theirishtimes--2019-04-22--Archbishop Diarmuid Martin The church is imprisoned in its past

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin: ‘The church is imprisoned in its past’

The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, turned 74 on April 8th. He has a year to go before submitting his letter of resignation to Rome, as required of all Catholic bishops when they reach 75.  The two auxiliary bishops in Dublin must submit their resignations to Rome even sooner – Bishop Ray Field turns 75 next month with Bishop Eamonn Walsh following in September.  Archbishop Martin, the most influential Catholic prelate in Ireland, is 15 years in his role this month, having succeeded Cardinal Desmond Connell. He is 20 years a bishop and next month marks a half century since his ordination.  Does he think he will be allowed to stand down?  “You never know that,” he says. “At the moment there’s quite a delay on [the appointment of] bishops in Ireland. One thing I would not want is that there would be a vacuum or that there would be a prolonged period of speculation.”  He says the big change will not be him and his auxiliary colleagues moving on but rather the “realities of the diocese”, which are “changing enormously”.  “Others might say that may be a little time in which people can stand back and reflect and ask the questions: Where should we be going? What sort of bishop do we need? But I think there are too many serious problems that have to be addressed from the pastoral, personnel, financial situation – you can’t allow that to drag on.”  He acknowledges Cardinal Connell was persuaded to stay on for three more years after turning 75. “I think it wasn’t a good thing,” he adds.  The archbishop may stay in Dublin post-retirement, in which case he would need to look for new accommodation in the city. “My mother always said that if she could get an apartment in Nelson’s Pillar, that would be her choice,” he smiles.  As to whether his period as archbishop had been overshadowed by the abuse issue – as it was for Cardinal Connell who once said the abuse issue had devastated his ministry – Archbishop Martin responds: “Cardinal Connell always focused on himself an awful lot. I don’t do it in that same sense.  “You’d be very foolish not to say it has done immense damage to the church. And it isn’t that the enemies of the church picked on it. It’s done immense damage to so many individuals and we still don’t know the full story.”  Was the church in Ireland now imprisoned by that past?  “You can’t whitewash it. The church has to re-find its future. The church is imprisoned in its past – not just by the abuse thing – in a whole culture and that culture doesn’t respond any more to the realities. Therefore you’ve to find creative ways of moving out and they’ll be very, very different. And they won’t satisfy a lot of people.”  He is concerned about those “cultural warriors” in the church who are resistant to change. “Saying ‘let’s restore what we had before and let’s be there, let’s be aggressive and let’s close our ranks’ – that isn’t the answer.”  Where schools are concerned, the archbishop worries “that you’ll have Catholic schools and other schools and that they’re almost hostile in their values, whereas what we need is an education system which respects difference but also fosters dialogue and contact rather than shouting at one another.”  He says Educate Together is a movement he respects and “there’s been a maturity in their response, but you could end up in a situation where you’d have more non-Catholic schools to simply be against Catholicism. That isn’t the answer either.”  On divestment, he says that all the projects about divestment have failed. “I’m not getting involved in the blame game. What’s emerging more and more is that all our understandings of what would happen were a little bit too naive.”  What should happen is that “in a number of areas you’d get schools and you’d identify, for the duration of five or six years, a primary school. Over that period of time you’d make a gradual shift from one system to another. That would also have to apply to teachers. There’d be a long-term evolution.”  He says there are now more members of the Government under the age of 45 than he has priests aged under 45. “The main body of believing Catholics and Catholic leadership belongs to a generation that is over 45, whereas the creativity in Irish society is coming now from another generation, and we’re not making the inroads.”  That says there are two churches in Dublin devoted to young people – at St Paul’s (Arran Quay) and the University Church on St Stephen’s Green, which is “quite unique” and there is a “vibrancy in the parishes”. But the church has “to find a way in which young people not only begin to develop their belief, but their ability to take part in society inspired by that belief. We’re not generating that.”  He welcomed Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s proposal for a new covenant between church and state in Ireland, mentioned in his address to Pope Francis at Dublin Castle last August. However, he is “not too sure it was a thought-out idea”.  What is needed “is a culture of dialogue and respect within society in which nobody is demonised and where people bring a contribution that is recognised”.  There is, he says, “a tendency growing in Irish political life of removing the real role of civil society in general, not just the church; that voluntary organisations who receive funding from the State end up working for the State rather than being an expression of citizens coming together in their own way”.  It was also the case that “we have a substantial number of believing Catholics who are feeling that the religious education they had received is no longer providing them with the answers or the ability even to enter a dialogue about the evolving reflection of what our world is.  “This is where we need a more vocal group of Catholics who can take part in the overall reflection of society precisely as believers, not as lobbying groups or bickering groups. Our schools should be doing that. We haven’t produced an intellectual Catholic leadership in recent times,” he says.  “Irish Catholicism was always a little bit cut off from the mainstream connections in Europe.”  He was critical of the apostolic visitations sent by Rome to reform the Irish church after publication of the Ryan and Murphy reports into child sexual abuse in 2009.  “There was somehow the idea that the Irish church could be reformed from outside. That’s not the case. The visitation was not very well planned.”  What irks him was that there was “a three-year period in which the natural progress that should have been taking place in the Irish Catholic Church – home-grown and home-led – was put in the freezer. It delayed reform.”  As to whether two Irish seminaries – at Maynooth and the Irish College in Rome – are sustainable, he says “probably not”.  He is interested in new forms of priestly formation. In Dublin “one seminarian, for various reasons, is now living in a parish and going to theology. We formed a small group to accompany him on that. It would be better if we had two or three.”  Are 26 Catholic dioceses in Ireland too many?  “The revision of dioceses in any country is a problem. In Italy, the pope has almost thrown his hands up in despair at that. There is a problem in the west of Ireland. There’s a great sensitivity there but there’s depopulation there as well.” On the idea of amalgamating of dioceses, the archbishop says there is no way around it.  Relations with the other churches are going well. “We do a lot of good things together. The theological dialogue should be on the things that separate us.” If they focused “on the things that unite us and develop and foster them – and there’s been a huge progress in that – then we have to start looking at where are the things that divide us.” They have “to start looking at some of the theological questions and at learning from the other side”.  In his 15 years as Archbishop of Dublin, what has stood out for him?  “Obviously dealing with some of the child sexual abuse and particularly the meeting with victims. If I were to look at an event, remember that [March 2011] service of repentance we carried out in the Pro-Cathedral.”  There was an atmosphere of tension there. “I always remember when it was over, sitting in the Pro-Cathedral were four couples, crying. I waited at the door and they came and said ‘good evening’. I didn’t ask them any questions. They didn’t ask me any questions. These were people with their own story.”  There was also the 2012 Eucharistic Congress, the pope’s visit, the World Meeting of Families last August. And parish communities. “For example, the pilgrimage to Lourdes every year with those 200 young people was an interesting experience.”  Was he disappointed at the turnout for Pope Francis last August? “You couldn’t but be,” he says. However some events during the visit worked very well. “I went to bed on the Saturday night very happy after bringing the pope to Seán MacDermott Street.” It was “a parish that was devastated by drugs, and it is. I had a lot of difficulty.” There were security problems but Archbishop Martin was determined it would happen.  There was also the event in the Pro-Cathedral (“You had 800 people that normally wouldn’t have been in contact”), the event with Br Kevin Crowley of the Capuchin Centre, and the Croke Park concert.  But from the Sunday morning,with publication of the Vigano letter criticising Pope Francis, “it was downhill”. Government and security people were warning that Phoenix Park was “going to be like climbing Croagh Patrick to get there. That, to the sort of people who were going to come, elderly people or people with families, put them off. Then it started to rain.”  But the archbishop was impressed by turnout on the streets of Dublin. “There were more people there than on St Patrick’s Day and it was genuine enthusiasm. In a lot of parishes people stayed and watched on screens. Maybe the idea of the big event is a thing of the past in Ireland.”  He spoke to Pope Francis after his meeting with abuse survivors on the Saturday evening.  “I talked to him in the car about the victims and he was genuinely moved. The first thing he said to me was: ‘I’ve written my notes and I’m going to rewrite the things tomorrow [for the Phoenix Park Mass].’ If you read it, it was quite strong. If I’d said some of those things in the past, Cori [Conference of Religious of Ireland] would have kneecapped me.”  He adds: “I would have been shot – by the church. [The pope] talked about exploitation of children. If you look at the phrases, they are very strong.”


theirishtimes--2019-05-15--Parents leaving it to schools to prepare children for sacraments

Ireland is unique in its dependence on schools in preparing for the sacraments. And, as any primary school teacher will tell you, preparation for Communion or Confirmation isn’t just a one-day affair. There is response learning, singing, church visits, procession practice, wardrobe fittings and photoshoots. All of this takes far more than the 30 minutes designated daily for religious education in the national curriculum.  Then there’s the wider question of whether the sacraments are at risk of becoming a social rather than a religious event. Many teachers say they have noticed a deterioration in children’s religious knowledge over the years. Some talk of how they end up having to re-teach students how to receive Communion in their Confirmation year.  One recalls a recent First Holy Communion ceremony where the amused congregation were unaware of when to sit, stand or kneel at any point during the Mass.  It’s clear that many parents are not engaging with church practices – though they expect it of their schools.  Society, generally, is also changing fast: more than a third of marriages are civil rather then religious, while census figures indicate that about a fifth of families of parenting age describe themselves as non-religious. Yet, we have a primary education system where 90 per cent of schools remain under the control of the Catholic Church.  It is against this backdrop that Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin last year announced plans to consult teachers, parents and parish personnel to “improve the preparation and celebration of the sacraments”.  Sacraments, he said, were not just “conveyor belts” or “social occasions” but “they are fundamentally moments of faith”.  The result – based on a survey of 1,800 school principals, teachers, parents, parishioners, clergy and parish workers in the archdiocese – reveals a strong demand for parents and local parishes to play a much greater role in preparing children for sacraments. All are saying that passing on faith is primarily the responsibility of the home, with the support of the parish – as well as the school.  The archdiocese says it is to hold meetings with parishes shortly to reflect on these findings.  Speaking to The Irish Times earlier this year, Archbishop Martin said schools in general felt religious formation should be outside schools and “we’re working on that”.  “For instance, this year everybody who wanted to be confirmed had to write, make a formal application addressed to me, again to emphasise that Confirmation isn’t a school subject, it’s a faith subject,” he said.  One obvious solution is to do what many multi-denominational schools have been doing for years: establish an “opt-in” system of sacramental preparation. This can involve classes which take place outside school hours either in the school premises or in local parish facilities. While it might end up in fewer children completing the sacraments, from the church’s point of view it could result in a higher proportion of more committed Catholics.  Another approach may involve parish programmes which aim to boost parental involvement by encouraging them to bring their children to Mass with them in the months leading up to Communion or Confirmation.  Taking sacramental preparation out of the school day, however, is unlikely to be the end of the debate over religion in the education system. While at present up to half an hour of each primary school day is allocated to religious education, a survey by the Irish Primary Principals’ Network found that the vast majority of principals felt less time should be spent on teaching religion in the classroom and more on subjects such as maths, English and physical education.  This, no doubt, will be a debate for another day.


themanchestereveningnews--2019-02-01--Investigation launched into Salford charity after serious concern about unaccounted funds

Investigation launched into Salford charity after 'serious concern' about unaccounted funds

A Salford charity is under investigation because of "serious concern" about substantial unaccounted funds.  The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into The Bersam Trust "to look into concerns over potential misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity."  The inquiry was started on January 14th.  The charity, which operates from the Salford area, aims to provide children with a strictly orthodox Jewish religious education and advance orthodox Jewish practice.  The Commission has examined the charity’s annual accounts and obtained records from the charity’s bank account.  In a statement the watchdog said it found "significant discrepancies between the financial activity recorded in the accounts and the values of funds entering and leaving the charity’s bank accounts, raising serious concern.  "The Commission’s accountancy analysis also identified that comparative figures in the accounts do not match those in the previous year’s accounts and differences are not supported by explanation from the Independent Examiner.  "The Commission has therefore taken protective regulatory action to freeze the charity’s bank accounts."  The inquiry will examine the governance, management and administration of the charity and will focus particularly on:  The Commission previously had regulatory concerns with Trust regarding governance issues, and provided regulatory advice and guidance to the trustees in the form of an action plan.  The inquiry will also examine the extent to which the trustees have complied with previously issued regulatory guidance.  According to the Trust's accounts its income for the financial year ending March 31st 2017 was £303,308 and its spending £170,150. For the previous four years the figures were: March 2016, income £358,469, spending £66,347; March 2015, income, £650,797, spending, £116, 213; March 2014, £289,286, income, £59,316; March 2013, income, £75,835, spending, £17,930.  The Trust is based in Merrybower Road, Broughton Park, Salford.  It says its policies are to "further the observance of orthodox Judaism, to encourage and support the advancement of orthodox Jewish religious education, to establish all institutions required by the orthodox Jewish community and any other charitable activities."  In official documentation the Trust adds: "The policy of the trustees is to distribute most of the income received in accordance with the objectives of the trust but leaving a cash balance at their discretion to fund unexpected demands and appeals."  The MEN has attempted to contact the Trust.


theseattletimes--2019-09-04--Greek authority rules against recording of faith at school

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s independent privacy authority has ruled it unconstitutional and illegal for school authorities to keep records of pupils’ religious faith.  The non-binding decision by the Data Protection Authority made public Wednesday follows complaints by an atheist group and human rights activists.  The complaints had targeted the listing of schoolchildren’s faith on end-of-school certificates, on an internal Education Ministry portal and on declarations non-Greek Orthodox parents must sign to exempt their children from otherwise obligatory religious education classes.  Although the government is not obliged to implement the decision, failure to do so could prompt legal action by citizens or rights groups.  Greece stopped the listing of religious faith on state identity cards in 2000, despite strong opposition from the powerful Orthodox Church of Greece.


thesun--2019-01-20--RE teacher ditched by husband after police probe into inappropriate relationship with schoolgirl

RE teacher ditched by husband after police probe into ‘inappropriate’ relationship with schoolgirl, 17

A MARRIED religious education teacher was ditched by her husband after she was probed over claims of an “inappropriate” relationship with a schoolgirl aged 17.  Cops quizzed mum-of-one Lynsey Craw, 33, after complaints about how close she got to the pupil, and she was charged.  She is believed to have been suspended from a Fife school during the probe and split from her husband soon after the accusations surfaced.  But the charge was dropped following a review into the case by the procurator fiscal.  A source said: “People were shocked when they heard the allegation.  "It got a number of parents asking questions.”  The teen is said to have discussed the claims with her parents after they were alerted.  LYNSEY Craw is the latest married female teacher to hit the headlines over an alleged relationship with a pupil. Eppie Sprung Dawson, then 27, was struck off after she was caught semi-naked with a 17-year-old in a car in 2012. Sprung Dawson, of Dumfries, was put on the sex offenders list after admitting bedding Matthew Robinson. But she dodged jail after a court heard she was abused as a teen. In 2014, Bernadette Smith, 35, also avoided prison over her fling with a 16-year-old — as they only snogged. The mum of three, of Denny, near Stirling, admitted stripping half-nude and cuddling in bed with pupil Gary Ralston. A sheriff gave her a community sentence after agreeing her “humiliation was complete”.  Craw, of Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, is understood to have been absent from school for months after the authorities got involved — and Fife Council would not say whether she is still an employee.  The RE Miss is thought to be a keen musician and has worked with pupils at the Fife Music Festival.  Her estranged hubby said: “We are over, it is nothing to do with me. She doesn’t live here any more.”  Police Scotland said: “We investigated a report of inappropriate behaviour received in May 2018.  “A 33-year-old woman was charged in connection and a report was submitted to the procurator fiscal in August.”  A spokesman for the Crown Office said: “After consideration of the facts and circumstances, and all the available admissible evidence, Crown counsel instructed that there should be no proceedings.”  Fife Council said: “We cannot discuss individual circumstances of any employee, either current or former.”  We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.


thesun--2019-07-30--How many godparents can you have who can be godparents and do they need to be christened to be one

How many godparents can you have, who can be godparents and do they need to be christened to be one?

GODPARENTS often play a big part in a child's life or, at the very least, turn up with gifts on their birthday.  Here we look at whether at how many a kid can have and what their rights are...  Traditionally, Christian children have three godparents in total, though they can have as many as the parent wants.  Girls usually have two godmothers and one godfather while boys have two godfathers and one godmother but there is no hard and fast rules nowadays.  Non-practising Christians can have as many or as few as they like, though it is customary to have at least one godfather and one godmother.  Blood relatives and members of the family can be chosen to be the child's godparent.  Having godparents is thought to date back to the second century, when baptisms became widespread.  When a child is born parents will often turn to close family members or friends and ask them to be a godparent to their child.  Traditionally, godparents were responsible for ensuring a child's religious education and helping them develop their faith.  But in modern times, the individual is chosen by parents to take a general interest in the kid's wellbeing and development, not necessarily with a religious aspect.  This is not a legal appointment and, should anything happen to the parents, godparents would not automatically become responsible for that child.  While traditionally there was a religious aspect to being a godparent there is not set rule about whether or not the godparents have been christened or not.  This though also depends on the church the baby is being christened into.  Some strict churches may ask that all the godparents have been christened in order to fulfil their role, or others may be happy to perform the service if only one person has. Some may not even bother.  Godparents play an important role in christenings, according to Church of England Christenings.  "In the christening service, you will make some big promises to support your godchild throughout their life," the website states.  They often bring the infant to the font to be baptised and in countries such as Latvia, it is the godparents who also choose a name for the child.  Christening gifts are traditionally silver, such as a silver spoon or rattle but here, too, this tradition is fading and all kinds of presents can be given.  We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.


thetorontostar--2019-07-06--China locks down Xinjiang a decade after deadly ethnic riots

ISTANBUL - A decade after deadly riots tore through his hometown, Kamilane Abudushalamu still vividly recalls the violence that left him an exile. On July 5, 2009, Abudushalamu was hiding with his father on the 10th floor of an office tower in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang region that is home to the Turkic Uighur ethnic minority. By a park, he spotted a bus on fire. Then he heard a crack as a motorcycle nearby exploded.  Hours later, when he and his father stepped out to sprint home, he saw crowds of Uighurs stabbing Han Chinese in front of a middle school. The bodies of half a dozen people lay scattered on the streets — just a fraction of the estimated 200 killed that night. Abudushalamu and tens of thousands of other Uighurs now live in Turkey, cut off from friends and family back home. Analysts say the Urumqi riots set in motion the harsh security measures now in place across Xinjiang, where about 1 million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslims are estimated to be held in heavily guarded internment camps. Former detainees have told The Associated Press that within, they are subject to indoctrination and psychological torture. Abudushalamu was just 9 years old when the riots took place. At the time, he knew he was witnessing something terrible, but he never imagined where the following years would lead.  “I thought Han and Uighur people could be at peace,” he said. “The camps? I never thought that would happen.” Weeks before, Han workers killed at least two Uighur migrants in a brawl at a toy factory in Shaoguan, an industrial city in China’s coastal Guangdong province. The Han workers were angry about the alleged rapes of Han women by Uighur men, though a government investigation later concluded there was no evidence such an assault had taken place.  Images and videos of the brawl quickly circulated among Uighurs back in Xinjiang, including gory scenes of what appeared to be a Han Chinese man dragging a dead Uighur by his hair. The videos enraged many Uighurs long upset with the Han-dominated government that took control of their region following the Communist revolution in 1949.  The litany of complaints was long: heavy restrictions on religious education, discrimination against college-educated Uighurs looking for jobs, subsidies and benefits for Han migrants to settle on lands once owned by Uighurs. Among the most odious were threats from state officials of fines or even jail time if parents didn’t send their young, unmarried daughters to work in factories in inner China . “Hashar,” a program that forced farmers to pave roads, dig ditches, and clear land for crops for the government for no pay fueled further resentment. The killed Uighur workers had been on a state employment program, sent more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) from home. For many, their deaths crystallized everything that was wrong about Beijing’s heavy-handed interventionist policies — and the belittling racism they felt they were subjected to by the Han Chinese.  The images spurred Urumqi students to organize a protest on July 5 demanding a government investigation. Demonstrators were stopped by police in the late afternoon, and tensions mounted until officers opened fire, Uighur witnesses say. Two students present at the protests told AP that they were shot at. One recalled that as he turned and ran, bullets whizzed by his head and others around him dropped to the ground. Furious Uighurs attacked Han civilians on the streets. An estimated 200 people were killed — stabbed, beaten or burned alive in the melees that followed. Uighurs smashed storefronts, overturned cars and buses and set some ablaze. Abudushalamu hid with his family for days as mobs of Uighurs and Han killed each other in cycles of bloody revenge. When they stepped outside a few days later, the streets were eerily empty, Abudushalamu said. Then the police arrived and started shooting. “Two maybe SWAT team (members) came after me and shot at me,” said Abudushalamu, now 19. “The bullet went through right behind my right ear. I’m lucky I’m still alive.” In the days after the violence on July 5, 2009, Beijing had sent in thousands of troops to restore order. For weeks, they fired tear gas, raided businesses and swept through Uighur neighbourhoods to arrest hundreds, many of whom were punished with decades in prison. The entire region of 20 million people was cut off from the internet for months in an attempt to curtail use of social media. Normality had returned, but Xinjiang was never quite the same. Ethnic divisions hardened. Han Chinese avoided Uighur neighbourhoods, and vice versa. Many Han Chinese steered clear of the whole of the region’s south, home to most of Xinjiang’s Uighurs, because they believed it was too dangerous. Experts say that July 5 and the subsequent crackdown was a “turning point.” “From that moment on, China took a very hard-line position toward the control of religion and the control of minority ethnic groups in the region,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s regional director for East and Southeast Asia. “It increased dramatically its security operation. That really is what led to the situation today.” In the following years, a series of violent terror attacks rocked Xinjiang and elsewhere. Dozens of civilians were hacked to death at a busy train station in China’s south. A Uighur drove a car into crowds at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Forty-three died when men threw bombs from two sports utility vehicles plowing through a busy market street in Urumqi. When newly appointed Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Xinjiang in 2014, bombs tore through an Urumqi train station, killing three and injuring 79. In a Xinjiang work conference shortly afterward, Xi called on the state to integrate different ethnicities and remould religion to ward off extremism. “The more separatists attempt to sabotage our ethnic unity, the more we should try to reinforce it,” state media quoted Xi as saying. China’s ethnicities, Xi said, could and should be united like “the seeds of a pomegranate.” Already tight limits on religion, culture, education and dress tightened even further, with restrictions on long beards and headscarves and the detentions of prominent Uighur academics and literary figures who were widely considered moderate advocates of traditional Uighur culture. After a new party secretary was appointed to take control of Xinjiang in 2016, thousands began to vanish into a vast network of prison-like camps. Beijing calls them “vocational training centres” designed to ward off terrorism and root out extremist thoughts, but former detainees describe them as indoctrination centres which arbitrarily confine their inmates and subject them to torture and food deprivation. That same year, Abudushalamu’s father had taken him to Turkey to study at a boarding school and then returned to China. The following June, he stopped responding to messages, and Abudushalamu never heard from his father again. Abudushalamu finally discovered his father’s fate last year when an acquaintance in Turkey told him he saw his father in an internment camp. He says he has now heard of more than 50 family members that have been detained in Xinjiang. Researchers estimate the camps now hold 1 million or more Uighurs and other members of Xinjiang’s ethnic minorities. Abudushalamu says there is no reason for authorities to “train” his father, a successful businessman who speaks nine languages. “It’s delusional,” he said. “Why does he still need to be ‘educated?’”  Associated Press journalists Kiko Rosario in Bangkok and Yanan Wang in Beijing contributed to this report. This report has been corrected to show that Abudushalamu stepped out of his father’s office the night of July 5, not a few days later.


truepundit--2019-01-22--Catholic Priest Slams March for Life as Repulsive and Futile

Catholic Priest Slams March for Life as ‘Repulsive and Futile’

A Prominent American Priest Has Dissed The Washington March For Life As “repulsive And Futile,” Denouncing The Pro-life Event As “basically A Gathering For Many Right-wing Anti-abortion Hardliners.”  Franciscan friar Father Daniel Horan, a pro-LGBT priest and professor who will be speaking at the upcoming Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, took to Twitter this weekend to bash the March for Life and condemn without trial a group of white Catholic high school boys as “racists” for supposedly “taunting” a Native American man beating a drum.  Father Horan was one of the many voices from the Catholic Left who joined the mainstream media lynching of students from Covington Catholic High School this weekend, rashly judging them as racists without bothering to ascertain what actually happened, simply because some of the boys were wearing MAGA hats.  While the Jesuit-run America magazine claimed that a small group of Native American demonstrators had been “surrounded by a much larger band of teenagers” and that the boys had “heckled” and “mocked” elder Nathan Phillips, video footage told a different story. – READ MORE


bbc--2019-09-01--UK MPs plan legislation to stop no-deal Brexit

UK MPs 'plan legislation to stop no-deal Brexit'

Tory minister Michael Gove has refused to say whether the government would abide by legislation designed to stop the UK leaving the EU without a deal.  Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC MPs would introduce a bill seeking to do that when Parliament returns this week.  But asked if the government would abide by this if it succeeded, Mr Gove said: "Let's see what the legislation says."  Cabinet minister Mr Gove also said "some" food prices "may go up" and "other prices will come down" in the event of a no-deal Brexit.  Meanwhile, the EU's lead Brexit negotiator has rejected Boris Johnson's demands for the controversial Irish backstop to be scrapped.  The UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October, with or without a deal.  The prime minister says he is willing to leave without one rather than miss the deadline, which has prompted a number of opposition MPs to unite to try and block a possible no deal.  Sir Keir told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "The legislation is intended to ensure we don't leave without a deal, that will require an extension.  "The length of the extension is secondary, frankly. We have simply got to stop us leaving without a deal."  Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday that plans to block a no-deal Brexit will be published on Tuesday.  He said the "ultimate goal this week" was to "ensure Parliament can have a final say".  But when asked if the government would abide by legislation preventing a no-deal Brexit, Mr Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "Let's see what the legislation says.  "You're asking me about a pig in a poke.  "And I will wait to see what legislation the opposition may try to bring forward."  Sir Keir responded on Twitter, saying Mr Gove's response was "breathtaking", adding: "No government is above the law."  Any new law has to pass through all stages of both Houses of Parliament. This would usually take weeks, but it could be done in as little as three days this week.  However, the bill could be challenged by the government and fall at any stage. It could fail to achieve enough support from either MPs or peers in votes held in the Houses.  This could be a tight timetable as there are as few as four sitting days before Parliament is suspended. This is due to happen between Monday, 9 September, and Thursday, 12 September, under plans announced by the prime minister.  Boris Johnson says he asked for the suspension in order to hold a Queen's Speech - which sets out a list of laws the government hopes to get approved by Parliament - on 14 October.  Another hurdle for any bill could come in the House of Lords. Although opponents to no deal have a large majority, peers wanting to block a piece of legislation could talk and talk until there is no time left.  However, opposition parties and those who are against a no-deal Brexit are split on their aims.  Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said her party's aim this week was to achieve an extension to Article 50 - the process by which the UK leaves the EU - and then a further referendum.  "We stand by our Stop Brexit stance but we do that via a People's Vote and that's step one," she told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday.  Although Sir Keir suggested an Article 50 extension will be needed under the legislation plan, Labour has been clear that it wants a general election.  And while former justice secretary David Gauke wants to avoid no deal, he has said he "doesn't want to do anything to facilitate a Jeremy Corbyn government".  "Indeed, one of my worries about a no-deal Brexit is it will create the chaos in which Jeremy Corbyn could win a general election," the Conservative Party MP told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday.  However, Mr Gauke said he is minded to put the national interest first if he were forced to choose between disobeying the party whip in a vote to prevent a no-deal Brexit.  Referring to reports that Tories who oppose a no-deal option could lose the party whip - which means they would effectively be expelled from the party - he said: "Sometimes there is a point where you have to judge between your own personal interests and the national interest.  "And the national interest has to come first. But I hope it doesn't come to that."  Mr Gauke said he will meet the prime minister on Monday to hear what his plan is to deliver a Brexit deal.  Pressed on whether there would be shortages of fresh food in a no-deal Brexit scenario, Mr Gove said: "Everyone will have the food they need."  He added: "No, there will be no shortages of fresh food."  When asked if food prices would increase, Mr Gove replied: "I think that there are a number of economic factors in play.  "Some prices may go up. Other prices will come down."  He said that freedom of movement will end "as we understand it", but added that the EU Settlement Scheme was "working well".  But trade association the BRC (British Retail Consortium) said Mr Gove's claims on potential fresh food shortages were "categorically untrue".  "The retail industry has been crystal clear in its communications with government over the past 36 months that the availability of fresh foods will be impacted as a result of checks and delays at the border," a statement said.  Northern Ireland Retail Consortium director Aodhán Connolly also said Mr Gove's claim was not true.  Meanwhile, the government's "Get Ready for Brexit" campaign and portal has been launched on its website.  Individuals or businesses can answer questions on it on topics including whether they propose to travel to the EU or export to Europe, and it then returns results which suggest how to start preparing for Brexit.


bbcuk--2019-08-29--Brexit Does suspension slam brakes on NI legislation

Brexit: Does suspension 'slam brakes' on NI legislation?

Parliament is set to be suspended next week in order for the government to hold a Queen's Speech - laying out its policy agenda - in October.  But the controversial move does not just make it harder for MPs to block a no-deal Brexit.  When a Parliament is suspended - or prorogued - all outstanding bills going through the legislative process are effectively killed off.  So what could that mean for laws relating to Northern Ireland?  After Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his decision to suspend Parliament, the Labour MP Jess Phillips took to social media to say she was concerned about what it would mean for a flagship piece of legislation relating to domestic abuse.  It was introduced by Theresa May in the last days of her premiership but has not moved through most stages of the Parliamentary process yet.  The bill would bring in the first ever statutory government definition of domestic abuse to include economic abuse and controlling and manipulative non-physical abuse.  Crucially, it would also be extended to Northern Ireland to allow coercive control to become an offence in the region for the first time.  That's because Northern Ireland has been without its own government for more than two years now, with no ministers in place to pass any laws through the devolved institutions.  Former Stormont justice minister Claire Sugden, who had backed the move to extend the law to Northern Ireland, said it would be an "insult" to victims if the bill was lost in "brinkmanship".  "We've waited too long and this needs to happen now to prevent further victims," she said.  "The prime minister talks big about improving people's lives through his fresh domestic agenda and if he means it then he must prioritise this bill.  "A new broom won't sweep away the issues that continue to destroy lives."  She added that if the bill fell in Westminster, it could be picked up by a future Stormont executive, but that required the two main parties to "put aside their party politics".  Asked by BBC News NI if Number 10 would commit to ensuring the bill was part of the next programme for government, the Home Office said the government was "determined to continue with the work done so far on legislating to support the victims of domestic abuse".  In recent months, the government has also been under pressure to pass legislation through Westminster to provide compensation to victims of historical institutional abuse (HIA).  The HIA Inquiry was set up by Stormont leaders in 2013 to investigate allegations of abuse in children's residential homes run by religious, charitable and state organisations.  Since the inquiry ended two years ago, 30 survivors of historical institutional abuse have died and payments have been stalled due to the lack of devolution.  Conservative MP Simon Hoare, the chair of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, said on Thursday the looming suspension effectively "slams the brakes" on attempts to bring the laws through Westminster.  Last week, victims and survivors met the Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith and said he told them he was looking for a "slot" in early autumn to bring it to Parliament.  Margaret McGuckin from the abuse victims' group Savia, said the government's decision to prorogue Parliament had "scuppered" that.  "It is heartbreaking and outrageous, that is no way to run a government - but we are not stopping," she said.  "I have written to the secretary of state and Simon Hoare to put through the legislation [in] early September before Parliament is suspended."  For its part, the government has already committed to bringing through legislation to provide redress to victims, if Stormont is not restored before the end of 2019.  But victims have said they cannot wait any longer and want the law fast-tracked through Parliament.  Since Wednesday's announcement of impending prorogation, questions have also been raised about whether it could affect potential law changes regarding same-sex marriage and abortion laws in Northern Ireland.  In July, the government passed a bill that will legalise same-sex marriage and liberalise abortion laws on the condition that Stormont is not restored by 21 October.  Ultimately, that has already become law and will not be affected by the suspension of Parliament, which will resume on 14 October when the government holds its Queen's Speech.  The government has committed to changing the laws on those two matters - as well as introducing a pension for victims of the Troubles - and there's no suggestion at the moment that that legislation would be delayed.  The other question about 21 October is what happens regarding the government's obligation to call a Stormont assembly election if devolution isn't restored by 21 October.  The law gives the Northern Ireland secretary the power to order an extension and push back that requirement to 13 January 2020.  Given mid-October will be fraught in Westminster as the Brexit deadline of Halloween looms large, talk of restoring Stormont or an assembly election could be well down the agenda.


westernjournal--2019-02-03--Pope seeks dialogue on first papal trip to Arabian Peninsula

The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a unique, thriving island of Catholicism as he embarks on the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam.  While Francis is building on two of his priorities with his Sunday-Tuesday visit to the United Arab Emirates — promoting interfaith dialogue and visiting the Catholic peripheries — diplomatic protocol will likely dictate that he leaves other concerns behind.  The Emirates’ support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, which has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and the UAE’s problematic record on human rights and labor violations at home will likely will get a pass — at least in public.  Francis is travelling to Abu Dhabi to participate in a conference on interreligious dialogue sponsored by the Emirates-based Muslim Council of Elders, an initiative that seeks to counter religious fanaticism by promoting a moderate brand of Islam. It’s the brainchild of Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam learning that trains clerics and scholars from around the world.  It will be the fifth meeting between Francis and el-Tayeb, evidence that Al-Azhar’s freeze in relations with the Holy See sparked by Pope Benedict XVI’s 2006 comments linking Islam to violence has thoroughly thawed.  In a video message to the Emirates on the eve of his trip, Francis paid homage to his “friend and dear brother” el-Tayeb and praised his courage in calling the meeting to assert that “God unites and doesn’t divide.”  “I am pleased with this meeting offered by the Lord to write, on your dear land, a new page in the history of relations among religions and confirm that we are brothers despite our differences,” Francis said.  In a statement Saturday, Al-Azhar described the upcoming meeting as “historic” and praised the “deeply fraternal relationship” between its imam and the pope, which it said even includes birthday greetings.  Francis and el-Tayeb are to address the “Human Fraternity Meeting” Monday that has drawn not only Christian and Muslim representatives but hundreds of Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and other Christian faith leaders. It’s all part of the Emirates’ “Year of Tolerance” and its effort to show its openness to other faiths in a region otherwise known for severe restrictions on religions outside of Islam.  “It’s something new for the Muslim world, that within the discussion of dialogue, they’re talking about interreligious dialogue across the board,” beyond basic Christian-Muslim relations, said Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Sant’Egidio Community, a Rome-based Catholic organization active in interfaith relations who will be attending the conference.  Francis’ other main initiative in Abu Dhabi is a giant Mass on Tuesday in the city’s main sports arena that is expected to draw some 135,000 people in what some have called the largest show of public Christian worship on the Arabian Peninsula. There, Francis will see firsthand a Catholic community that is big, diverse and dynamic, at a time when the wider Mideast has seen an exodus of Christians fleeing persecution at the hands of the Islamic State group and others.  Of the over 9 million people now living in the UAE, around 1 million are Emirati while the rest are foreigners drawn to the oil-rich federation to work in everything from white-collar finance to construction.  The Catholic Church believes there are some 1 million Catholics in the UAE. Most are Filipino and Indian, many of whom have left behind families for work and can face precarious labor conditions, which human rights groups regularly denounce.  “The church has a unique role because it becomes home,” said Brandon Vaidyanathan, chair of the sociology department at Catholic University in Washington, who grew up in Dubai. “It becomes a place of belonging” in a country where foreigners can live, work and practice their faith but will never gain citizenship.  Vaidyanathan, who converted from Hinduism to Catholicism while living in Dubai, said the Emirates’ religious tolerance is commendable given the trends of the region. He noted the “unprecedented” nature of the government’s invitation to Francis, its donation of lands for churches and even a recent decision to rename a mosque “Mother Mary of Jesus.”  Yet he pointed to the difference between freedom to worship and true religious freedom. Crosses, for example, can only be displayed inside churches, proselytizing for faiths other than Islam is banned and Muslims are forbidden from converting.  Francis will likely focus on issues of religious freedom and fraternity in his public remarks. Unlike all his other foreign trips, he will not deliver a political speech.  Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said the reason was to give greater emphasis to his speech to the interfaith conference. He dodged a question about whether Francis would raise Yemen’s yearslong war in his private talks with the sheikh. The UAE is deeply involved in the Saudi-led war in the Arab world’s poorest country, where tens of thousands have been killed and millions face food and medical shortages.  “I don’t know if the Holy Father will confront it publicly or privately, but certainly on many occasions, even recently, he has underlined the need to search for peace in particular to guarantee the humanitarian rights of the population, especially children,” Gisotti said.  Aid groups working in Yemen hope Francis won’t just rely on his past appeals, but will use his visit to bring his message to the Emirati leadership.  CAFOD, the overseas aid group of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, recently joined a coalition of British humanitarian organizations in appealing for Yemen’s limited cease-fire to hold so that humanitarian aid can reach the most vulnerable.  “We have confidence in the greatness of the pope to be our advocate and the advocate for the Yemeni people,” said Giovanna Reda, CAFOD’s head of humanitarian programs for the Middle East.  The Associated Press contributed to this report.  We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.


thewashingtonstandard--2019-12-04--Pope Francis: Christian Fundamentalists Are “A Scourge”

Why does it seem like virtually everyone wants to attack Christian fundamentalists these days? Two weeks ago, Pope Francis made some extremely controversial remarks, but those remarks really didn’t get much attention from the mainstream media. Of course if the Pope had targeted the LGBTQ community or some other favored group, it would have instantly made headlines all over the globe. But he didn’t. Instead, Pope Francis specifically attacked fundamentalists, and in today’s world that is considered to be perfectly okay. The following comes from the official transcript of the remarks that the Pope made on the 18th of November…  Ostensibly, these remarks apply to fundamentalists from all religions. But by mentioning Argentina, the Pope made it exceedingly clear who his real target was.  There aren’t any “Muslim fundamentalists” or “Hindu fundamentalists” in Argentina. The fundamentalists that he was referring to are the Christian fundamentalists in Argentina, and in the very next sentence he denounced such people as “a scourge”.  Of course “a scourge” is another way of saying “a plague”, and what do we try to do to “a plague” when one breaks out?  That is something to think about.  And although the term “fundamentalist” is now sometimes used to refer to other religions, from the very beginning it has always been a Christian term. The following comes from the Encyclopedia Britannica…  So what is a “Christian fundamentalist”?  Well, it is basically someone that believes the Bible is literally true, that believes that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again, and that believes that Jesus is coming back someday.  In other words, the Pope considers millions upon millions of American Christians to be a plague that is infecting our planet.  During those same remarks on the 18th of November, the Pope also once again pushed his “interreligious cooperation” agenda…  As I said during the World Conference of Human Fraternity: “There is no alternative: we will either build the future together or there will not be a future. Religions, in particular, cannot renounce the urgent task of building bridges between peoples and cultures. The time has come when religions should more actively exert themselves, with courage and audacity, and without pretence, to help the human family deepen the capacity for reconciliation, the vision of hope and the concrete paths of peace” (4 February 2019). Our religious traditions are a necessary source of inspiration to foster a culture of encounter. It is fundamental for there to be interreligious cooperation, based on the promotion of sincere and respectful dialogue that goes towards unity without confusion, maintaining identities. But a unity that transcends the mere political pact.”  This Pope has become increasingly aggressive in his efforts to foster unity among the various major religions of the world. Last month, he held a much publicized meeting with Thailand’s supreme Buddhist patriarch Somdej Phra Maha Muneewong. That historic meeting was held at Bangkok’s famous Ratchabophit Temple, and the Pope met with the Buddhist patriarch directly in front of a 150-year-old gold statue of Buddha. The Pope even removed his shoes as a sign of respect for the Buddhist temple.  Pope Francis also brought a gift for the Buddhist patriarch. It was a copy of a document entitled “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” which the Pope and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar both signed in Abu Dhabi last February. The following is what Vatican News had to say about the exchange of this gift…  “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” sounds like an innocent title, but it is actually a loose blueprint for uniting the various religions of the world.  For example, at one point in the document it specifically says that the fact that there is such a diversity of religions in the world has been “willed by God in His wisdom”…  In other words, this document is saying that God is pleased with all of the religions of the world and that they exist because it was His will for them to do so.  And the document concludes with an appeal for “reconciliation and fraternity” among the various religions of the world in order that “universal peace” may be achieved…  In conclusion, our aspiration is that: this Declaration may constitute an invitation to reconciliation and fraternity among all believers, indeed among believers and non-believers, and among all people of good will; this Declaration may be an appeal to every upright conscience that rejects deplorable violence and blind extremism; an appeal to those who cherish the values of tolerance and fraternity that are promoted and encouraged by religions; this Declaration may be a witness to the greatness of faith in God that unites divided hearts and elevates the human soul; this Declaration may be a sign of the closeness between East and West, between North and South, and between all who believe that God has created us to understand one another, cooperate with one another and live as brothers and sisters who love one another. This is what we hope and seek to achieve with the aim of finding a universal peace that all can enjoy in this life.  On the political front, globalism may have lost some momentum, but in religious circles it is steaming right along.  The push for a one world religion is happening right out in the open, and very few people seem alarmed by it.


france24--2019-02-03--Pope calls for Yemen relief on his way to first papal trip to Arabian Peninsula

TIZIANA FABI / AFP | Pope Francis waves as he boards a plane at Fiumicino airport on February 3, 2019, on his way to a three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates.  Pope Francis made an urgent appeal for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen on Sunday as he embarked to Abu Dhabi, where he is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a thriving island of Catholicism.  Francis called for the urgent observation of a limited cease-fire reached in December and for food and medicine to get to Yemen's people, who are suffering the world's worst humanitarian crisis.  He made the appeal at the Vatican before boarding a plane to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has been Saudi Arabia's main ally in its war in Yemen -- a way to avoid embarrassing his hosts with a public call while in the region.  "The people are exhausted by the long conflict and many children are hungry, but humanitarian aid isn't accessible," Francis said in his noontime Sunday blessing. "The cries of these children and their parents rise up" to God.  Francis is travelling to Abu Dhabi to participate in a conference on interreligious dialogue sponsored the Emirates-based Muslim Council of Elders, an initiative that seeks to counter religious fanaticism by promoting a moderate brand of Islam. It's the brainchild of Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt's Al-Azhar, the revered 1,000-year-old seat of Sunni Islam that trains clerics and scholars from around the world.  In a video message to the Emirates on the eve of his trip, Francis paid homage to his "friend and dear brother" el-Tayeb and praised his courage in calling the meeting to assert that "God unites and doesn't divide."  "I am pleased with this meeting offered by the Lord to write, on your dear land, a new page in the history of relations among religions and confirm that we are brothers despite our differences," Francis said.  In a statement Saturday, Al-Azhar described the upcoming meeting as "historic" and praised the "deeply fraternal relationship" between its imam and the pope, which it said even includes birthday greetings.  Francis and el-Tayeb are to address the "Human Fraternity Meeting" Monday that has drawn not only Christian and Muslim representatives but hundreds of Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and other Christian faith leaders. It's all part of the Emirates' "Year of Tolerance" and its effort to show its openness to other faiths in a region otherwise known for severe restrictions on religions outside of Islam.  "It's something new for the Muslim world, that within the discussion of dialogue, they're talking about interreligious dialogue across the board," beyond basic Christian-Muslim relations, said Marco Impagliazzo, president of the Sant'Egidio Community, a Rome-based Catholic organization active in interfaith relations who will be attending the conference.  Francis' other main initiative in Abu Dhabi is a giant Mass on Tuesday in the city's main sports arena that is expected to draw some 135,000 people in what some have called the largest show of public Christian worship on the Arabian Peninsula. There, Francis will see first-hand a Catholic community that is big, diverse and dynamic, at a time when the wider Mideast has seen an exodus of Christians fleeing persecution at the hands of the Islamic State group and others.  Of the over 9 million people now living in the UAE, around 1 million are Emirati while the rest are foreigners drawn to the oil-rich federation to work in everything from white-collar finance to construction.  Some one million Catholics in UAE  The Catholic Church believes there are some 1 million Catholics in the UAE. Most are Filipino and Indian, many of whom have left behind families for work and can face precarious labour conditions, which human rights groups regularly denounce.  "The church has a unique role because it becomes home," said Brandon Vaidyanathan, chair of the sociology department at Catholic University in Washington, who grew up in Dubai. "It becomes a place of belonging" in a country where foreigners can live, work and practice their faith but will never gain citizenship.  Vaidyanathan, who converted from Hinduism to Catholicism while living in Dubai, said the Emirates' religious tolerance is commendable given the trends of the region. He noted the "unprecedented" nature of the government's invitation to Francis, its donation of lands for churches and even a recent decision to rename a mosque "Mother Mary of Jesus."  Yet he pointed to the difference between freedom to worship and true religious freedom. Crosses, for example, can only be displayed inside churches, proselytizing for faiths other than Islam is banned and Muslims are forbidden from converting.  Francis will likely focus on issues of religious freedom and fraternity in his public remarks. Unlike all his other foreign trips, he will not deliver a political speech.  Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said the reason was to give greater emphasis to his speech to the interfaith conference. He dodged a question about whether Francis would raise Yemen's yearslong war in his private talks with the Emirates' ruler. The UAE is deeply involved in the Saudi-led war in the Arab world's poorest country, where tens of thousands have been killed and millions face food and medical shortages.  "I don't know if the Holy Father will confront it publicly or privately, but certainly on many occasions, even recently, he has underlined the need to search for peace in particular to guarantee the humanitarian rights of the population, especially children," Gisotti said.  Aid groups working in Yemen hope Francis won't just rely on his public appeals, but will use his visit to bring his message to the Emirati leadership in person.  CAFOD, the overseas aid group of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, recently joined a coalition of British humanitarian organizations in appealing for Yemen's limited cease-fire to hold so that humanitarian aid can reach the most vulnerable.  "We have confidence in the greatness of the pope to be our advocate and the advocate for the Yemeni people," said Giovanna Reda, CAFOD's head of humanitarian programs for the Middle East.


france24--2019-03-30--Pope Moroccan king declare Jerusalem common patrimony of three religions

Pope, Moroccan king declare Jerusalem ‘common patrimony’ of three religions

Handout, Vatican media, AFP | Morocco's King Mohammed VI (right) and Pope Francis during their meeting at the Royal palace in Rabat, on March 30, 2019  Pope Francis on Saturday joined Morocco's King Mohammed VI in saying Jerusalem should be a "symbol of peaceful coexistence" for Christians, Jews and Muslims, on the first day of a visit to the North African country.  The spiritual leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics was invited by King Mohammed VI for the sake of "interreligious dialogue", according to Moroccan authorities.  In a joint statement, the two leaders said Jerusalem was "common patrimony of humanity and especially the followers of the three monotheistic religions."  "The specific multi-religious character, the spiritual dimension and the particular cultural identity of Jerusalem... must be protected and promoted," they said in the declaration released by the Vatican as the pontiff visited Rabat.  The Moroccan king chairs a committee created by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to safeguard and restore Jerusalem's religious, cultural and architectural heritage.  The joint statement came after US President Donald Trump's landmark recognition of the disputed city as capital of Israel, which sparked anger across the Muslim world, especially from Palestinians who see Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.  Improving relations with other religions has been a priority for the Argentine pontiff, whose papacy has been marred by clergy facing a wave of child sex abuse allegations.  Addressing thousands of Moroccans who had braved the rain to attend the welcome ceremony, Francis said it was "essential to oppose fanaticism".  He stressed the need for "appropriate preparation of future religious guides", ahead of meeting trainee imams later on Saturday.  Catholics are a tiny minority Morocco, where 99 percent of the population is Muslim. The king is revered across West Africa as "commander of the faithful".  Speaking at the ceremony at the Tour (or tower) Hassan mosque and nearby mausoleum in Rabat, the monarch also voiced opposition to radicalism.  "That which terrorists have in common is not religion, it's precisely the ignorance of religion. It's time that religion is no longer an alibi... for this ignorance, for this intolerance," he said.  Francis rode to the ceremony in his Popemobile, passing rows of Moroccan and Vatican City flags and an estimated 12,000 well-wishers who packed the esplanade.  Buildings had been repainted, lawns manicured and security stepped up ahead of the first papal visit to Morocco since John Paul II in 1985.  A 17-year-old was arrested after trying to throw himself onto the king's limousine to seek the monarch's help, the police said.  Some 130,000 people across Rabat watched the first stage of the pope's visit, which was beamed onto giant screens, officials said.  After stopping by the royal palace, Francis and Mohammed visited an institute where around 1,300 students are studying to become imams and preachers.  There they heard from a French and a Nigerian student of the institute, which teaches "moderate Islam" and is backed by the king.  In Morocco, where Islam is the state religion, authorities are keen to stress the country's "religious tolerance" which allows Christians and Jews to worship freely.  But Moroccans are automatically considered Muslim, apart from a minority who are born Jewish. Apostasy is socially frowned upon, and proselytising is a criminal offence.  Those who try to "rock the faith of a Muslim or to convert him to another religion" risk a prison term of up to three years.  After years in the shadows, since 2017 the small number of converts have called openly for the right to live "without persecution" and "without discrimination".  Around 30,000 to 35,000 Catholics live in Morocco, many of them from sub-Saharan Africa.  The pope finished his Saturday schedule by meeting migrants -- including children dressed in colourful hats -- at a centre run by Catholic humanitarian organisation Caritas.  "Everyone has the right to a future," said Francis, who has throughout his papacy highlighted the plight of migrants and refugees.  He criticised "collective expulsions" and said ways for migrants to regularise their status should be encouraged.  Caritas centres in Rabat, Casablanca and Tangiers welcomed 7,551 new arrivals in 2017, according to the charity, helping migrants access services.  The number of people taking the sea route from Morocco to Spain has recently surged as it has become harder for them to pass through Libya.  Rabat claims to have a "humanistic" approach to migration and rejects allegations by rights groups of "brutal arrest campaigns" and "forced displacement" to the country's southern border.  On Sunday, the pope will celebrate mass at a Rabat stadium with an estimated 10,000 people attending.


breitbart--2019-11-20--Exclusive: Philippine Monsignor: Christian Survivors of Jihad Carry a Faith 'Tested by Fire'

The tiny Christian minority in Jolo, Philippines – a majority-Muslim area in an overwhelmingly Catholic nation – has seen renewed energy in its churches now that its faith has been “tested by fire,” Monsignor Romeo S. Saniel, vicar administrator of the Vicariate of Jolo, told Breitbart News in an interview on Tuesday.  Jolo’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral was partially destroyed on January 27, when jihadists, later identified as a couple from Indonesia, detonated suicide bombs minutes apart inside, killing 22 people and wounding 111. It was the latest in years of violent attacks Saniel had witnessed or experienced while caring for the Christians of Jolo – including a failed assassination attempt he survived because the gun touching his head jammed when the assailant pulled the trigger.  Saniel told Breitbart News he is now endeavoring to help rebuild the cathedral and bring spiritual and economic support to the survivors of the attack. The Catholic Church is also working to help improve educational and economic opportunities for all residents of Jolo, holding on to the belief that economic desperation can attract young Muslims to jihadist ideology.  Saniel spoke with Breitbart News in anticipation of several events to bring awareness to the dangers facing Philippine Christians in Muslims territories, and other Christians who live as minorities, in the United States this week. The first, “Listening to Survivors of Religious Persecution: The Call for Religious Freedom,” will take place Wednesday at the United Nations, hosted by Aid to the Church in Need, a papal charity of the Catholic Church that supports persecuted Christians globally.  Aid to the Church in Need will also host a Night of Witness event – to pray, reflect, and listen to the victims of Christian persecution – at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, on Saturday.  Saniel highlighted the resilience of the Christian faith in Jolo – located in an autonomous Muslim region where, he says, Catholics amount to about three percent of the population – even in the face of bombs going off during Mass.  “The bombing and the persecution sometimes … can create a lot of blessings in disguise in our lives,” he said. “The number one blessing is, we have been persecuted in this community but really remained steadfast in our faith. I believe the faith of our minority Christians has been tested by fire and we have a deeper commitment to the life of the church and the life of following Jesus today.”  “Some are exposed to so much danger, but they don’t walk away and they still witness the Christian faith that they have,” he added.  Young Christians, he noted, have particularly experienced renewed enthusiasm in their faith.  “There are so many young people now who are in the Church in spite of the fact that they are victims of the bombing, but they are back in the Church and they make it so alive, and I really appreciate the energy of the young people,” he said.  Saniel noted that those who attacked the cathedral were foreigners and that, for decades, the vast majority of Philippine Muslims accepted the existence of Christians among them. Most of the southern island of Mindanao, where Jolo is located, is predominantly Christian; nationally, Catholics make up 86 percent of the population. But the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao is an exception, a nation-within-a-nation in which the rules of living as a Christian in the Philippines elsewhere do not apply.  “In Jolo … we are only four percent, three percent Christians, 97 percent are Muslims in our area, so we are a small minority and we feel that we have been persecuted because of our faith,” Saniel told Breitbart News. “But the majority of the Muslims in our area are friendly and very open to dialogue and witnessing of our religion, except a small minority now we call the Wahhabists or the violent extremists. They are threatening us and attacking us and our churches.”  Wahhabism is a fundamentalist strain of Sunni Islam originating in Saudi Arabia and disseminated widely through radical clerics and terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The Islamic State’s affiliate in the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf, took responsibility for the January cathedral bombing.  Abu Sayyaf’s largest temporary victory was the siege of Marawi, the largest Muslim city in the country, in May 2017. President Rodrigo Duterte announced the death of the head of Abu Sayyaf, Isnilon Hapilon, in Marawi in September, effectively ending the siege.  “We have the influence of the foreign Wahhabists when they attacked Marawi city … of the remnants now are in Jolo,” Saniel noted. “According to intelligence, some of them are Westerners … the suicide bombers who attacked our cathedral were identified as Indonesians.”  Mindanao has for decades struggled against higher poverty levels than the wealthier islands to the north and hosted a Muslim insurgency for decades, organized by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The MILF, who prioritized self-governance, joined with Duterte to fight Abu Sayyaf and foreign jihadis, its leaders warning of a coming wave of jihadists from the collapsing Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in 2018.  While MILF fighters may have come to peace under Duterte, years of conflict between Muslim separatists and the government has made much of Mindanao dangerous to Christians for decades. Saniel noted that, as a newly assigned priest in the region, he survived an assassination attempt by sheer luck – or the grace of God.  “When I was distributing Holy Communion to the Christians of Jolo, two young boys were walking behind me and I felt the .45 caliber muzzle in the back of my head, and I heard ‘click,’ but the gun jammed, so I was saved,” he said. “I think the Lord is the reason why I was saved from the attempt. Since then, I have been working for interreligious dialogue, establishing good relations with our Muslim brothers and sisters, and giving a platform to also prevent the recruitment of these violent extremists in our area.”  Saniel said that, since the bombing, many Muslims living around the cathedral “are more compassionate and merciful to us, and they are extending help, they are expressing their desire to help us in whatever way they can.”  He also credited President Duterte with helping the Christian minority there and offering extensive security to prevent another bombing. Duterte has received criticism from international aid groups for feuding with the nation’s Catholic leadership, who have in turn condemned his violent anti-drug policies in the country. Duterte has countered with police evidence that drug trafficking has enriched and empowered jihadis to attack Christian communities. He has, more often, dismissed Catholic leaders and encouraged people to kill them.  Saniel’s experience offers an alternative to the international headlines on the bombastic Duterte.  “Since the bombing of the cathedral, our president has been very friendly to us,” Saniel said. “He has visited the church many times. He has given us assistance through the military. Also, he has visited the place many times.”  “I feel he treats us differently from the people of Manila because we are minority Christians and we are victimized and so our president has a softer heart and [is helping] rebuild our churches and the lives of Christians and making sure we are also secure through the military,” Saniel added.  Duterte is the first president in Philippine history from Mindanao.  For Saniel, the priority in the aftermath of the bombing is the security of his Christian congregation. He says that, among the policies the Church will use to promote peace will be the development of “social economic projects” and closer ties with local Muslims, to better empower them to reject foreign jihadis.  The programs include as their goals “helping the Muslims become better Muslims, establishing schools, cooperatives, livelihood programs, and we also take care of our small minority Christians. so we have a strong bond with the majority of Muslims who are moderate and most of them are in government and in governance and they are graduates of our Catholic schools,” he said.


drudgereport--2019-02-04--Pope warns against fake news

Pope warns against 'fake news'...

Pope Francis delivers his speech during an Interreligious meeting at the Founder's Memorial in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Feb. 4, 2019. Pope Francis arrived in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. His visit represents the first papal trip ever to the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)  ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Latest on Pope Francis’s visit to the United Arab Emirates (all times local):  Pope Francis and the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in Sunni Islam, have signed a statement with their hopes for world peace and human understanding.  The two signed the document Monday night during the pope’s visit to the United Arab Emirates. It is the first papal visit ever to the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam.  The document describes itself as being in the name of “all victims of wars, persecution and injustice; . and those tortured in any part of the world, without distinction.” It also decried modern “signs of a ‘third world war being fought piecemeal.’”  The United Arab Emirates is deeply involved in the Saudi-led war in Yemen, which faces widespread international criticism for airstrikes killing civilians and the conflict pushing the country to the brink of famine.  The document says: “We resolutely declare that religions must never incite war, hateful attitudes, hostility and extremism, nor must they incite violence or the shedding of blood.”  The statement also says countries have a duty to establish a concept of “full citizenship.” The UAE relies heavily on foreign laborers who have no path to naturalization.  The head of Sunni Islam’s highest seat of learning has told an audience that includes Pope Francis and hundreds of other religious figures from around the world that Islam is a religion of peace that values human life.  At an event Monday evening during the first-ever papal visit to the Gulf, Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the head of Al-Azhar, quoted numerous Quranic verses about the value of life, including one that says: “Whoever kills a person it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind.”  The grand mufti said all faiths denounce terrorism in all its forms and that acts of terrorism are carried out by criminals, not by true believers of God.  The sheikh said that after the 9/11 attacks the media made Islam look like a “bloodthirsty” religion and that Muslims paid a heavy price for the acts of a few.  He spoke after the Muslim Council of Elders and the pope met for an interreligious dialogue that recognized efforts by the pope and al-Tayeb to foster peace.  Pope Francis has asserted in the first-ever papal visit to the Arabian Peninsula that religious leaders have a duty to reject all war and commit themselves to dialogue.  Francis concluded his landmark speech to an interfaith gathering on Monday by saying: “God is with those who seek peace. From heaven he blesses every step which, on this path, is accomplished on earth.”  Speaking in Italian at the Abu Dhabi Founder’s Memorial, Francis cited the conflicts in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya in calling for leaders to resist the “floods of violence and the desertification of altruism.” The UAE is involved in the conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Libya.  Speaking to a gathering of imams, muftis, ministers, rabbis, swamis, Zoroastrians and Sikhs, Francis said: “Human fraternity requires of us, as representatives of the world’s religions, the duty to reject every nuance of approval from the word ‘war.’ Let us return it to its miserable crudeness.”  Pope Francis has called out the dangers of so-called “fake news” amid ongoing propaganda campaigns across Gulf Arab countries.  Francis made the comment in a speech Monday night, saying: “Young people, who are often surrounded by negative messages and fake news, need to learn not to surrender to the seductions of materialism, hatred and prejudice.”  The boycott of Qatar by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has seen such propaganda published since its start in June 2017.  The crisis began after Qatar’s state-run news agency was hacked and fake items were published.  In the time since, slanted or one-sided coverage in the dispute has been common in both Arabic- and English-language media outlets.  Pope Francis is visiting the UAE on the first papal trip ever to the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam.  Pope Francis has condemned all violence committed in God’s name, telling an interfaith meeting in the first papal visit to the Arabian Peninsula that religious leaders must be beacons of peace and promote the dignity of all God’s children.  Francis warned that unless people of different religions come together to promote “concrete paths of peace,” the future of humanity itself will be in doubt.  He warned: “We will either build the future together or there will not be a future. The time has come when religions should more actively exert themselves, with courage and audacity, and without pretense, to help the human family deepen the capacity for reconciliation, the vision of hope and the concrete paths of peace.”  At the highlight of his 40-hour visit to Abu Dhabi on Monday, Francis also called for full religious freedom in this majority Muslim region, where restrictions are placed on non-Muslim expressions of faith.  Pope Francis has met with a group of Muslim elders at the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi in what the Vatican says was a “particularly cordial and fraternal” encounter.  The Vatican says the private meeting lasted about 30 minutes, and was followed by a visit of the mosque alongside Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, the grand imam of Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the seat of Sunni learning. Francis later paid homage at the tomb of the founder of the Emirates.  The Vatican says that during the meeting Monday, Francis and the participants “emphasized the importance of the culture of encounter to reinforce the commitment to dialogue and peace.”  Francis is making the first-ever trip to the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam, in a bid to strengthen ties with the Muslim world.  Human Rights Watch is urging Pope Francis to use his visit to the United Arab Emirates to press its rulers about serious human rights violations in the war in Yemen and their repression of critics at home.  The rights group released a letter on Monday at the start of the first-ever papal visit to the Arabian Peninsula.  HRW says the Saudi-led coalition backed by the UAE has bombed Yemeni homes, markets and schools indiscriminately while impeding humanitarian aid from reaching desperate Yemenis.  The New York-based watchdog also says that the UAE authorities have targeted critics, political dissidents and human rights activists with arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances.  HRW called in the letter on the pope to lead international pressure to hold the UAE leadership accountable. It says that “despite its assertions about tolerance, the UAE government has demonstrated no real interest in improving its human rights record.”  Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince says he and Dubai’s ruler were “delighted” to meet Pope Francis for a meeting amid the pontiff’s trip to the United Arab Emirates.  Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan tweeted pictures of the meeting on Monday in what he described as “our homeland of tolerance.”  Sheikh Mohammed tweeted: “We discussed enhancing cooperation, consolidating dialogue, tolerance, human coexistence & important initiatives to achieve peace, stability and development for peoples and societies.”  He did not elaborate.  Pope Francis arrived in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. His visit represents the first papal trip ever to the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam.  Pope Francis has assured the people of the United Arab Emirates of his prayers and “the divine blessings of peace and fraternal solidarity.”  Francis signed a book of honor on Monday at the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi, where he met for private talks with the Emirati capital’s powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in the first-ever papal visit to the Arabian Peninsula.  Frances wrote in his characteristic tiny script, in English, of his “gratitude for your warm welcome and hospitality.”  The Emirates put on a remarkably grandiose welcome for Francis, complete with an artillery salute and military flyover by a country that is now at war in Yemen, where the UAE backs a Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels.  Pope Francis has arrived at the presidential palace to officially start his historic visit to the United Arab Emirates as canons boomed and a military aircraft flew over trailing the yellow and white smoke of the Holy See flag.  Guards on horseback escorted Francis’ tiny Kia car to approach the palace where a marching band, complete with bagpipers, was on hand on Monday for a red carpet welcome at the massive, domed structure in Abu Dhabi.  The capital’s powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, was to welcome Francis, the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula.  The highlight of Francis’ day comes on Monday afternoon when he is to meet privately with a group of Muslim elders and then addresses faith leaders in a show of religious tolerance in a Muslim region known for its restrictions on religious freedom.  His 40-hour trip to Abu Dhabi culminates on Tuesday with the first-ever papal Mass on the Arabian Peninsula — a gathering expected to draw some 135,000 people in a never-before-seen display of public Christian worship here.  Pope Francis is opening his historic visit to the United Arab Emirates by meeting with the federation’s leader and a group of Muslim elders.  After that, he will address an unprecedented gathering of faith leaders in a show of religious tolerance in a Muslim region known for its restrictions on religious freedom.  Francis’ speech to the gathering on Monday evening is the highlight of his brief, 40-hour visit to Abu Dhabi.  His trip culminates on Tuesday with the first-ever papal Mass on the Arabian Peninsula. It’s expected to draw some 135,000 people in a never-before-seen display of public Christian worship here.  Francis arrived in the Emirati capital late Sunday and was greeted by Abu Dhabi’s powerful crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.


lifesitenews--2019-10-05--Pope Francis doesn’t understand Islam

Pope Francis doesn’t understand Islam

October 4, 2019 (Turning Point Project) — "Is the pope Catholic?" used to be a punch line. Now, sometimes, you almost have to wonder. Of course, I'm not suggesting that Pope Francis is a secret apostate or a Masonic agent. It's just that he seems dissatisfied with certain Church teachings.  What apparently rankles him most are Catholic claims to exclusivity. For example, the belief that all men are saved through Christ can be looked upon as an impediment to interreligious harmony. Francis, for whom interreligious harmony is a top priority, seems to see it that way. Many of his statements seem to suggest he has abandoned the idea that Catholics should seek to convert others to the Faith. On one occasion, for example, he referred to proselytism as "solemn nonsense."  Francis appears to believe that each religion provides its own path to heaven. If that's so, then people are best served by going deeper into whatever faith they already belong to. Thus, Francis once advised a group of Muslim migrants to read the Koran in order to find direction in their lives.  As he wrote in Evangelii Gaudium, Francis believes that all religions have "shared beliefs." Where those beliefs don't overlap so neatly, he seems perfectly happy to blur the lines. A good example is the Abu Dhabi Declaration on "Human Fraternity" signed by Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, in February.  Of particular concern is the statement that "the pluralism and the diversity of religions ... are willed by God." That's quite a concession for Francis to make, as it contradicts Christ's claim that "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me" (Jn. 14:6). As Swiss bishop Marian Eleganti puts it, "the unique and universal mediation of Jesus Christ is eclipsed in the Abu Dhabi Declaration."  Just so. But there are many other problems with the document besides God's supposed endorsement of a variety of contradictory religions. In their commitment to inclusion, the drafters of the document — mostly Catholics, one assumes — end up saying things that are true neither of Catholicism nor Islam.  Contrary to the evidence, the Declaration assumes that the one common religion already exists in nascent form, and that the teachings and values of all religions are essentially the same. Thus, "the values of tolerance and fraternity ... are promoted and encouraged by religions." And, therefore: "These tragic realities [hate, extremism, and violence] are the consequence of a deviation from religious teachings." Terrorism for example, "is not due to religion ... it is due rather to an accumulation of incorrect interpretations of religious texts."  If that's so, how is it that so many Muslims in so many different parts of the world interpret Koranic texts in exactly the same way — namely, as a justification for jihad? How would you interpret: "Then, when the sacred months are over, kill the idolaters wherever you find them" (Koran 9:5)? There are over a hundred similar texts in the Koran. By contrast, there are very few texts of the love-thy-neighbor-as-thyself variety.  In fact, Catholic apologists for Islam are reduced to citing the same three Koranic verses over and over because there just aren't that many to pick from. As it happens, the Document on Human Fraternity begins with a paraphrase of the most frequently cited verse: "Whoever saved a human life shall be regarded as having saved all mankind" (5:32). Unsurprisingly, there's no mention of the very next verse:  Pope Francis and other Catholic apologists for Islam claim that terrorist leaders simply misunderstand Islam. If that's the case, then the very first person to misunderstand Islam was Muhammad himself, who commanded that the hand of a thief be cut off. The Life of Muhammad — which, after the Koran and the Hadith, is considered the most important source of Islamic truths — is essentially a record of Muhammad's jihadist exploits. Approximately two-thirds of its 800 pages detail Muhammad's jihad raids, his beheading of captured prisoners, his slave trading, his endorsement of rape and sex slavery, and his use of torture.  Did Muhammad misunderstand Islam? For that matter, does Grand Imam el-Tayeb misunderstand Islam? Yes, he did sign the Document on Human Fraternity — but Muhammad signed the Treaty of Hudaibiya with the Meccans, too. That was a great PR stunt, but it wasn't worth the paper it was written on.  El-Tayeb doesn't misunderstand Islam, though Francis appears to. He must be acquainted with the darker aspects of Islam, and yet he seems sure that they have nothing to do with "true" Islam.  Such an approach helps to burnish Islam's image. But what does it do for Catholics? Primarily, it misinforms them. Readers of the Document on Human Fraternity will be left with a false impression of the Muslim faith. They will come away with the conviction that Islam is a member in good standing of the fraternity of great humanitarian religions. In short, they will conclude that there's nothing to worry about.  This impression won't be left to chance. A multi-faith committee has been set up to ensure that the principles of the document will be spread throughout the world. What this means in practice is that Arab leaders will set up a few Potemkin Village–like centers to ostensibly study human fraternity, while the Catholic Church will rush appropriately adapted versions of the one-world religious humanism into every Catholic seminary, university, high school, and kindergarten on the planet.  Catholics are already badly misinformed about Islam. The Abu Dhabi statement, once it is widely disseminated, will only serve to reinforce their naïveté. That, in turn, will leave them unprepared for the next step in what has become a predictable progression.  The next step is Islamization. That's not a word one hears very often, especially in polite Catholic circles. But some Catholics can't afford to be polite. Fr. Valentine Obinna told Crux that, in Nigeria, Fulani Muslims killed almost 9,000 Christians and other non-Muslims in a recent three-year period, as part of a program for the "Islamization of Nigeria." President Buhari and those in power turn a blind eye to the activities of the Fulani and Boko Haram, he said, because they "want to make sure the whole country becomes a Muslim country."  Apparently, President Buhari — a member of the Fulani ethnic group — didn't get the message from Abu Dhabi. Otherwise, he would understand that Islam is a religion of peace, love, and human fraternity. On the other hand, perhaps the elderly president has a firmer grip on Islamic principles than does Pope Francis and his advisors. If so, he would understand that the Islamization of Nigeria is not a deviation from the teachings of Islam; it is very nearly the first principle. As Muhammad said, "I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no God but Allah" (Sahih Muslim 1:33). Indeed, the whole purpose of Islam on earth is to bring the House of War (i.e., non-Muslim territory) under the rule of the House of Islam.  Islamic teaching mandates not only that Nigeria be Islamized, but also Europe, Canada, the U.S., and the entire globe. Only at that point, from an Islamic point of view, can peace and human fraternity be achieved. Buhari understands that. El-Tayeb understands it. Catholics can't allow themselves to be misinformed on this point.  The astonishing ignorance of these basic teachings on the part of Pope Francis and his advisors doesn't make for a more harmonious world: it makes for a more dangerous one. Those who buy into their fantasy view of Islam are in for a rude surprise when they encounter the real thing.  This article originally appeared in the September 25, 2019 edition of Crisis. It is published here with permission from the Turning Point Project.