Vatican - (Rioters): In a bid to reinvent himself after last year's public remarks about Islamic barbarism, Pope Ratzinger has slammed Bob Dylan as a fools' prophet.
In his new book about Carol Wojtyla, his predecessor at the Vatican who once appeared with Dylan at a Bologna gig in 1997, Ratzinger is scathing about the pop culture into which JP2 was so easily drawn.
At the heart of the row is a duet that Dylan and Wojtyla sang at the concert which some have said was a sinister prophetic warning about Islam and Sharia Law's cruel punishments.
The duo's rendition of Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 with its spooky premonition 'Everybody must get stoned' was seen at the time to be a harmless ditty about marijuana.
Ratzinger says the lyrics are redolent with Islamic cruelty advocating live stoning for acts of crass stupidity such as driving a car in Saudi Arabia while female.
"Well, they'll stone you because you look like a whore
Then they'll stone you and say it's just Sharia Law
They'll stone you when you're riding in your car
They'll stone you when you're playing your sitar
Yes, but I would not feel so blown,
Everybody must get stoned"
Ratzinger's new book, My Beloved Predecessor Died And All He Left Me Was This Ghastly Problem, is out next week, price $100.
