Reciprocity: when will Christmas be celebrated in a mosque?
With the Vatican promoting Islamic finance, this is hardly a surprise. The dhimmi elements in the Roman Catholic hierarchy appear to be quite firmly entrenched.
“Archbishop Nichols defends use of chapel for event marking Mohammed’s birthday,” by Damian Thompson in his Telegraph blog, March 12 (thanks to Tom):
The Archbishop of Birmingham, Vincent Nichols, has defended the use of a Catholic university college chapel for an event marking the birthday of Mohammed. Unbelieveable, I know. But here it is:
In a statement issued today, Thursday 12 March, Peter Jennings, Press Secretary to the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham, and the Archdiocese of Birmingham, said: “The chapel at Newman University College, Birmingham, was properly prepared for this event which consisted of two talks and a discussion of an interfaith nature.”
Mr Jennings added: “Christian/Muslin [sic] dialogue is an important part of the Catholic Church’s agenda. College authorities were fully aware of what was taking place.”
I’m baffled. Last night I reported on this disturbing event, organised by the college’s Islamic Society and sanctioned by its politically correct chaplaincy team. I know that priests in Birmingham archdiocese are outraged by what happened. Archbishop Nichols could so easily have distanced himself from this, but he hasn’t. If, against the odds, he is named as the next Archbishop of Westminster, his failure to speak out now will haunt him.
Yet perhaps this astounding act of naivete has not met with approval at the highest levels:
As I noted this morning, Italian journalist Paolo Roderi has named Bishop Bernard Longley, auxiliary in Westminster, as the man chosen by the Pope to succeed +Cormac. But only last night Roderi was claiming that Benedict XVI was leaning towards Vincent Nichols, which implies that the Pope had a last-minute change of heart. If so, can you blame him? This response to an event that has enormously upset devout Catholics is inadequate, and that’s putting it politely.
Oriana Fallaci had immense respect and admiration for Benedict XVI, for his awareness of the plight of Europe and the nature of Islamic supremacism and jihad. I hope we will someday see her hope in him borne out by his actions.