“Francis thanked Meriam, who was accompanied by her husband and two small children, for her ‘testimony of faith’ and ‘perseverance.'” A Vatican spokesman said that Francis wanted the meeting to be a “sign of closeness to all those who suffer due to their faith and practice of their faith.” One may hope that his encounter with Meriam Ibrahim will lead the Pope to reconsider his benign and counterfactual view of Islamic law, and to realize that her death sentence for apostasy was based on Muhammad’s words and universally held principles of Sharia.
“Meriam lands in Rome, meets Pope Francis,” ANSA, July 24, 2014:
(ANSA) – Rome, July 24 – Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death in majority-Muslim Sudan for apostasy before being released in the face of international outrage, landed in Rome on Thursday. The 27-year-old was greeted by Italian Premier Matteo Renzi when she landed at Rome’s Ciampino airport to end an ordeal that lasted almost a year. She went to the Vatican for 30-minute meeting with Pope Francis soon after.
Francis thanked Meriam, who was accompanied by her husband and two small children, for her “testimony of faith” and “perseverance”, said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.
The pope met Meriam at the Santa Marta residence where he lives inside the Vatican after shunning the papal apartment. Lombardy said the pope wanted the meeting to be a “sign of closeness to all those who suffer due to their faith and practice of their faith”. The spokesman added: “It’s a gesture that goes beyond the meeting and becomes a symbol”.
Renzi complimented Junior Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli, who led the Italian government’s negotiations with Khartoum for the family to be allowed to leave Sudan and accompanied them to Italy.
“Today is a day of celebration,” Renzi said after meeting Meriam, her husband Daniel Wani – who also is from South Sudan and has US nationality – and her children, Martin and Maya. Pistelli said Meriam will stay in Rome for a few days before going to New York.
Meriam’s father is Muslim so according to Sudan’s version of Islamic law she is also Muslim and cannot convert.
She was raised by her Christian mother and says she has never been Muslim.
Meriam’s daughter Maya was born when she was in prison in May.
She was released in June after her conviction was quashed and she tried to fly to the United States last month, but was arrested again, accused of holding fake travel documents.
After the second arrest, Meriam sought refuge in the U.S.
John C. Barile says
Doubtlessly, the Vatican has played a part in the spiriting away of Meriam and her family.
Huck Folder says
Ironic? I’m with mariam rove and others. I’m calling him a ‘so-called’ pope, until he shows his spine. Turning the other cheek for 1,400 years has ceded vast areas AND THEIR FORMERLY CIVILIZED INHABITANTS to lives of monotony, punishment and ultimately up to 270,000,000 deaths.
Let the CRUSADES start:
“If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.” [dhimmis] WSC
At the moment, the free, civilized world outnumbers the savages by about 11:3, but that advantage decreases month by month:
“… were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.” WSC
Jay Boo says
This is great news
Even if it is a publicity stunt as mariam says, it is still a good thing.
Rub Islam’s nose in its shame.
More publicity not less.
Some Muslims may try to portray this as an act of Islamic ‘forgiveness’ (during Ramadan) and try to make Islam out as benevolent to escape the wrath of long overdue well-deserved condemnation.
mariam rove says
this is the worst publicity stunt I have ever seen. It is a joke while thousands of Christian are being forced out of their home and murdered. M
Joseph says
I agree completely, Mariam.
MacUalraig says
I would say it’s not about Francis and his photo op.
It’s about her. It’s about her little ones and her husband.
I’m sure the last thing on her mind during her imprisonment was publicity.
james hazan says
Of course you are right,and I will add,the picture of the Pope and Meriam is part of a necessary publicity to tell and encourage other Christians to persevere and fight back .That is done in my country Israel,Christians! it’s wake up time.
MacUalraig says
Yes, James.
Fight, never retreat and never surrender. Fight until you’re dead. Get up and fight until the body you inhabit can’t get up and fight anymore!
Also, I’m not speaking as a Christian… I’m speaking as a simple minded human being who sees an engineer behind this place we find ourselves in. I’m not invested in any religion, I’m FREE and I want the children following me in future generations to be free.
She resisted the totalitarian, she lived and she will go on to a life of peace and HONOR.
And the picture is wrong: She should be placing her strong, beneficent, life-giving hand on Francis’s head!!
medina says
Mariam, I agree. As a Opus Dei Catholic, there is much more this pope could be doing for his flock. Job #1 is educating them that authentic Islam is marked by bloodshed and forced conversion, not counter, as he so foolishly wrote.
Oliver says
I AGREE with you. HOWEVER, look back a few years to Pope Benedict, when he said the truth about Islam.
The backlash, etc.
He (Pope Benedict) was forced to retreat and apologize to the slime, I mean Muslims.
Francies, who has or seems to have marxist/socialsitic leanings probably does not want to do that. And have the negative publicity.
This way- ( my view)-he is all fluff- and gets a godo press.
Just my views.
MacUalraig says
But I completely agree with your other point, there is much more to be done.
I suggest total war.
South Georgia is blue skies today, hope NYC is same.
R/ Mac
Januk36 says
All you see is a publicity stunt while it seems one of the few examples where a person of influence mildly takes a stance.
None of the Swiss Media reported her release. If not for JW I wouldn’t have learned about it.
Now tell me – which western politico spoke up for christians lately ? Did you see any red lines drawn by your Commander in Mieschief ? Don’t think so.
I’m glad it turned out well for that mother.
Jay Boo says
Agreed
“one of the few examples where a person of influence mildly takes a stance.”
Too bad the news media chooses to ignore it and the politicians in the West are playing it so safe and silent that even a leftist Pope is doing more.
RG says
I’m happy for Meriam and her family, but don’t doubt the creeps who imprisoned her in the first place, deserve to be hung by their parts unknown!
RG says
I’m happy for Meriam and her family, but don’t doubt the creeps who imprisoned her in the first place, deserve to be hung by their parts unknown!
RG says
@JW. If your ‘Post Comment’ worked properly people like me wouldn’t be inclined to double click!
SuperSwede says
What a brave lady. I am so happy that she got out alive.
Joseph says
“…the pope wanted the meeting to be a sign of closeness to all those who suffer due to their faith and practice of their faith”.
I’m sorry, but to my mind this simply is not enough. Of course, credit to the pope for meeting with this woman; it does make a statement of some kind. And I agree with the comment of Barile that the Vatican was probably somehow involved in her being released. And I’m a Catholic who prays for the pope every single day and have the utmost respect for the office of the papacy.
But to say merely “…all those who suffer…” instead of, frankly, “…all those Christians who suffer..” to me sends a message of equivalence which is odious. In my opinion, while not wrong, of course, what Lombardi is quoted to have said suggests that there is some kind of proportionality between the suffering of Christians today and the suffering of all other religious groups. And that simply is not the case. The Jews, of course, could indeed be included with the Christians in the degree to which they are persecuted. But certainly not Muslims or any other religion. Christians and Jews today suffer far more because of religious persecution than any other groups. And, it is worth pointing out, they suffer precisely at the hands of another religious group, namely Muslims.
As usual, what we get from Fr. Lombardi is a mealy-mouthed statement of a half-truth that you can’t condemn outright, but that doesn’t speak the truth forthrightly. Fr. Lombardi reminds me of Grima Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings: the close advisor who utters lies into the ear of his master and muddies the waters, confusing good with evil.
So what should the pope himself have said? How about this: “We welcome the release of this Christian woman from her Muslim captors and we pray for an end to the violent and fanatical Muslim persecution of Christians and Jews all over the world.” At least that would state the truth about what is actually going on and not hide behind the mealy-mouthed half-truth of “…all those who suffer…”
And if the reply to my [by today’s standards outrageous] statement is that it would cause even more Christian deaths by raging Muslim mobs, then doesn’t THAT very fact point out the NEED to speak more honestly about what is going on in the world? Muslims all over the world are killing and otherwise ruining the lives of Christians and Jews. And NOT the other way around. So just say it! If we don’t speak the truth, we will never be able to solve the problem. And the problem today is Islam.
voegelinian says
“As usual, what we get from Fr. Lombardi is a mealy-mouthed statement of a half-truth that you can’t condemn outright, but that doesn’t speak the truth forthrightly…”
Yes indeed. We see the bitter irony of two kinds of kitman being waged in the war of ideas front of the bloody third world war being waged by Mohammedans (a war to which the mainstream West remains oblivious): the willfuly mendacious and sly kitman of Islamopologist propaganda, gullibly lapped up by the mainstream West; and the witlessly sincere kitman of PC MC — a product of a semi-conscious incoherent melange of fear of the Mohammedan and neo-Wilsonian respect for this Mother of All Others.
voegelinian says
I.e., the mainstream West is waging the war of ideas of this third world war against itself, assisting the Islamopologists with their jihad of the pen (which of course includes all the taqiyya deceptions about Islam).
dumbledoresarmy says
You stated that the Pope should have said – “We welcome the release of this Christian woman from her Muslim captors and we pray for an end to the violent and fanatical Muslim persecution of Christians and Jews all over the world.”
Yes.
And it could even have been “we pray for an end to the violent and fanatical Muslim persecution of Christians, Jews, and every other kind of non-Muslim, all over the world”.
Now *that* would have been telling it.
RG says
Wow, this story sure does lend itself to the question which constantly comes up, ‘Is Barack Obama a Christian or a Muslim?’
Mind you, I KNOW he is a muslim, but how many ignoramouses still insist that he is a Christian, just because he supposedly joined a ‘Christian’ church. This ought to make people with half a brain realize what a LIAR bho is. bho is absolutely nothing but a plant by the MB to weaken and destroy our country!
jihad3tracker says
Hello RG —
I have posted this link before, but it is such astonishing evidence that it deserves attention by all who still wonder about BHO’s true loyalty regarding TheReligionOfPeace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE9mZCRX2mg
—————–
gerard says
Good post jihad3tracker.
I was however unable to watch the whole video as it made me sick and I had to turn it off.
Rosemary says
Nor could I.
MacUalraig says
She’s out of Sudan, she’s in Italia WITH HER FAMILY.
Oh God, look at her beautiful face! I’m not a Catholic, but I vote sainthood NOW! What a beautiful woman, unbelievable endurance through unspeakable cruelty and she’s smiling!!
What an inspiration. I just want to cry. I don’t have the words to describe how moved I am in this moment.
dumbledoresarmy says
Somewhere in the real paradise, the one that Christians believe in, Oriana Fallaci and the blessed Saint Josephina Bakhita, patron saint of Sudan – she who lived out her life in Italy as a Catholic nun after having lived in Sudan as the tormented slave of Muslims who had stolen her from her family when she was a child – are kissing each other on the cheek, high-fiving, and clinking their glasses together.
MacUalraig says
Yes, and I read Oriana’s books years ago. But that’s the first I heard about the Saint Josephina.
Them celebrating the safety and well being of their sister Mariam, that was a nice mental picture to create.
dumbledoresarmy says
Pope Francis I should have gone down on his knees and kissed her feet.
Huck Folder says
Nah, that’s for mohammedans only.
dumbledoresarmy says
The Pope knew she was coming to Italy.
When that plane touched down and she stepped onto the tarmac with her two babies and her lovely, gentle husband (who’s a wise man, because he chose a true Proverbs 31 wife, a woman of valour), then at that moment every bell in Rome, and, indeed, in every church the length of breadth of Italy should have begun to ring and gone on ringing for an hour.
MacUalraig says
That would have been magnificent!!
mortimer says
Islam is NOT benign. In fact, Islam is malignant towards all kafirs.
voegelinian says
But don’t forget:
Jay Boo
February 26, 2014 at 9:35 am
“Islam is not 100% evil.”
Jovial Joe says
So unbelievably petty; it discredits your otherwise well-researched posts. Because you too are not 100% inane.
voegelinian says
It’s not petty. We need to name and shame all Counter-Jihad people who say such grotesquely reckless things as that PC MC spasm I quoted from Jay Boo which insult all the victims of Islam and perpetuate the PC MC meme that is killing us.
Jay Boo says
voeg
Retune your brain
that same old sing-song is lame
I repeat “Islam is not 100% evil.” and I also agree with Jovial Joe that voegelinian is not 100% inane.
Unlike voegelinian, I find no need to appeal to the lowest common denominator of trite xenophobic extremes for gratuitous applause since Islam has so much intrinsic evil it would be a disservice to the same ‘all the victims of Islam’ that our pompous knight in shining armor voegelinian claims to defend (by his all Muslims are sub-human meme).
Anyone claiming that Islam is 100% evil is either uninformed or worse – a foolish liar. Rather than confront Islam in a meaningful way, this type of argument makes anti-jihadists appear as weak and bigoted fools who in turn are easy pickings whenever CAIR is in need of a poster-boy to flaunt their claims at victimhood
Mirren10 says
I agree with voegelinian on this one.
I, too, would like to know what percentage of islam is **not** evil.
Jovial Joe says
Hey Mirren. Islam is indeed 100% evil buts it’s pretty petty fishing out posts from several months ago to provoke an ongoing argument we ought to consider beneath the dignity of Mr Spencer’s site and ourselves as contributors to it. Just my opinion though.
Rinzai says
He pats her on the head, while allowing genocidal islamic(satanic) chants to be held in the vatican and praising the adolf hitler of the 7 century – Mohammed the Pedophile…
CogitoErgoSum says
My heart rejoices at the news. Meriam’s smile is a reflection of the inner peace and strength which her soul does magnify…. Another, held captive and yet to be released, still smiles too. We should be happy this day but let us keep Asia Bibi in our thoughts also. The latest information I could find concerning Asia:
http://www.ucanews.com/news/still-smiling-after-five-years-in-jail-pakistans-asia-bibi/71370
gravenimage says
Thank you for reminding us of those still in Mohammedan captivity threatened with death, CogitoErgoSum.
MacUalraig says
I second GI.
dumbledoresarmy says
*I* haven’t forgotten her.
I pray for her.
The world – the western world, and that means *us* – needs to start making as much noise on her behalf as we did for Meriam.
We – Christians, and all non-Muslims who know about hellish Islam – need to be pressuring our governments to put pressure – MASSIVE PRESSURE – on Pakistan to release Asia, and other Christians who in jail on death row on “blasphemy” charges. It can be done. Rimsha Masih was delivered. We can complain about and condemn Pakistan’s abuse of the Hindu and Sikh minorities, as well.
Pope Francis I should be notifying the Pakistani Government that he intends to pay a papal visit to Pakistan and that as part of that visit he intends to pay a pastoral visit to all members of his flock – notably Asia Bibi, but I think there may be others – who are in prison in Pakistan on trumped-up “blasphemy!” charges.
His request to be able to visit Asia Bibi in prison should be made as publicly and loudly as possible, so that if the Pakistani Government refuses the request – if they deny the Pope’s right to offer spiritual succour to a Christian, if they say he can’t visit this poor woman and pray with her and bring her the sacraments – they will look, there in public, as the vicious and vile malignant narcissists and sadistic sh*ts that they are.
gravenimage says
DDA, I hadn’t meant to imply that I had forgotten Asia Bibi—nor all the other Christians suffering at Muslim hands.
I just thought that in the midst of our celebration, that CogitoErgoSum was right to mention how many more “Meriams” there are.
Here are some more stories:
“Pakistan: Christian man sentenced to death under blasphemy law”
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/pakistan-christian-man-sentenced-death-under-blasphemy-law-2014-03-27
“Egypt: Christian gets six years prison for blasphemy”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/06/egypt-christian-gets-six-years-prison-for-blasphemy#
“Iran Evangelicals Lose Appeal Against Long Prison Terms”
http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2014/04/04/iran-evangelicals-lose-appeal-against-long-prison-terms/
There are, of course, many more.
Burt says
So glad you and your baby are home safe and sound Meriam.
Pope Francis, even the Protestant misunderstanders of scripture are spooked by you. True Catholics know you are singularly departing from your predecessors. You have boldly revealed your disdain for maintaining the faith as handed to you. Whereas all post Vatican II pontiffs have been negligent, you are determined to replace the doctrines of Christ with the Antichrist humanist New World Order. I pray for you Pope Francis (I cannot refer to you as ‘Holy Father’) You are in the right seat to make a difference, you can rediscover your Catholic faith and truly evangelise as you are commanded by Our Lord.
Mirren10 says
Calooh, calay !!
I am so happy this unbelievably courageous woman, and her equally courageous husband, have escaped the chains of the foul sharia, and are now safe ! Kudos to the Ities !
And, kudos to America, for sheltering her in the Embassy, and thus facilitating her freedom !! YAY !!
gravenimage says
Sudanese Christian woman who escaped apostasy death sentence meets with Pope Francis
…………………………………..
I am *so thrilled* to hear this! Not so much the meeting with the Pope per se, but that Meriam and her family are *finally free*.
Last I had heard, she was at the American Embassy—far better, of course, than being in prison—but that she and her family were unable to leave Sudan—or even the embassy grounds.
To learn that they are now safely in the civilized would is such wonderful news!
More:
“Francis thanked Meriam, who was accompanied by her husband and two small children, for her ‘testimony of faith’ and ‘perseverance.’” A Vatican spokesman said that Francis wanted the meeting to be a “sign of closeness to all those who suffer due to their faith and practice of their faith.”
…………………………………..
And most of those Christians who are suffering—and those who are suffering most grievously—are doing so *at the hands of Muslims*.
I’m glad the Pope gave at least this vague acknowledgment.
More:
Meriam’s father is Muslim so according to Sudan’s version of Islamic law she is also Muslim and cannot convert.
…………………………………..
This is not “Sudan’s version of Islamic law”—this is orthodox Islam. That under Infidel influence this savage tenet hasn’t always been enforced does not change the fact that the “Prophet” Muhammed himself said “kill anyone who changes his [Islamic] religion!”
More:
Renzi complimented Junior Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli, who led the Italian government’s negotiations with Khartoum for the family to be allowed to leave Sudan and accompanied them to Italy.
…………………………………..
Bravo! God bless the American Embassy, who gave her sanctuary, and the Italian government, who got her out.
She never would have left Sudan alive if not for pressure from civilized Infidels.
More:
“Today is a day of celebration,” Renzi said after meeting Meriam, her husband Daniel Wani – who also is from South Sudan and has US nationality – and her children, Martin and Maya. Pistelli said Meriam will stay in Rome for a few days before going to New York.
…………………………………..
This is indeed a day of celebration! And I look forward to the family’s arriving safely in New York. Welcome to America!
dumbledoresarmy says
American Christians of *all* backgrounds and traditions, right now, should be figuring out how to organise a ticker-tape parade for her, when she arrives in the USA.
Above, I said that the moment she stepped foot in Italy, the bells should have rung out in jubilation from every church in Rome and from every church the length and breadth of Italy.
Imagine if every bell in New York City rang out when she arrives in the United States. “Welcome home!!”
Imagine if the bells rang out in every church in the *United States*.
American jihadwatchers…those of you who are churchgoers…do you think you could at least talk to your parish priests/ pastors/ ministers and also contact the senior clergy of your respective traditions, and propose this??
Then the rest of the day could be devoted to a prayer vigil on behalf of the persecuted Christians within and on the borders of the de facto empire of Islam; indeed, pray for all non-Muslim minorities who are being attacked, oppressed and abused by Muslims.
Oliver says
I think De Blassio (did I spell it correclty- the left wing may or of NY?) would have a fit of many (let alone ALL) church bells in NYC rang out for her, and have another fit if there were a parade.
After all, he cannot abandon his Muslim supporters.
I am glad I left NYC when I did–decades ago.
It was liberal bad then; worse now. Just my view
Oliver says
I think De Blassio (did I spell it correclty- the left wing may or of NY?) would have a fit of many (let alone ALL) church bells in NYC rang out for her, and have another fit if there were a parade.
After all, he cannot abandon his Muslim supporters.
I am glad I left NYC when I did–decades ago.
It was liberal bad then; worse now. Just my view
Oliver says
I think De Blassio (did I spell it correclty- the left wing may or of NY?) would have a fit of many (let alone ALL) church bells in NYC rang out for her, and have another fit if there were a parade.
After all, he cannot abandon his Muslim supporters.
I am glad I left NYC when I did–decades ago.
It was liberal bad then; worse now. Just my view
PGuud says
Likewise. Every free person should celebrate Meriam’s triumph over evil–a triumph of her right to self-determination.
I hope that her story lights a fire under the countless Meriams of the world.
Islam: where freedom ends and slavery begins.
PJG says
Some Sudanese Muslims were thanking “God” last night for this news.
“God”? Do they really think Allah was behind her rescue? Those people are so deluded!
dumbledoresarmy says
Here’s a thought.
I don’t know whether the baby, Maya Wani, has been baptised yet. Unless it was done on the Q.T. while she was sheltering in the US embassy.
If she hasn’t, then, if Meriam and Daniel identify as Catholics (I don’t know whether they do, but if they *do*), what would be more fitting – and more publicly affirming – than (before they leave for the US) for little Maya to be baptised in a special service in the Vatican itself, with the Pope himself officiating?
Kepha says
Thank God Meriam is free. Amen.
dumbledoresarmy says
this is how I felt when I heard the news.
Psalm 150
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Am1uUU2clg
Te Deum Laudamus (Berlioz) (an Italian performance, incidentally)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9gwq5UgISk
Missa Criolla: Gloria
citycat says
Faith or no faith, everyone suffers at the hands of Islam.
lee says
Im not a religious person at all, I have little faith in humanity and none at all in a deity, but i’ve followed this lady’s story for several months and would respectfully request that one of you believers offer a prayer of thanks from me that she’s now finally safe.
she’s so lucky to get out of that hell hole, i honestly expected her to be killed by a random Islamic flash mob as so often happens in these countries.
Regan Huffman says
The savages of Khartoum are kith and kin to Islamic State ravagers.
No thanks to our US State Department, and kudos to Italy, Meriam is free.
Place no faith in our current American mind-set; instead, we must look to China and Russia as realistic leaders versus the Holy Jihad inflicted upon all humanity by 7th common era century religious psychopaths.
Michael North says
What is the Pope doing “thanking” her? Let him express admiration if he wants, but this is just patronising. I’m sure she didn’t do it for him.