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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Hugh Fitzgerald: Cardinal Burke Breaks Ranks

Jul 25, 2016 6:26 pm By Hugh Fitzgerald

Cardinal Raymond Burke

We have heard many disturbing statements in recent years made by Catholic clerics, from bishops and cardinals right up to Pope Francis, who seem to believe that Islam is a religion like any other, that criticism of Islam is unjustified and based on the motiveless malignity of “Islamophobia,” and that the main duty of Catholics with respect to Muslims is not to challenge or confront them both as to their ideology and as to the many acts of Muslim terrorism, but to engage, rather, in endless Catholic-Muslim Dialogue. Ever since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has had an ill-considered mandate to engage in “dialogue” with Muslims, as the Committee for Ecumenical and Religious Affairs of the United States Conference of Bishops has stated:

“The declaration has been consistently upheld by recent popes. Pope John Paul II affirmed the need for dialogue with Muslims on numerous occasions throughout his long pontificate (1978–2005). For example, in Crossing the Threshold of Hope he remarked in the chapter entitled “Muhammad?” that “believers in Allah are particularly close to us” and that “the religiosity of Muslims deserves our respect” ([New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005], 91, 93). The pope also reiterated the central mandate of Nostra Aetate by reminding the faithful that they are called to maintain “a dialogue with followers of the ‘Prophet’” and that “the Church remains always open to dialogue and cooperation” (ibid., 93, 94).

Unfortunately, while American Bishops claim that Muslims have been willing to engage in such dialogue, they report that the Christian side has not been as forthcoming:

“Sadly, in recent years, there has been a deliberate rejection of this call to engage in dialogue with our Muslim brothers and sisters by some in the Catholic Church and in other ecclesial families. We understand the confusion and deep emotions…

Not “confusion” and unspecified “deep emotions,” but rage.

…stirred by real and apparent acts of aggression and discrimination…

Not unspecified “acts of aggression and discrimination,” but mass murder, repeated again and again.

…by certain Muslims against non-Muslims, often against Christians abroad. We, and increasingly our Muslim partners in dialogue, are concerned about these very real phenomena. Along with many of our fellow Catholics and the many Muslims who themselves are targeted by radicals…

Muslims have not been “targeted” in Europe, even if some have unavoidably been among those killed when large groups have been the target. It is only Shia Muslims in the Middle East and Pakistan who have been deliberately targeted, by Sunnis, and solely because they are regarded by those Sunnis as Infidels, even the worst kind of Infidels.

…we wish to voice our sadness, indeed our outrage, over the random and sometimes systematic acts of violence and harassment—acts that for both Christians and Muslims threaten and disrupt the harmony that binds us together in mutual support, recognition, and friendship.

Translation: if we react to acts of Muslim terrorism by becoming more suspicious of Muslims, allowing attacks by Muslims to limit our “dialogue,” and rejecting that which binds us “in mutual support, recognition, and friendship”[!], why, then the terrorists will have won.”

“In the 2007 document A Common Word Between Us and You, 138 of the Islamic world’s most respected leaders asserted the following”:

“To those who nevertheless relish conflict and destruction for their own sake or reckon that ultimately they stand to gain through them, we say that our very eternal souls are all also at stake if we fail to sincerely make every effort to make peace and come together in harmony. . . . So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual goodwill.”

This is not Muslim-Christian dialogue, but Christians whistling in the dark.

As Robert Spencer pointed out at the time, the phrase “a common word between you and us” comes from the Qur’an, where the full context shows quite a different intent: “’a common word between us and you’ comes from beyond the Qur’an citation provided in that document’s epigraph. If they [the Catholic bishops] had looked it up in the Qur’an, they would have found that the full passage is not a call for mutual understanding and mutual respect; rather, it is an exhortation to Christians to convert to Islam.”

And Spencer provided in full that self-incriminating passage: “Say: ‘People of the Book! Come now to a word common between us and you, that we serve none but Allah, and that we associate no others with Him, and do not some of us take others as Lords, apart from Allah.’ And if they turn their backs, say: ‘Bear witness that we are Muslims’ (3:64).”

Spencer explained: “Since Muslims consider the Christian confession of the divinity of Christ to be an unacceptable association of a partner with God, this verse is saying that the ‘common word’ that Muslims and the People of the Book should agree on is that Christians should discard one of the central tenets of their faith and essentially become Muslims.”

Especially egregious among Catholic clergy, in his confused and delirious defense of Islam, has been Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester, Massachusetts, who even cancelled a scheduled talk by Robert Spencer, explaining: “Spencer’s talk about extreme, militant Islamists…might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.”

At the time — February 2013 — one would have expected Bishop McManus to provide a list of those “positive achievements” that Catholics had “attained in.inter-religious dialogue.” He failed to do so. And more than three years later, after some “negative achievements” – attacks on Charlie Hebdo, and the Hyper Cacher kosher market, Bataclan and Brussels, and Orlando, and San Bernardino, and Nice among them — McManus once again was reminding us of the “positive achievements that…Catholics have attained in [their] inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims,” achievements so obvious that they never need be described. Bishop McManus keeps repeating the same praise of “dialogue,” without allowing reality to break in: “This dialogue has produced a harvest of mutual respect, understanding and cooperation throughout the world and here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” Again, one would like Bishop McManus to provide a list of five, or three, or two, or even one example, of that bounteous harvest of “mutual respect, understanding and cooperation” throughout the world between Muslims and Christians, that he believes has been reaped thanks to clerics like himself.

Then there is Pope Francis, who back in November 2013 said that “the Koran is a book of peace” and “Islam is a peaceful religion.” In May of this year, he seemed to have awakened from that deep dream of peace, when he told the French newspaper La Croix that “the idea of conquest is inherent to the soul of Islam.” This was, from him, a welcome admission. Unfortunately, he did not stop there, but felt compelled to add a tu-quoque (or rather, a me-quoque) directed at the world’s Christians: “it is also possible to interpret the objective of Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus sends his disciples to all nations, in terms of the same idea of conquest.” But Jesus’s disciples were not engaged in warfare, qitaal, as were Muslims conquering lands for Islam, but, rather, in spreading the Gospel mostly through preaching and persuasion; the Pope seems to have been suggesting a similarity of Muslim and Christian methods where there is none.

That is where things depressingly stood when, the other day, a senior Cardinal in Rome, Raymond Burke, gave an astonishing interview to the Religion News Service. He stated that “there is no question that Islam wishes to govern the world” and “criticised Christian leaders who “simply think that Islam is a religion like the Catholic faith.” That is not true, Cardinal Burke insists, for if Muslims become a majority in any country they “have the religious obligation to govern that country.” Burke says there are already “little Muslim states” within France and Belgium that are no-go areas for the police and are run, essentially, by local Muslims for the local Muslim population. Burke insists that the only way for Europe to withstand the relentless onslaught of Islam is “to return to its Christian roots.”

I do not know if Cardinal Burke means that post-Christian Europeans must somehow persuade themselves to become Believers again, or if he means instead that Europeans must again recognize that Europe is a child of Christianity, whatever those on the wilder shores of multiculturalism may claim, and that the failure to do so has weakened Europe’s sense of itself and its ability to withstand this relentless Muslim onslaught that has no end. But it is Burke’s bold diagnosis, and not his putative cure, that matters most. His text and tone are different from what we are used to hearing from present-day Christian clerics, so few of whom are inclined to publicly recognize unpleasant truths about Islam. Surely Europeans ought not be too quick to deny the Christian roots of Western civilization or, when they don’t deny those roots outright, to accommodatingly pretend that Islam too, is owed so much. Just remember that shameful rewriting of history by Jacques Chirac, when he insisted that “Europe owes as much to Islam as it does to Christianity.”

I wonder if Cardinal Burke, so highly placed in Rome, would have made his welcome remarks without discussing the subject with others still higher up in the Vatican, perhaps even with the Pope, and whether his statements might even have received the Pope’s tacit approval, a way to have the outspoken Cardinal Burke (one of the Church’s “conservatives”) express what Pope Francis now wants expressed, but for the moment doesn’t think he should be the one to do it. This, of course, is only a hope, likely forlorn, for the Pope’s “humanitarian” insistence that European countries take in still more Muslim immigrants, and his chastising of those – like Poland, which he will be visiting this week – that don’t, seems fixed in amber. But, on the off-chance that Cardinal Burke’s statements constituted a trial balloon for a harder Catholic line on Islam, may it long remain on high to receive the attention it deserves. Let’s now see how the other clerics respond, whether they remain eager to distance themselves from such remarks, or whether Cardinal Burke’s observations embolden others, and reduce the mcmanuses to a suitable silence.

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Filed Under: anti-dhimmitude, Catholic Church, dialogue, Featured, Hugh Fitzgerald Tagged With: Pope Francis, Raymond Burke


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Comments

  1. awake says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 6:48 pm

    Signs of life from the Church?

    • Champ says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 7:07 pm

      Indeed, Awake …a refreshing change!

      • Angemon says

        Jul 25, 2016 at 7:20 pm

        Yeah – a rare moment of lucidity.

      • linnte says

        Jul 25, 2016 at 7:33 pm

        Wooohoooo!

    • MM says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 4:38 am

      Cardinal Burke is very closely linked to Catholic Traditionalist and the Catholic Tradition is experiencing a revival. Especially in France and the US, but also in other countries. Unfortunately he was removed from his office in the Roman Curia by Pope Francis. So it’s not very likely his statement has the a approval of Pope Francis, but from an increasing part of the faithful.

      Europe has to become Christian again. I think there is a choice to be made between Islam and Christianity. Moral relativism does not work because it is exactly what brought us into this situation. It is simply not stable. Whether a “cultural” Christendom with some believers and many atheist cultural and moral Christians will work – I don’t know. Maybe. The US (history, not present) shows that a judeo-Christian mixture works. Also with many different denominations.

      • J D S says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 10:51 pm

        It’s very well to talk of taking Europe back for Christianity bu..bu…..but…but…it will take somewhat of another crusade to do it, and not a TALKING crusade either. A bloody one, and I don’t think that the Europeans have the stomach to do it. So the Muslims will continue to take over without a military invasion not like done in the past.
        Charles, THE HAMMER, Martel stopped them way back then but there is not no Charles Martel out there anywehere in Europe or the U. S…..Just a bunch of do nothing panty wsist.

        I do hope Trump wins the presidency…even though I don’t know if he really has a plan..I’m sure Hillary don’t…so he needs to win.

        There is one problem if he does win….The people…the people will expect IMMEDIATE changes and It will take time for his administration to dismantle the awful mess that obummer will have left. We must be patient and give Trump time for his plans to take hold…some things he may be able to change right away but others will take time.

        Muslims have a toe hold in the U.S. but unlike Europe we are not overwhelmed with them….yet.

    • Peggy says

      Jul 27, 2016 at 7:25 am

      This life has to be preserved.
      Can Catholics insist that the Pope be changed?

  2. Lichen says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 6:51 pm

    I’m certain that, like myself, Robert Spencer has pondered this enigma at length: in a profession where education is so very much a given, how do we end up with so much ignorance around Islam? These are men who have surely studied the history of the Church, and the medieval struggle to oust Muslim invaders from Christian Europe and to keep them from destroying Christian and Jewish Jerusalem; this struggle was over several centuries! How then, do they not understand now the parallel? I have to think either they are being careful what they say publicly, or they are deliberately blind. Raymond Burke is my new hero.

    • Westman says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 10:42 pm

      I wonder if the problem is that most Cardinals, Priests, Bishops, Pastors, Evangelists, etc, have studied the history but not the doctrinal ideology of Islam. And because of only a historical knowledge, they mistakenly assume that Islam has cast off its medieval nature, in parallel to Christianity; when in fact, Islam is unable to function peacefully in a modern liberal world because its ideology demands absolute supremism for Islam.

      Islam is a recipie for periodic war. Its Golden Rule is: Love your Muslim neighbor; consider your Jewish, Christian, and Infidel neighbors to be inferior.

      • MM says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 4:42 am

        I think that is the key for understanding. Also in a more general context (going beyond the church): Use see many “formally educated” people, that however are very good in their jobs or subjects, but have literally zero knowledge about Islam, economy, history,… Sometimes even worth: They get negative knowledge because they read leftist media outlets, certain school books, attend bad university courses,… But that depends on when and where they went to school, of course.

        • gravenimage says

          Jul 26, 2016 at 9:36 pm

          And *willful ignorance* is a big part of the problem. It is not just that many don’t know about Islam–they don’t *want* to know about Islam.

    • Kepha says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 10:44 pm

      Maybe the bulk of Christian leaders in our day and age were educated to honor the great religions of Asia, to feel a great deal of guilt over the Shoah, and to look on the anti-colonial struggle as the new work of God. As a consequence, all the things that made for the rise and expansion of the West, especially the truth claims of Christianity, were subjected to a searching criticism, often without the precaution of recognizing that the critical tools were Voltaireian, Marxist, or from some other perspective that took as an important starting point a hatred of Christianity. Tolerance, which too often is the cover for indifference to truth, became a virtue rather than an attitude. Further, clergy had to daily prove that they were as up on various trends as anyone else, or be dismissed as irrelevant. Hence a widespread surrender to the zeitgeist.

      If you’re an American over fifty, you probably remember something of the civil rights movement, and the rise of Malcolm X as a cultural icon, whose ghosted autobiography became a classic and “must read” for everyone. This was one of the things that made Islam “fashionable” or “cool”.

      My guess is, the growing proximity of Islam is exposing many to its true face–and know Rev. Burke comes out and admits it is an ugly one.

    • Allan says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 11:36 pm

      How do they not understand the parallel? The Catholic Church has its own share of weak, cowardly and traitorous men, just as the Republicans have RINOs. Many priests would rather be praised by the world than proclaim the truth. Go to any mass and listen to the sermon. You likely won’t hear any preaching on divorce, cohabitation, sodomy, contraception or abortion. Many priests and bishops are Judases. Rarely, a good apostle like Raymond Cardinal Burke comes along.

    • Nigel GFF says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 10:55 am

      Psst, it was Catholic armies, Catholic Europe that beat back the muslim hordes.

  3. Dexter L. Wilson says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 6:52 pm

    wHY BREAK RANKS, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH JUST LIKE THE PROPHET ARE PEDOPHILES TOO.

    • mortimer says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 7:13 pm

      The RCC now has a zero tolerance policy towards abusers: If a credible accusation is made against a cleric, he is permanently removed from ministry regardless of how long ago the offense occurred. The opinion now is that identified pedophiles should not return to ministry.

      Let it be noted that pedophilia in madrassahs has long been known to exist and nothing is being done about it in most of the Islamic world.

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050399/Hundreds-Muslim-children-abused-UK-madrassas.html

      • Keys says

        Jul 25, 2016 at 8:29 pm

        Thank you for responding to Dexter’s calumny, mortimer.
        His claim about the Catholic Church is absurd, untrue, and spiteful.

    • Western Canadian says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 8:56 pm

      Dexter is a moron. Simple, yes?

      • Pong says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 6:59 am

        What an intellectually deep comment. Without such comments it wouldn’t be worth to read JW.

        • Angemon says

          Jul 26, 2016 at 7:17 am

          Sometimes one doesn’t need a long-winded, wordy intellectual dissertation – sometimes all it is needed is to call a spade a spade.

        • Mark Swan says

          Jul 26, 2016 at 2:51 pm

          Yep

    • Allan says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 11:29 pm

      Where in Christian Sacred Scripture or Tradition is pedophilia sanctioned?

    • gravenimage says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 9:53 pm

      Witless false moral equivalence.

    • Largo says

      Jul 27, 2016 at 8:04 am

      Your use of ALL CAPS speaketh much good sir.

  4. Adrian says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 6:59 pm

    Am I dreaming?

    How long before he is slapped back into line?

    • Mark Swan says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 7:58 pm

      Cardinal Burke—He may not Be A Man Who Can Be Slapped—Surely there are many more who agree with Him as well.

      • Cynthia in California says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 2:06 am

        Dum spiro, spero.

        In Latin in honor of Msgr. Burke: While I breathe, I hope. Modern English: Where there’s life, there’s hope. But isn’t the Latin so much more…compact? resonant? the rhyme catches the ear, too.

        • gravenimage says

          Jul 26, 2016 at 9:56 pm

          Yes–I like your Latin username.

    • Red Feather says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 1:11 am

      Cardinal Burke has been demoted by Pope Francis from holding the most powerful legal position (as Canon lawyer) in the Church to being the ceremonial head of the Knights of Malta, a position heretofore filled by much more elderly cardinals. This is thought among many who follow these things to be punishment for vocally defending the Church’s proscription of receiving Holy Communion by the divorced and remarried prior to the Synod on the Family in 2014. Burke was exiled from attending the follow-up Synod in 2015. The machinations by Bergoglio and team to achieve a desired outcome (adulterers may receive–it’s the merciful thing to do) at the Synods were jaw-dropping. Burke and others were in direct opposition to Francis, but Burke was the most powerful.

      Burke has rightfully blown off the latest papal encyclical Amoris Laetitia as nothing more than the “opinion” of Francis as it truly is heretical and enshrines situational ethics.

      You are all delusional if you think Burke speaks for Bergoglio.

      • Adrian says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 9:31 am

        Wow, Red Feather, thanks so much for your information!

        So your opinion is this latest statement on Islam did NOT have Papal approval?

      • gravenimage says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 9:58 pm

        And yet, the Knights of Malta defended against Jihad. Not entirely inapt, even if this position was not intended as a compliment.

  5. EYESOPEN says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 7:03 pm

    Bravo Cardinal Burke!!! A refreshing dose of the TRUTH coming from Rome. I hope that more conservative cardinals are prompted to speak the TRUTH to authority – in Rome and elsewhere!

    • Red Feather says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 1:14 am

      Burke is no longer Rome based, it seems. He is home in Wisconsin writing a book. Pope Francis was no longer desirous of Cardinal Burke’s input as supreme canon lawyer. See my above post.

  6. CogitoErgoSum says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 7:18 pm

    Once you refer to Muhammad as the “Prophet” you have made a fatal error. Your own defeat is assured from that point onward.

    • linnte says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 7:36 pm

      Exactly! Saying Muhammad is a prophet legitimises Muhammad to Muslims and Christians, heck to everyone. Even before when I was a Pagan, I listened to the Pope, because he is a spiritual being.

      • Mark Swan says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 2:15 am

        Yep, Kinda like saying Beetlejuice three times.

    • Keys says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 9:08 pm

      There are several references to false prophets in the New Testament (ex: 2Peter 2:1-3).

      I think Christians can rightly refer to Mohammad as a false prophet – he fits the descriptions very well, and has lead many “down the road to perdition” which, as wisely noted for generations, “is paved with good intentions”.

      Of course, referring to Mo as a false prophet would send Muslims on a destructive, murderous spree; and merit a fatwah for that person’s death.

    • Kay says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 10:04 pm

      exactly!!!

    • Kepha says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 10:45 pm

      Excellent point. I firmly refuse to admit Muhammad as a prophet. Loyalty to Jesus Christ demands it.

      • Champ says

        Jul 25, 2016 at 11:18 pm

        Hear, hear, Kepha!

      • Wellington says

        Jul 25, 2016 at 11:42 pm

        This agnostic agrees with you, Kepha——-with Cogito Ergo Sum too who started this thread within a thread. Though I will never refer to Mohammed as the Prophet, I have no hesitation, however, to refer to him as the Profiteer.

      • Cynthia in California says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 2:09 am

        Thank you for this clarity, Kepha.

        The mission of the ancient prophets to Israel was to awaken them to the Word of God, to their responsibilities before God, and to foretell the coming of the Messiah. Using the word “prophet” in connection with a killer and child-rapist like Muhammad debases the true prophets whom we honor in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

        • Kepha says

          Jul 26, 2016 at 8:45 pm

          For the record, I’m of the mind that real prophesy ended when John the Son of Zebedee penned the Book of Revelation–which I see as the last of the NT books to be written. Hence, I also refuse to see various persons set forth by certain Pentecostals and Mormons as prophets, either.

      • Carolyne says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 10:10 am

        Common sense requires it.

      • gravenimage says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 10:02 pm

        Loyalty to Jesus Christ–and simple human decency, as well.

    • sancho panza says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 5:04 am

      You are precisely right, CogitoErgoSum. One should never, ever, refer to the ‘prophet Muhammad’. If you do need to differentiate him from the millions of Muhammads out there, you could say ‘Muhammad the prophet of Islam’ or better still, ‘Muhammad the founder of Islam’. That ought to get their knickers in a twist!

      We need to use this strategy as a counter-propaganda tool in a massive way. Muslims work at their propaganda at all levels. We need to start punching our own weight.

      • gravenimage says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 10:05 pm

        I always put “Prophet” in sneer quotes.

  7. Champ says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 7:24 pm

    “the Koran is a book of peace” and “Islam is a peaceful religion.”

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Incredible that *lies* like these have become acceptable …

    • Cynthia in California says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 2:11 am

      @Champ: The lies are acceptable only to those who have neither read the Koran nor studied the history of Islam, esp. its attempt to conquer India and the specifics in which Christians lost control of the Holy Land after the first three Crusades.

      • Champ says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 2:31 am

        So true, Cynthia.

  8. jewdog says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 7:29 pm

    Maybe the Cardinal has been reading Robert’s books. Maybe Robert should write one called: “The Complete Catholic Clergyman’s Guide To Islam”. And be sure to make it heavily illustrated.

    • StacyGirl says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 11:15 pm

      Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke presided over the St Louis archdiocese for a short time. With several children In Private parachi schools I became acquainted with every wayward prelate in this city. During Burkes tenure every single crackpot priest I knew was removed from public ministry. Several left the Church. He’s always been true to the Faith and able to spot heretics. I might add many Catholics were glad to see him go. Weak and shallow is our Church today.

  9. WillG says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 7:39 pm

    What is beyond comprehension when Christians defend Muslims is that they must be aware of what Islam teaches about Christianity. Firstly, as there is no Christian God, only Allah, who had no children, Jesus is NOT divine, not a son of God. In fact, according to the Quran, Jesus was actually Isa, a MUSLIM prophet like Muhammad. It teaches that he was not crucified, but died and was taken up to heaven by Allah. Worse still, according to Islam, this Isa will return to Earth at the “end of days”, not as the saviour of mankind and Christians, but as a RADICAL MUSLIM who will “break crosses” and impose Islam throughout the world. When this is done, he will die and be buried next to Muhammad. The wilful blindness of these so-called Christians, including the Pope, is despicable and puts us all in danger.

    • Kepha says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 10:47 pm

      Some of us are willing to recognize that persons can change their beliefs. Hence, we may love our Muslim neighbor while strongly disagreeing with his current beliefs.

    • gravenimage says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 10:08 pm

      Most Christians are in complete denial about what Islam says about them.

      • Mark Swan says

        Jul 27, 2016 at 11:43 pm

        They really don’t know what Islam intends for them—that can change.

        • Trish says

          Jul 28, 2016 at 12:55 am

          They are well aware, Maybe not all Chistians but Catholics are we are so aware that we are willing to deny the Pope. But then we are called racist for defending our faith. This is not our pope. Our true Pope would defend us first.

  10. billybob says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 8:12 pm

    An “off-chance that Cardinal Burke’s statements constituted a trial balloon for a harder Catholic line on Islam”? I really doubt it. The Pope is very high up the tree and out on a limb. How can he climb down from there? It will take years and another Pope to turn it around.

    • Kay says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 10:07 pm

      Let’s hope anyway. He could privately implore the Cardinals to speak truth to their flocks while he himself placates and hopes for converts. Just a wishful speculation . . .

    • Custos Custodum says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 12:16 am

      Some people in the Vatican must be thinking ahead to a time when the bar bouncer and Third World Leftist stooge will have left the stage.

  11. Rich says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 8:18 pm

    If I may add a [very] small bit of information from the Catholic blogosphere. Cardinal Burke is a good man and holy priest. He is a “traditionalist” in the best sense of that word. He is an orthodox Catholic priest who faithfully follows the perennial teachings of the Church and does not bend in the wind as do so many of his priest colleagues.

    But Burke was hastily, abruptly, and unceremoniously demoted by Pope Francis to the [ceremonial] position of “Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta”. Pope Benedict previously had elevated Burke to Cardinal and then to the position equivalent to the Chief Justice of the Vatican Supreme Court.

    Long story short: Burke is a really good guy, a conservative who understands the problems that Islam poses for the West. Unfortunately, he is [very much] on ‘the outs’ with the present administration in Rome and with Pope Francis in particular. I keep abreast daily of several solid Catholic blogs and websites. Unfortunately, this is the reality concerning Cdl. Burke. He is the “good guy” on the outside looking in, having been unjustly and abruptly demoted by the liberal and tyrannical Francis. Hate to speak that way as a Catholic myself. But that is the long and short of it, frankly speaking.

    There is zero chance that Burke is somehow being ‘permitted’ to speak for Francis. Francis believes exactly what he himself says about Islam; namely, that it is a “religion of peace” and all that other nonsense. And as for a group of co-Cardinals, co-Bishops, or co-Priests rising up in defense of Cardinal Burke’s position and against the Francis hypothesis…don’t hold your breath. The chances of that happening (at least near-term) are slim to zero, in my opinion.

    My two cents, humbly submitted. I hope it helps a little.

    • Kay says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 10:10 pm

      So, Rich, is there anything to be done to educate the Pope about Islam?

      • Rich says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 1:40 pm

        Pope Francis, like any good leftist, doesn’t take any criticism well. Groups of faithful Catholics have tried to speak the truth to him, but he always rebuffs the attempt. In my opinion, Francis won’t change. Gotta wait for the changing of the guard. Kinda like with Obama.

    • BringBackTheCrusades says

      Jul 25, 2016 at 10:30 pm

      I concur – Burke has zero influence on Francis.

      • Cecilia Ellis says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 1:46 pm

        Not just Cardinal Burke, but also Edmund Burke: “Those who fail to heed the past are condemned to repeat it.”

      • gravenimage says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 10:12 pm

        Even if he has no influence with the pope, he may well be able to educate some of the Catholic flock about the threat of Islam, A not insignificant thing.

        • Mark Swan says

          Jul 27, 2016 at 11:40 pm

          There seems to be a great deal more like Him including most of the Polish Churches.

    • Red Feather says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 1:24 am

      You said much more eloquently what I said in reply to someone earlier about Cardinal Burke’s demotion. (See above). However, as good a guy as he is, he doesn’t go far enough in regards to Islam. In fact he is in error when he tells us we should be afraid of Islam. No,no,no–we should never be afraid. Christ is on our side against all evil ideologies. We must act as if Christ is King and fight for Him and his Truth. Not cower in fear!

  12. Bridget Ames says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 9:15 pm

    Burke is a hero!

  13. Rob says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 10:10 pm

    ‘Go Hughie!’
    ‘And more than three years later, after some “negative achievements” – attacks on Charlie Hebdo, and the Hyper Cacher kosher market, Bataclan and Brussels, and Orlando, and San Bernardino, and Nice among them’

    and not forgetting the butchery in Mumbai where the Shabat House was attacked and the Rabbi and his wife killed and mutilated..

  14. Lord Wrath says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 10:49 pm

    I will believe Burke when he puts a sword in his hand and the sword in a Muslim…

    • gravenimage says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 10:16 pm

      Takes a lot to satisfy you, huh? Have you taken a sword to Jihadists yourself?

  15. Karen says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 10:50 pm

    “Sadly, in recent years, there has been a deliberate rejection of this call to engage in dialogue with our Muslim brothers and sisters by some in the Catholic Church and in other ecclesial families.”

    A rejection of interfaith dialogue, that pernicious, one way street designed to brainwash the ignorant non-Muslim? Finally, some good news.

  16. Trish says

    Jul 25, 2016 at 11:47 pm

    I am Roman Catholic and I feel betrayed and lied to by the Roman Catholic Church. I do not see Pope Francis as my pope and most people that I know feel the same way.

    • Pong says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 6:52 am

      Some confused catholics are around.

    • gravenimage says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 10:33 pm

      I don’t think Trish is confused.

      • Mark Swan says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 10:56 pm

        No

  17. garegin says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 1:31 am

    It’s not just the pope. Remember when ann coulter said that Jews need to be perfected and accept Christ. Jews thought she’s an anti-Semite. Well of course she believes that. Do you think that Christians think that you can reject the incarnate Word and still be in God’s favor?
    In today’s world, religious leaders are expected to say nothing but nice things about others. People are expected to deny their convictions in public and basically go against their conscience to avoid offending people.
    Let me see the pope say that hindu gods are really demons and watch the world go insane.

    • Trish says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 2:07 am

      I will always be in gods favour, for us Christians to hate Jews would be to hate Jesus. This pope is againts the people he’s supposed to protect .

      • garegin says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 6:36 am

        She doesn’t hate jews. Rebukung someone on a doctrinal point isn’t racism. Was Josephus anti-Semetic for criiticising the Saducees for their rejection of many teachings, including the resurrection.

        • Kepha says

          Jul 26, 2016 at 8:49 pm

          Or, were Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and the lot anti-Semitic for their criticisms of the faithlessness of Israel and Judah? It’s the Old Testament that bequeathed a self-critical spirit to Western culture long before the so-called Golden Age of Greece.

          How odd
          Of God
          To choose
          The Jews.

          But odder still
          Are those who choose
          A Jewish Christ
          And hate the Jews.

    • Cynthia in California says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 2:17 am

      I’ve seen at least one explanation for the plethora of Hindu deities which says:

      There is only one Godhead; however, each Hindu sees the Godhead through his or her own life, background, and abilities. That’s why there are so many avatars of the Godhead: almost one for each possible station in life, whether of age, occupation, family role, or religious status.

      But only one Godhead. This is the important point, and useful for Jews and Christians in making common cause with Hindus (and Sikhs) against Muslim terror.

      • Thought_Weaver says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 3:57 am

        Well said.

    • gravenimage says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 10:37 pm

      Jews are not a threat to Gentiles. Muslims certainly are to Infidels.

  18. Leith Wood says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 1:48 am

    Cardinal Burke is a courageous Christian. Whenever he speaks, I listen. Please keep speaking the truth. Bless you!

    • Cynthia in California says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 2:22 am

      Although I have recently become an Eastern Orthodox Christian, Cardinal Burke seems to be a worthy advocate of strong, historical Western Christianity. Perhaps he could be considered for the next papal election, whenever that is? I miss Pope Benedict XVI. His “abdication” (to my mind, forced by friends of Islam in high places) ended whatever modest affiliative feelings I had about Catholicism. At that point, the integrity of His Holiness Benedict XVI as asserted in his September 2012 Regensburg address was nullified and the Vatican contorted itself into a doormat for the Islamic hordes.

      I miss Europe; it was the home of some of the best Christian cultures we’ve ever seen, but they’re almost invisible now except for their monuments (churches, museums). Would that those cultures could revive themselves!

      • gravenimage says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 10:39 pm

        Papal elections are generally held on the death of the old pope. Having a pontiff simply step down as Pope Benedict did–I am not counting ousters, which have not happened many centuries, in any case–was simply unprecedented.

  19. Mark A says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 2:25 am

    I’m Catholic and it’s good to finally hear a Cardinal abandon the “inter-faith dialogue” line and state the obvious about Islam’s political goals and its ideology.

  20. abel & solomon says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 5:12 am

    Part Seven; Is Allah the same as the God of the Jews and Christians?

    One God, or different deities?
    The word “Allah” today simply means “the deity”, so religions other than Islam also use this word in Arabic to refer to their gods. This does not mean that they are the same spiritual entity, we have to consider their attributes as revealed in the sacred writings to discover whether or not they are the same. The Koran says; (9:2) “ye cannot escape Allah…”, (113:2) “…the evil He created”, (74:56) “He is the fount of fear”, (16:70); “Allah… causeth you to die”, (22:6) “Allah quickeneth the dead”, (32:13) “will fill hell with the jinn and mankind together”, (2:167) “They will never get out of the fire”. From such verses it is very apparent that Islamic Allah is not the same as the God of the Bible who is described very differently; “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (Gospel of John 3:16), “God is love” (1 John 4:8), “Save others by snatching them out of the fire (of going to hell)” (Jude 1:23), “He is not the God of the dead but of the living” (Gospel of Mark 12:27). Islam’s Allah is very clearly not the same as the God of the Christians and Jews.

    There is no god but God, so who is Allah?
    Is Allah the Satan of the Bible? As we have seen Allah admits urging people into hell, he and his fallen angels are in charge there (74:30); “have We not only appointed angels to be wardens of the Fire…”. He assigns a demon to each Muslim (7:27); “We appointed devils as companions…” and thus fits Satan’s description as “Beelzebub, Prince of Demons”.

    Personal demons
    Mohammed said unequivocally that every single Muslim has a demon; “There is not one of you (Muslims) who does not have a jinn (a demon, an attaché of the devil) appointed to be his constant companion… Even me!” Thus the demonic element of Islam is clear and unquestionable. This is far cry from the demon-overcoming power of Jesus Christ and his followers.

    The Star and Crescent
    One of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”, was “the temple of great Artemis, of her image (idol) which fell from heaven” (Book of Acts 19:35). Artemis is the Greek name for the crescent moon goddess Diana and her image was much like Mecca’s Black Stone. John of Damascus in the Fount of Knowledge tells that the Black Stone has the likeness of Aphrodite (the Greek name for Venus), “who they (the Arabs) named Akbar in their own language”. Hence that Islamist shout of “Allahu Akbar” really is an invocation of the ancient goddess of war Venus, whose symbol is a five-pointed star. During WW2 author John Van Ess visiting the Ka’aba noted; “in one corner is the Black Stone, probably a meteorite, the kissing of which is now an essential part of the pilgrimage”. If the Hajj Pilgrimage and the direction of prayer of all Muslims are focussed on this egg shaped idol, once addressed as a female pagan deity, then it is evident, as many experts maintain, that Islam is actually paganism packaged as monotheism.

    Read the whole book here;- http://abelandsolomon.simplesite.com/424568444

    • citycat says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 7:29 am

      Not only that but also it is conceivable that the focus of lots of Muslims upon the black stone may imbue the black stone with some sort of energy, which possibly may give the black stone added presence, that is constantly replenished by the repeated focus upon the stone by Muslims.
      Stones in old Christian buildings have been said to retain the devotional words and songs from Monks singing in unison.
      Not sure of meteorites, just a thought.

      • Carolyne says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 10:25 am

        So let me see if I have this straight. Stones (And perhaps other inanimate objects) may absorb the ability to retain information, therefore at least insinuating a brain and the ability to think. On the other hand, meteorites may or may not have that ability. I see.

        Somewhere in the Koran I believe there is the claim that rocks will betray Jews who are hiding behind them by vocally advising Muslims of the fact.

        The world would be a better place if no one believed that fairy tales are true.

        • gravenimage says

          Jul 26, 2016 at 10:43 pm

          And these are not just fairy tales–Islam has especially dark, ugly fairy tales. It is never good to believe falsehoods–but these are especially grim ones.

  21. Infidel from Down Under says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 6:25 am

    And in breaking news a Catholic Church has been attacked in regional France

    Six people were held hostage including two nuns and a Priest .

    The Priest is dead ,some reports saying throat slit,one report saying beheaded !

    The two assailants have been shot dead by French Police

    No motive yet ,but not likely to be an attempted armed robbery of the ‘giving plate’ gone wrong I would have thought

    • Carolyne says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 10:27 am

      When one hears such “Breaking news,” one does not need to wait for the authorities to announce a motive. It Is self-evident. A further hint would be if the perpetrators are named Mohammed or a variation thereof.

    • gravenimage says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 10:45 pm

      Yes–this was Jihad. The police shot the Jihadists. The priest–an elderly man of 86–was murdered. One of the nuns is badly injured and is fighting for her life in the hospital.

      • Mark Swan says

        Jul 26, 2016 at 11:26 pm

        Mindless monstrous, senseless and so prevalent where Islam is adhered to.

  22. citycat says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 6:57 am

    I’d rathe talk to a Satanist than to a Muslim about religion. At least i’ll be safe, and maybe have a reasonable chat.
    If i say there’s no Father Satan and you’ve been conned, then i’ll be safe.
    Same with most religions except Islam.
    The religions are one-sidedly fixéd so i don’t know how chat between them about their religions is possible, except something like-
    “I respect your sincerity, although i don’t agree with the existance of your God” or whatever.
    They all have their own individual God, the God in the water, or the God in the Earth, or the God in the trees, or the God in heaven (outer space?), or the God in the air, or the God in the fire, or the God/dess that is the Moon, or is the Sun, or is Venus, or is Mars, or is Jumping Jupiter, or is father time Saturn, or is nebulous Neptune, or is underground Pluto, etc etc etc.
    So i don’t suss what is interfaith chat- is there any record of interfaith dialogue with respect to what is written in the books of the differing religions, and with respect to the world stage rather than simply to personal chat between two people.

    • gravenimage says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 10:47 pm

      I think most “interfaith dialog” is pretty benign–between Christian denominations, or between Christians and Jews. But with Islam it is always about Taqiyya and whitewashing the threat of Islam.

  23. kensme says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 9:47 am

    I have heard a new term being used by Catholics and Priests in recent years that indicates a division within the congregation relative to Roman Catholic hierarchy. The term is Catholic Christian. This clearly indicates that many parishioners and clergy have come to realize that the teachings of Christ and the Apostles, and the Doctrines and letters created by Pontiffs, are not in unity. Scripture states that a great apostasy will occur at the time of “birth pains”, as well as a great revival in which the Gospel will be preached to all peoples and nations. The major religions in the word today will be shaken, which will be part of the breakdown of society through wars, economic problems, and anarchy in many nations.

  24. Updated Verses says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 10:24 am

    Bp. McManus: “But Lord, if I can list just ten achievements of Christian-Muslim dialogue, would’st Thou spare the interfaith committee for those ten achievements?”

    God: “For those ten achievements, I would spare it.”

    Bp. McManus: “Please do not look upon your worthless servant for imploring upon you, but for the sake of five achievements, would’st Thou spare it?”

    God: “Even for five, I would spare it.”

    Bp. McManus: “Oh great and merciful Lord, forgive me for my insistence, but for one achievement would’st Thou spare it?”

    • gravenimage says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 10:48 pm

      Cute…

    • Cecilia Ellis says

      Jul 26, 2016 at 11:34 pm

      Updated Verses, most creative! I was waiting for you to script God’s reply to Bishop McManus’ final plea: “As soon as I install wings on a pig, you thou wilt have my answer.”

    • stewartinoz says

      Sep 23, 2016 at 1:26 am

      How many useful and beneficial to Humanity things has Islam accomplished to extend the scope a little bit wider, but how many centuries do we have to look for something?
      Life is too short. But as the saying is ‘Pigs might also fly’.

  25. KrazyKafir says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 12:50 pm

    Meet the bravest man in the Catholic Church today.

  26. common sense says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 4:55 pm

    The pope and clergy have tried to cover up Islam’s core and how Islam operates and spreads, cardinal Burke’s words as Hugh suggests may be the start of something stirring in the upper ranks of the Catholic hierarchy.

    We the people will always be called on to make the necessary corrections just like Robert, Hugh and Co who take risks to do what they do. I’d like that opportunity as well. Islam does not behave in accordance with its host country and does not deserve to be here AND they start killing people.
    I still think that polly’s, universities and the church collectively have always known about Islam and are going to take it is far as they can. They are liars and idiots with a separatist agenda. They lied about Islam to those who don’t bother try to understand it or won’t look (the ignorant) and they are idiots to believe that we will actually tolerate submission to it in the long run. This is still going be very difficult and messy.
    Easier to take ISIS of the map than to rid our country of the hold that Islam has on her from the inside. No thanks to Hussein.

  27. anno nimus says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 8:49 pm

    Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Virginia_earthquake

  28. gravenimage says

    Jul 26, 2016 at 9:22 pm

    Bravo, Cardinal Burke!

  29. Manuele says

    Aug 4, 2016 at 4:49 am

    I SAY THAT “CARDINAL BURKE IS THE NEXT POPE”

  30. E Stewart Beveridge says

    Sep 23, 2016 at 1:18 am

    Islam is NOT a Religion. It is a Culture, a statement of beliefs and requirements. Its aim is World Domination under Sharia. Mohammed was never a prophet and the ‘Allah’ he purposes to follow is only a false god. The GOD of Jesus Christ is the only true God.
    Islam brings death and subordination both to ‘infidels’ and Moslems who step outside of Sharia. Read what’s happening in the world today not what the Pope of any other PC misguided source tells you.

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