Accolades for “Star Trek” are filling the internet on the 50th anniversary of the television show’s premiere back on Sept. 8, 1966, and now the Pope’s newspaper has joined the chorus of hosannas for one of the most popular franchises in entertainment history.

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican’s semi-official newspaper blasted a series of cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad as “blasphemous” but also condemned the “mad and bloodthirsty” extremists who opened fire at a Texas exhibit of the cartoons.