Pontiff and a boxing term for leaning against the ropes taking hits and only swinging to land a good punch. Mohammad
Ali was famous for the maneuver. Used together the two meanings define Pope Benedict.
When the Pope, holed up in the Vatican, says he is
sorry every which way he can think of for reading words
like, "violence," "sword," "threats of death," "evil," "murder" and "Jihad" when quoting from an obscure medieval manuscript where a Byzantine King is criticizing
Muslim violence of that era, while
Muslim leaders and fanatics from around the globe take their repeated punches at the Pope, murder a nun,
bomb churches, demonstrate and burn effigies of the Pope in the streets, call for his execution, and threaten the Pope and Christians everywhere with death, the sane World, everyone else, observing it all scratches their heads in awe. A smart Pope is doing a rope a dope.
I watched it all on TV, the Pope apologizes while
Muslims everywhere repeatedly attack him,
murder a Nun and threaten the Church and I think, "Ya, right, just look, wow, its the pot calling the kettle
black! I understand the Islamic radicals now. I like this Pope, he's our "Pope rope a dope!"