After the recent murderous attack by a Muslim terrorist at the Strasbourg Christmas Market, Pope Francis condemned the violence and offered his compassion for the victims:
The Pope has expressed “sadness”, “concern” and “condemnation” of the December 11 attack on the Christmas market in Strasbourg. In a telegram signed by the secretary of state, Card. Pietro Parolin, addressed to the archbishop of the city, Msgr. Luc Ravel, Francis expresses his “compassion … to the families affected and to all the people affected by this attack, assuring his prayer.” While entrusting the dead “to God’s mercy”, he addressed “a special thought to the professionals and volunteers who care for the injured. As a sign of consolation, he implores the abundance of divine blessings on the victims, on those who assist them and on the entire French people.
Pope Francis’s statement was a cut above his usual comments after such attacks, when he seldom fails to remind us, in one form or another, that “there is no such thing as Islamic terrorism” and that ‘“authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Quran are opposed to every form of violence.” He mentioned, this time, only the victims, expressing his “sadness” and his “compassion..to the families affected by this attack,” offering a “special thought to the professional and volunteers who care for the injured,” and especially, asked for divine blessings “on the victims, those who assist them, and on the entire French people.” This was more heartfelt than the usual boilerplate of his remarks of sympathy, especially his asking for “divine blessings…on the entire French people.”
But Pope Francis still could not bring himself to mention the killer’s faith, much less the reason for his murderous spree. He dared not, on this occasion, to yet again exculpate Islam: it’s becoming too absurd to do so. Had he been less pusillanimous, he might have mentioned “those texts which lead some astray” or even have used the word “Jihad” — just imagine what a clearing of the air that would have been, if at long last even this appeasement-minded Pope had managed to do so, as in such a simple remark as this — “we see in Strasbourg, to our great sadness, more innocent victims of Jihad”). Instead, he did not mention the murderer at all, or the texts that beyond all doubt motivated his killing of Unbelievers (see, e.g., Qur’an 2:191-194, 4:89, 8:12, 8:60, 9:5, 9:29, 47:4).
Meanwhile, the situation has returned to near normal in Strasbourg: there is a heavy police presence but shops and schools have been reopened, excluding Christmas markets.
The situation “has returned to near normal”? Normal, except that the“Christmas markets” remained closed for at least a week in mid-December. The plural is used — are there many such markets in Strasbourg? We know that one of the largest and most important Christmas Markets in all of Europe takes place in Strasbourg. Keeping it closed deals a heavy economic blow to all those merchants who do a great deal of their year’s business at the Christmas Markets, and to restaurants and hotels frequented by tourists who would ordinarily come from all over to visit the Christmas Market in Strasbourg. When the Market reopened, with that “heavy police presence,” just how light-hearted and celebratory for the season could people be, seeing those machine-gun-toting police everywhere, remembering the killings, and no doubt worrying — as they never had to worry before the Muslim invasion of Europe — of a repeat performance by other Muslim killers? Can Strasbourg truly be described as having “returned to near normal”? And what kind of atmosphere was there likely to be at other Christmas markets in France? In Germany? Murder casts its pall. The heightened anxiety felt by many is not so easily dispelled. Some no doubt decided not to visit any Christmas markets. Was there be a significant decrease in the total number of visitors? Now that it is after Christmas, the results will soon be in.
The death toll are three dead and 14 wounded. Among them was the young Italian journalist Antonio Megalizzi. Of those killed, one is Thai, one French, one Afghan.
The 29 year old , Cherif Chekatt, who initially escaped capture, was found on a Strasbourg street and shot dead by the police. According to Interior Secretary Laurent Nuñez, Chérif “incited religious practice in a radical form” and was engaged in proselytism of others.
According to some testimonies, confirmed by the prosecutor Remy Heitz, the young man would have shouted “Allah[sic] akhbar! (God is great!)” before killing the first victim.
He shouted “Allahu Akbar,” which does not mean “God is great!” but “Our God is greater [than yours].” When uttered by a jihadist in the course of committing his crime, it is a supremacist war cry, designed to “strike terror” in the hearts of the Unbelievers. The Western media continue to insist, however, on translating the phrase variously as “God is great,” “God is greater,”and “God is greatest.” They apparently can’t be bothered to find out the true significance of the phrase.