionate and partisan agendas calm down, the Holy Father's words will, as they so often do, have their true effect. After the shouting, his words will bear fruit in peace and serenity. The rereading will begin, and their true worth will emerge. He doesn't speak for the moment, but for the long term. He speaks for the Church.
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