• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

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

Nigerian Catholic bishop: Western politicians damage African Christianity by “pandering” to Islam

Oct 13, 2017 1:15 pm By Robert Spencer

Bishop Kukah is correct, but there is another aspect to this as well: the chief Islamopanderer is not a politician. The chief Islamopanderer is Pope Francis. And aside from him, the Catholic Church as a whole has committed itself to Islamopandering, such that it is largely silent about the Muslim persecution of Christians that has taken place in Nigeria as well as in the Middle East.

Jean-Clément Jeanbart, the Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo, gave an interview to a French reporter in which he was highly critical of the mainstream media and even of his fellow bishops for ignoring the Muslim persecution of Middle Eastern Christians. “The European media,” he charged, “have not ceased to suppress the daily news of those who are suffering in Syria and they have even justified what is happening in our country by using information without taking the trouble to verify it.” And as for his brother bishops in France, “the conference of French bishops should have trusted us, it would have been better informed. Why are your bishops silent on a threat that is yours today as well? Because the bishops are like you, raised in political correctness. But Jesus was never politically correct, he was politically just!”

Archbishop Jeanbart was not the first to say this. “Why, we ask the western world, why not raise one’s voice over so much ferocity and injustice?” asked Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI). Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem Joseph III Younan himself has in the past appealed to the West “not to forget the Christians in the Middle East.” The former Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III has also said: “I do not understand why the world does not raise its voice against such acts of brutality.”

But Gregory III should have understood, since he was a major part of the problem. After all, he himself said: “No one defends Islam like Arab Christians.” It is to defend Islam that Western clerics do not raise their voice against such acts of brutality. It is to pursue a fruitless and chimerical “dialogue” that bishops in the U.S. and Europe keep silent about Muslim persecution of Christians, and enforce that silence upon others. Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, said it on February 8, 2013 as he was suppressing a planned talk at a Catholic conference on that persecution: “Talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.”

Remember that Mohamed Atta, about the plane he had hijacked on September 11, 2001, told passengers over the intercom: “Stay quiet and you’ll be OK.” The Catholic Church appears to have adopted that statement as its policy regarding Muslim persecution of Christians.

“Leave them; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14)

“Bishop: Western politicians damage African Christianity by ‘pandering’ to Islam,” Catholic News Service, October 13, 2017:

A Nigerian bishop said the Catholic Church in his country is beginning to lose its public influence partly because of the decline of religious faith in the West.

Bishop Matthew Kukah of Sokoto accused European and American politicians and diplomats of publicly “pandering” to Islam at the expense of Christianity.

The result, he said, was the ascendancy of Islam and evangelical Christianity in Nigeria and the decline of Catholicism.

He told Catholic News Service in an interview in Liverpool that the widespread loss of Christian faith in the West was “absolutely” among the causes of the diminishing influence of the Catholic Church in his own country.

“From my own experience, I find that the British high commissioner, the ambassadors from European countries, the American ambassador — they are pandering more to Islam than to Christianity, because most of them have turned their backs on Christianity,” Bishop Kukah said.

“The Arab world is pouring money into Nigeria and the Pentecostal pastors in America are doing the same, and the Catholic Church is now becoming the weakest in terms of access to resources,” he said.

“For me, as a bishop of the Catholic Church, I can see very clearly that our influence in the public space is gradually reducing, and that is largely because of our capacity to mobilize resources,” he said.

It had become no longer possible, he said, for the bishops to appeal to historically Catholic nations for financial help with church projects.

“We can’t go to the Irish ambassador or the Spanish ambassador and say, ‘This is (needed) for the Catholic Church,’” Bishop Kukah said. “People are not interested.”

“In Ramadan, the ambassadors of Islamic countries are very keen to come to the Muslim celebrations in a way and manner that the Irish or any of these ambassadors are not likely to do for (Christmas) midnight Mass or the Easter celebrations.”

He said that, in his experience, most Catholic ambassadors would prefer to be seen publicly at a Muslim celebration than attending a Christian ceremony.

“Before our election, John Kerry came to Nigeria,” he said. “John Kerry, when he was secretary of state, left the U.S. and came straight to see the sultan of Sokoto. It was a visit that nobody could explain.

“John Kerry claims to be a Catholic. This is the perfect example. He landed in Abuja. The American Embassy is in Abuja. There is a cardinal in Abuja, and a very visible cardinal for that matter, but it doesn’t cross the mind of John Kerry to even see out of courtesy the cardinal. He takes another plane to Sokoto and goes to the palace of the sultan, the head of the Muslims,” he said.

“The reaction of the Nigerian Christian community was very interesting. They thought Kerry was pushing the Islamic agenda,” Bishop Kukah said. “This was ahead of the elections, and they thought he was giving the Muslim candidate a leg up.”

“In a country like Nigeria, influence is peddled, and we are not there at the table,” the bishop continued, adding: “We have not trained our people for roles in public life … we are still very shy of the public space, and we are not aware of how much things have moved on.”…

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Catholic Church, dhimmitude, Featured, Nigeria, Useful idiots Tagged With: Matthew Kukah


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Comments

  1. MFritz says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 1:39 pm

    Our politicians and the media won’t listen. And forget about the pope.

    • James says

      Oct 13, 2017 at 2:32 pm

      Correct.

      • James says

        Oct 13, 2017 at 2:51 pm

        It may be fashionable to blame the present Pope for “Islamopandering” – it would be amazing if he were not as mild towards as Islam as he is, since the CC has been philo-Islamic since 1964. The Church also, at the since time, very largely gave up the language of condemnation, and switched to trying to see the good in what it rejected. It also switched to a preference for being as diplomatic as possible when faced with existential threats.

        All of this has greatly affected how it talks and acts. The CC has degraded its ability to act against evils like Islam, and its consequent enfeeblement is the result.

        • gravenimage says

          Oct 13, 2017 at 6:56 pm

          James, the idea that Pope Francis *has* to be Islamophilic given Catholicism’s recent history is mistaken. The previous pontiff was quite Islamo-savvy, and even the one preceding him did not pander to Islam like this.

          Pope Francis is in a category all his own.

      • John Forbes says

        Oct 14, 2017 at 6:32 am

        Strange to see the Catholic Church now bowing to ISLAM ! Anjem Chaudry & others will be well pleased !
        KICK this POPE OUT & elect an aggressive one who will stand for Christianity !
        THE NIGERIAN BISHOP IS TOTALLY RIGHT & NEEDS TO ADD THE VATICAN & THE POPE TO THE LIST OF PANDERERS & APOLOGISTS & APPEASERS & COWARDS !
        THEY SEEM TO HAVE ALL GIVEN IN ALREADY ??

        After all the Pope Paul stood up for Christianity against the Communists,
        I do however doubt that any church would have tried that with Gentle Joseph Stalin !
        However like the rest of the WEST – the Church & Pope are WEAK & AFRAID !!!
        Strange alliances though with the left /islam & Now it seems the Catholic Church as well ??
        The POLES & HUNGARIANS & CHECKS & SLOVAKS will not bow to ISLAM even as Germany,France & Others do !

    • Bob says

      Oct 14, 2017 at 9:39 am

      Dhimmis, the whole boiling of them!

  2. mortimer says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 1:45 pm

    Bishop Matthew Kukah is fulfilling his prophetic function by chastising Western leaders for their obtuseness about Islam and about their obvious REFUSAL to learn about Islam. That goes twice or more Pope Francis who adamantly refuses to study the JIHAD DOCTRINE, KAFIR DOCTRINE, AL WALAA WAL BARAA DOCTRINE and TAQIYYA DOCTRINE.

    Without knowing those FOUR BASIC ISLAMIC DOCTRINES one is CLUELESS about political Islam.

    Many Western leaders have not asked themselves: ‘WHAT IS IT THAT A SUPREMACIST WANTS?’

    The following applies to many (by no means all) Western clergy who want to conciliate with SUPREMACISTS:

    “True Ignorance is not the absence of knowledge but the refusal to acquire it.” – Karl Popper

    Clergy who refuse to head Bishop Kukah and refuse to learn about political Islam are CULPABLY NEGLIGENT.

  3. mortimer says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 1:46 pm

    Bishop Matthew Kukah is fulfilling his prophetic function by chastising Western leaders for their obtuseness about Islam and about their obvious REFUSAL to learn about Islam. That goes twice or more Pope Francis who adamantly refuses to study the JIHAD DOCTRINE, KAFIR DOCTRINE, AL WALAA WAL BARAA DOCTRINE and TAQIYYA DOCTRINE.

    Without knowing those FOUR BASIC ISLAMIC DOCTRINES one is CLUELESS about political Islam.

    Many Western leaders have not asked themselves: ‘WHAT IS IT THAT A SUPREMACIST WANTS?’

    The following applies to many (by no means all) Western clergy who want to conciliate with SUPREMACISTS:

    “True Ignorance is not the absence of knowledge but the refusal to acquire it.” – Karl Popper

    Clergy who refuse to heed Bishop Kukah and refuse to learn about political Islam are CULPABLY NEGLIGENT.

  4. warren raymond says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 1:57 pm

    The chief Islamopanderer is Pope Francis.

    Very much so. But the clergy is no better:

    https://www.sde.co.ke/thenairobian/article/2001257226/girls-wearing-mini-skirts-made-me-convert-to-islam-bishop

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 13, 2017 at 7:00 pm

      Some of the clergy is better–including Bishop Kukah.

    • Jenny H says

      Oct 14, 2017 at 6:11 am

      That ex-Bishop who converted doesn’t have a clue about who Islam considers to be innocent. It doesn’t see anyone who resists the spread of Islam, including people who won’t convert as being innocent. He also seems to have had poor training in Christian theology, a low level of faith.

  5. The Rationalvoice says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 2:01 pm

    The RCC started the Crusades against Islam with their Holy Wars and killed and slaughtered Jews,Eastern Christians and Muslims.Maybe they have a guilty conscience but I doubt it.I think the real reason is that they know religious belief is fast disappearing in the civilized world today and they want to make common cause with those who are still fooling themselves with myths and superstitions.
    The previous Pope spoke of the new confident atheism which he regarded as a threat.Quite amazing as atheists don’t harm anybody and only speak what is the rational truth whereas the muslim religion advises their followers to kill all who don’t agree with their hate words and as we all know actually carry out evil deeds around the world today.
    Wise up Francis or whatever your real name is if you want to have any followers left at all !!

    • Oliverian says

      Oct 13, 2017 at 5:54 pm

      Your knowledge of history is woefully deficient. You must be a product of modern public education. Go watch Bill Warner’s Jihad vs. Crusades

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 13, 2017 at 7:55 pm

      The Crusades were largely a *defense* against centuries of Muslim aggression.

    • balafama says

      Oct 13, 2017 at 8:59 pm

      atheists have ruined multiple countries so pls cut out the misinformation .do u need examples?

    • Linde Barrera says

      Oct 13, 2017 at 9:47 pm

      To The Rationalvoice- The Seljuk Turks from central and eastern Turkey swept down to Jerusalem and were killing Christians there as well as those Christians who were traveling from Europe to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The soldiers of the Crusades acted in self defense for themselves and the Christians on pilgrimage whom they were protecting. Unfortunately for the Christians, they only won 2 battles while the Seljuk Turks won at least 5 of those battles. Time frame was circa 1099 AD and later.

  6. Louis Carole says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 4:20 pm

    Bat Ye’or wrote extensively on this in “Islam and Dhimmitude.” I.e. why the Christian churches in the Muslim world and in Europe maintain a dhimmi mind set.

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 13, 2017 at 8:01 pm

      This is understandable in the Muslim world. Europe and the rest of the West have no excuse.

  7. João Oliveira says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 4:57 pm

    Another African country, Mozambique, enters the era of jihad:

    It´s on every Portuguese and Mozambican media (TV, the lot), videos, etc.., is not fake news 100% sure.

    http://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/mundo/2017-10-06-Dez-mortos-em-ataque-de-radicais-islamicos-em-Mocambique

    Ten dead in Islamist radical attack in Mozambique

    06.10.2017 by SIC Notícias, Portugal

    At least 10 people were killed in an attack by a group of Islamist radicals in the village of Mocímboa da Praia, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.

    By 4:00 pm local time, the radical group was still in the village, which was divided between the armed group and government forces.

    Police spokesman Inacio Dina confirmed at a news conference the death of 14 members of the radical group and two police officers, according to the newspaper Expresso.

    The extremists assaulted a police station and several banks.

    Circulation is limited and state institutions are all closed.

    According to data collected by the newspaper Expresso, this is a branch of the Islamic group Al-Shabaab, with links to Somalia and Kenya.

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 13, 2017 at 8:11 pm

      Grimly, almost no place is free from Jihad now.

  8. Charlie Martel says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 5:21 pm

    Sadly there is a history of the Catholic church collaborating with Nazis and the Mafia, so there is no surprise here.

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 13, 2017 at 8:13 pm

      Actually, the Catholic Church was able to save a lot of Jews by being muted in her public criticism of the Nazis. This likely would not have been possible otherwise.

    • Evosse1314 says

      Oct 14, 2017 at 1:09 pm

      Idiot

      • Evosse1314 says

        Oct 14, 2017 at 1:11 pm

        Last post was for the Catholic named Martel not Gravenimage

        • gravenimage says

          Oct 14, 2017 at 5:33 pm

          Thank you, Evosse1314.

          I doubt that Charlie Martel is Catholic, though.

  9. Anti-jihad says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 5:35 pm

    I don’t think it’s only African Christianity that is damaged. It’s world-wide Christianity. When Christianity won’t stand up against all the evils of Islam, that doesn’t look very good for Christianity, and that’s universal, not just in Africa.

  10. gravenimage says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 6:46 pm

    Nigerian Catholic bishop: Western politicians damage African Christianity by “pandering” to Islam
    …………………….

    Grimly true. And his own Pope does the same.

  11. Raja says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 8:11 pm

    He has said the truth and is likely to lose his job. The murderous attacks against non Muslims has shown uptrend since Islamic leaders have started new start-ups of terrorist organizations

    It is not just African Christianity that is damaged but all of liberties of mankind. .

  12. Agha Ali Arkhan says

    Oct 13, 2017 at 10:17 pm

    The Bishop is right, except all Christianity is damaged. Christianity understands sacred. Islam does not.

  13. Bruce Scott says

    Oct 14, 2017 at 12:33 am

    Bishop is correct

  14. Jenny H says

    Oct 14, 2017 at 6:36 am

    I know the Atheists among us JWers won’t agree but, the resistance to the spread of Islam is very much a spiritual battle as well as a physical one. Ephesians 6:12 – For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].
    It is a fight of good against evil. All people of faith (and not just Christians) who abhore the evil aspects of Islamic theology and law, and what awaits the World if Islam is not resisted, should bring what spiritual weapons they have to bear against it.

  15. Jon says

    Oct 14, 2017 at 11:31 am

    Bishop Kukal for Pope. If he does not get to wear the crown of martyrdom first.

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 14, 2017 at 5:35 pm

      I don’t want to see this Bishop harmed, nor any of his flock.

  16. Manny says

    Oct 14, 2017 at 12:55 pm

    Bishop Kukah is a hero and I am ashamed to say the Catholic Church in the west are disgracefully islomopanderers. And I am a devout Catholic.

  17. Pong says

    Oct 14, 2017 at 5:30 pm

    The former Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III has also said: “I do not understand why the world does not raise its voice against such acts of brutality.”
    May it is the price The Patriarch and his followers have been paying for their nauseating anti-semitism.

    • gravenimage says

      Oct 14, 2017 at 5:38 pm

      The idea that Catholics *deserve* to be slaughtered by Muslims is just sickening.

      Besides, Muslims are far worse antisemites than are Catholics–yet Pong appears to have no problem with them.

  18. nicholas tesdorf says

    Oct 14, 2017 at 9:27 pm

    Bishop Kuka would be a good candidate to replace Pope Francis when the Vatican finally proclaims Pope Francis to be insane.

  19. Flavius Claudius Iulianus says

    Oct 15, 2017 at 12:16 am

    Sad considering Africa was considered Roman Catholism’s great future hope.

  20. wool says

    Oct 15, 2017 at 11:22 am

    First Catholic​ is not Christian​ .and Nigeria is not Christian​ nation​ at all.

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • Westman on New study reveals that Muslim religiosity strongly linked to hatred towards the West
  • gravenimage on Erdogan: ‘Turks must defend the rights of Jerusalem, even with their lives’ for ‘the honor of the Islamic nation’
  • gravenimage on Erdogan: ‘Turks must defend the rights of Jerusalem, even with their lives’ for ‘the honor of the Islamic nation’
  • gravenimage on Erdogan: ‘Turks must defend the rights of Jerusalem, even with their lives’ for ‘the honor of the Islamic nation’
  • Walter Sieruk on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.