Is the Pope allowed to be Catholic anymore? A heated row has focused on the Pope’s use of a quotation from a medieval text, in which a Byzantine Emperor besieged by an Islamic army described the legacy of Mohammad as ‘evil and inhuman’… This bizarre ruckus over the words of a medieval monarch has turned into a revealing picture of the modern world. A world in which nobody, not even the leader of a major faith, is allowed to express a strong opinion without risking condemnation and demands for an apology. — Spiked

Artwork in Zero G. British painter Nasser Azam has said he is “ecstatic” after completing two sets of artwork in zero gravity. The 44-year-old climbed 23,000 feet in a specially modified plane to work on two large triptychs while weightless. — BBC

Putting experiences up for auction. Sweemo, a new UK website, allows users to buy, sell, swap and request exciting experiences—or “sweet moments”. Experiences are listed in five main categories—entertainment, adrenaline, lifestyle, travel and groups—and they range from a beauty makeover with TV presenter Sarah Cawood (priced starting at GBP 56) to a day of extreme speed sailing on the Hugo Boss for GBP 12,000. — Springwise

Greer brands playwright ‘insane reactionary’. Germaine Greer has launched a vehement attack on the writer of a play inspired by her life, branding her an ‘insane reactionary’. The author and feminist claimed Joanna Murray-Smith, author of The Female of the Species, ‘holds feminism in contempt’ and dubbed her play ‘threadbare’. — Telegraph