Pope Francis, he of the deplorable ipse-dixit remark that “authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence,” visited Hungary for two days in mid-September, where he chose to lecture Prime Minister Viktor Orban about the need to welcome immigrants, by which he meant those “Muslim economic migrants” whom Orban has so steadfastly refused to accept in his country, no matter what pressure is put on him by the European Union. A brief Jihad Watch report on the meeting is here, and a Reuters report on the presumption and ignorance displayed by Pope Francis is here: “Pope urges Orban’s Hungary to be more open to needy outsiders,” by Philip Pullella and Gergely Szakacs, Reuters, September 13, 2021:
Pope Francis said on Sunday that Hungary could preserve its Christian roots while opening up to the needy, an apparent response to nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s stand that Muslim immigration could destroy its heritage.
How can Pope Francis be so sure that Hungary can preserve its Christian roots if it admits large numbers of Muslims who, because of their higher fertility rates, would become an ever-greater percentage of the population? While churches are closing their doors in the U.K., France, and Germany, thousands of mosques are being opened in the same countries. When the percentage of Muslims in a country crosses a certain threshold – some say as little as 8%, others as much as 15%, but still very far from a majority – the Muslims, it appears from observation, start to make their presence menacingly felt. They begin to make demands of the circumambient society – for halal food in schools and prisons, for the right to wear hijabs wherever they wish, including in public schools and government offices, for prayer rooms in factories and offices, and the time off to use them.
Slowly, the islamization of neighborhoods, then of communities, then of whole cities – think of how Malmo in Sweden has been transformed — takes place, as Muslims move in, and non-Muslims move away, out of both fear and religious distress. Muslims in Infidel lands form united voting blocs which gives them greater political power than their numbers would warrant. Why should the countries of Europe not wish to prevent this from happening? Why does Pope Francis wish to convince the Christians of Europe not to trust the evidence of their senses? They can see that the large-scale presence of Muslims in their own countries has created a situation that is far more unpleasant, expensive, and physically dangerous than would be the case without such a large-scale presence. Are they to ignore the evidence of their senses, and to supinely accept the vaporings of Pope Francis, who thinks “authentic Islam” has nothing to do with violence, and apparently doesn’t care if the fanatical faith of Islam eventually prevails in post-Christian Europe? Viktor Orban, one of the most farseeing and stubborn of Europe’s leaders, has given the Pope his answer, firmly and eloquently, on the subject of opening Hungary up to Muslim migrants: No.
Wherever Muslims are In the majority, they manage to depress the numbers of non-Muslims in their midst. In Pakistan at Partition in 1947, 13% of the population was Hindu; now it is 2%. In 1947 in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) Hindus made up 30% of the population; now they are 7%. While Muslims drive out non-Muslims, the reverse is not true: Muslims in India have gone from 9% of the population at Partition to 15% today. Look at how Muslims have taken over whole swathes of European cities — Paris, London, Amsterdam – so that a visitor to the Muslim-inhabited parts of those cities would be forgiven for thinking he is in Algeria, or Karachi, or Istanbul.
The Pope should look at the statistics covering the last few decades in the history of Europe, the ever-increasing figures on rape, murder, robbery, welfare fraud, street violence, grooming gangs, family violence, and antisemitic attacks, and how those figures reflect the increase in the Muslim population. There are already tens of millions of Muslims living in Europe, battening on the benefits offered by the welfare states; these Muslims have not been either willing or able to integrate into their host societies; they know that as Muslims they are the “best of peoples” (3:110) and that the Infidels among whom they have settled are “the most vile of created beings.” (98:6) Muslim migrants are responsible for a huge rise in crime, especially violent crime; they have required enormous increases in national budgets to pay for the many governmental benefits they receive; they have created in many Muslim-dominant neighborhoods a permanent climate of insecurity; these have become no-go zones where non-Muslims dare not go; even the police need to enter in numbers, and firemen enter only if accompanied by an armed escort.
Pope Francis has not been paying attention to any of this. He sits securely above the societal fray, in the Vatican. No need for worry about violence; he has his colorful Swiss guards. The increase in crime, the terrorist threat, the burden on state budgets that results from this increased Muslim presence all over Europe – none of that affects him. He has never visited the neighborhoods devastated by the Islamic blight, as in Seine St. Denis in the Parisian banlieue, or Islington and Edgeware in London. Such visits would only upset his serene self-assurance on the subject of Islam. And please, don’t bring up crime statistics to the Pope. Why upset him?
Francis was in Hungary for n unusually short stay that underlined differences with the anti-immigrant Orban, his political opposite.
Closing a Church congress with a Mass for tens of thousands of people in central Budapest, Francis used the imagery of a cross to show that something as deeply rooted as religious belief did not exclude a welcoming attitude.
The cross, planted in the ground, not only invites us to be well-rooted, it also raises and extends its arms towards everyone,” he said in his remarks after the Mass.
The cross urges us to keep our roots firm, but without defensiveness; to draw from the wellsprings, opening ourselves to the thirst of the men and women of our time,” he said at the end of the open-air Mass, which Orban attended with his wife.
For more than a decade, the nations of Europe have been opening themselves “to the thirst of the [Muslim] men and women of our time.” There is nothing spiritual about their “thirst.” What the Muslim migrants – they are almost entirely economic migrants, even though many falsely claim to be “asylum seekers” — want are all the benefits that the generous Infidels have been so ready to supply: free or subsidized housing, free education, free medical care, family allowances, all available, it would appear, for the asking.
“My wish is that you be like that: grounded and open, rooted and considerate,” the Pope said.
Francis has often denounced what he sees as a resurgence of nationalist and populist movements, and has called for European unity, and criticised countries that try to solve the migration crisis with unilateral or isolationist actions.
Pope Francis is dismayed by the notion that the nations of Europe would dare to defend their own peoples and interests, and not accept the diktats of transnational organizations like the European Union or, for that matter, the Vatican. He thinks nationalism is always and everywhere to be deplored; Viktor Orban does not. Orban thinks of Hungary not just as a certain territory, defined in metes and bounds, but as the “family home” of Hungarians; they alone should be able to decide whom they wish to welcome into their home, and whom they want to keep out.
When Pope Francis presumes to preach to Viktor Orban, or to any other leader of a European state about migration policy, he is denying them the right to protect their family home from an invader – Islam – millions of whose adherents have already demonstrated, throughout Europe, what terrible social and economic problems they can cause.
Pope France might be forgiven, just a bit, if one thought he had at long last realized how little he knew about Islam and was now trying to rectify his ignorance by reading, and studying, the Qur’an and the hadith. But one has the awful feeling that the Pope has avoided that task, that he has instead relied on what some Church “experts” on Muslim-Catholic relations have told him, assuring him that all manner of things shall be well, and that only the bigoted could object to the presence of so many Muslims. Besides, the fierce devotion of Muslims to their faith is something that Christians, falling away from their own faith in a post-Christian world, might do well to emulate.
Orban, by contrast, told the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia last week the only solution to migration was for the European Union to “give all rights back to the nation state”.
The Pope has called for migrants to be welcomed and integrated to tackle what he has called Europe’s “demographic winter.” Orban said in Slovenia that today’s migrants “are all Muslims” and that only “the traditional Christian family policy can help us out of that demographic crisis.”
Francis, 84, who spent only about seven hours in Budapest, met Orban and President Janos Ader at the start of his visit.
By “demographic winter,” the Pope means the decline in fertility rates of European women which have fallen below replacement levels. He sees migrants – which for the past two decades has overwhelmingly meant Muslim migrants — as a “solution” to this “winter.” He thinks that people are fungible; in Pope Francis’ view, only the numbers count. If the Christian population in a European country declines by 20%, or 30%, or 40%, what does this matter, as long as they are replaced by Muslims eager to take their place? Perhaps the Pope should consider – truthfully — how he would feel if Italy were to become 60% Muslim. Would he really have no qualms?
The Vatican said the meeting which was also attended by the Vatican’s top two diplomats and a Hungarian cardinal, lasted about 40 minutes and was cordial.
“I asked Pope Francis not to let Christian Hungary perish,” Orban said on Facebook. Hungarian news agency MTI said Orban gave Francis a facsimile of a letter that 13th century King Bela IV sent to Pope Innocent IV asking for help in fighting the Tartars.
The letter was a reminder to Pope Francis that centuries ago there were clear-eyed Popes who saw Muslims quite differently than he does – saw them, that is, as a direct threat to the survival of Christian civilization, rather than, as our pollyannish Pope Francis insists, as people who deserve to be welcomed with open arms and endless Christian charity. Those Popes understood that Muslims regarded Christians — Infidels — as the “most vile of created beings,” and were dead set on violent Jihad, to seize the lands of the Christians and make them part of Dar al-Islam, as they did with Spain for 800 years. Muslim tactics have changed since then. Once Jihad was waged by armed warriors conquering lands from without; now the “stealth jihad” of demographic conquest proceeds from within. But the ultimate goal – islamizing as much of the world as possible — remains the same.
Later on Sunday Francis arrived in Slovakia, where he will stay much longer, visiting four cities before returning to Rome on Wednesday.
The brevity of his Budapest stay has prompted diplomats and Catholic media to suggest the Pope is giving priority to Slovakia, in effect snubbing Hungary.
Of course the Pope was snubbing Hungary. Viktor Orban is the Pope’s unyielding antagonist, a European political leader who refuses to open his arms and his country to people who want to come in, not to integrate into Hungarian society, but only in order to take advantage of every possible benefit a European welfare state has to offer, Those benefits — housing, education, medical care and more — all add up to a kind of proleptic Jizyah. Viktor Orban has seen the baleful effects of large-scale Muslim immigration in Germany, France, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Sweden; he doesn’t want the same thing to happen in Hungary. Nor is he alone. In Eastern Europe those who live in what were once the satellite states of the Soviet Union have a keener sense of threats to their liberty than do the peoples of Western Europe; they exhibit a stronger attachment to their nation, and a greater determination not to give up any of their national sovereignty to supra-national groups, like the E.U., than do those living in Western Europe. Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic states have all refused to “open wide” their countries to Muslim immigrants.
The Pope is 84. He’s a nice man, amiable, well-meaning, terminally naïve. But he’s also irresponsible, and ignorant, and has done a lot of damage. For years he has been making baseless pronouncements about “authentic Islam.” He’s been lecturing, even hectoring, the Europeans to take in still more millions of Muslim migrants, despite the evidence of what that migration has already wrought. He owes it to his flock to read, and study, the Qur’an and hadith. Then he should read about the history of Islamic conquest of many lands and many peoples, and what happened to those peoples after they were conquered. The scales should fall from his eyes, and it won’t be pleasant. He doesn’t like unpleasantness. He’s of the smiling, dove-of-peace-releasing, Rodney-King school of simplemindedness: Why can’t we all get along? There are reasons, Pope Francis. Here are just a few of them: Qur’an 2:191-193, 4:89, 5:33, 8:12, 8:60, 9:5, 9:29, 47:4, 98:6. A Starter Kit of Inculcated Hate. You need to grasp this nettle without further evasion or delay.
The Pope needs to start telling the truth about Islam, first of all to himself and then to others. He can do it quietly, almost imperceptibly. He should first of all stop defending Islam. No more absurd remarks about “authentic Islam” being “opposed to every form of violence.” He must speak up about the “social distempers that have arisen in Europe from too sudden and too massive a migration.” He should admit that “I have in the past been too quick to make pronouncements on migration, a subject about which I had not adequately informed myself. I regret this.” He doesn’t have to mention Islam by name. Everyone will understand. His mea maxima culpas – the plural is called for — should always end with some version of this orbanesque sentiment: “Your country is your home. Everyone has a right to decide whom to admit, and whom to keep out, of the family home.”
Infidel says
This pope can’t meet his creator fast enough! I have no idea how reconfigured the Vatican clergy is, but I hope there are enough traditionalists there who would elect a next pope who is anti-Islamic, but is fine w/ other faiths, such as Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, et al
Wellington says
Don’t count on it, Infidel. After Francis is gone, and I agree it can’t be too soon, I fear there are many bishops and cardinals he has appointed who think like him, never mind many ordinary priests and laity who also agree with Francis on sundry matters, including of course on Islam. As an example, I have a neighbor of mine who is a Catholic and agrees Francis has been terrible but he knows fellow Catholics, including a nun who is an old friend of his, who think Francis has been terrific.
I fear the Roman Catholic Church has been irreversibly changed, starting with Vatican II (!962-1965) and only rear guard actions by Popes like John Paul II (who understood Communism quite well but not so much Islam) and Benedict XVI (who grasped quite well both the menace of Communism and Islam) slowed down the destructive progressivism launched by said ecumenical council which never needed to be called in the first place (blame here lies with Pope John XXIII).
Prediction: The Catholic Church will never go back to the stalwart defender of Western Civilization that it had been for many centuries. It is now a gooey, globalist mishmash of largely relativistic and destructive doctrines. Just look at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops as another case in point, as well as Catholic Charities, an organization that seemingly can’t bring enough Muslims into the West. In short, the old Catholic Church is gone forever and will remain only a shadow of its former self. Believe me when I say I hope I am wrong about this.
mortimer says
Yup, Wellington’s assessment is probably right on. And Frank is busy stuffing the Vatican and Curia with like-minded, anti-traditional followers of his neo-Marxism.
Wellington says
Seconded, mortimer, respecting what can be expected when you elect a Latin American Leftist to the arguably oldest, continuous office anywhere across the globe, i.e., the papacy.
Ecosse1314 says
I would love to diagree with you Wellington. I wish i could destroy your assertions and opinions one by one..
Sadly you are 100% correct and certainly the next Pope will be a mirror image of the present incumbent
Wellington says
Thanks for your reply, Ecosse1314. Yes, I too wish you could destroy my assertions and opinions. Would welcome it.
Vatican II opened up a Pandora’s Box and there is no closing it I fear. Moreover, Francis is far more a symptom of “the problem” and not the cause of “the problem.” And negative symptoms, as bad as they are, ordinarily pale in comparison to the etiology of something aberrant.
tim gallagher says
Wellington, I was thinking that, maybe, the state of the Catholic Church and other Churches as well, and the appointment of this left wing Pope (who might be a perfect representative of many people in the Church) might be just part of this whole woke attitude which permeates everything these days. The march of the left wingers through the universities and schools has done a pretty good job of producing plenty of people, including clergy in the churches, who go along with the whole politically correct orthodoxy. In Australia, we see quite a lot of politicians in the Liberal party (our conservative party) who are pretty left wing in their attitudes to all sorts of issues. It is as if they are in the wrong party. There are plenty of good conservatives as well, but also quite a lot of these left wingers who have infiltrated the conservative party. As you mention, I suspect that, when Pope Francis has gone from his position, there will be another left wing, very woke type who will be the next Pope.
Wellington says
I have to say, tim, and I take no delight in averring so, the elites in the West right now—in politics, the media, academia, big business, big tech, and even the ecclesiastical institutions—are failing the bulk of Western peoples, the very peoples—and the only peoples—who can be castigated with impunity and inaccuracy even though they belong to the most enlightened and productive civilization of all time.
In brief, the “common folk” in the West are holding their own all the while their “betters” are inveighing against them and destroying the most extraordinary civilization in history. Oh yeah, a new Dark Age is upon us. It’s happening right now. I think it could be the darkest of dark ages ever. Yes, this bleak.
Perhaps we truly do live in an absurd world after all. I often fight coming to this conclusion but reality keeps “getting in my way” of not concluding this. Time for a beer which I am sure you will understand.
tim gallagher says
I agree, Wellington. There seems to be a lot of self-lacerating behaviour from many people, both the members of the elites and also many average citizens as well, in the western world. There’s quite a loss of confidence I’d say. I do keep thinking that it will turn around because many people will become fed up with all this self hating nonsense. I hope that is what happens anyway. Enjoy your beer.
Infidel says
I wonder to what extent are the various Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches damaged, and whether they can put together a meaningful rebuttal of islam. In fact, if that’s gonna be the position of the Catholic church, then I’d be all for Catholics getting poached by Protestant and Orthodox churches, or even other religions, like Judaism, altogether. Otherwise this will just be a vector for enabling islam
Wellington says
Don’t put too much trust, Infidel, in the Protestant and Orthodox divisions of Christianity. Generally speaking, they are as compromised in our era as is the Catholic Church respecting takes on Islam.
Mainstream Protestant denominations and Russian Orthodoxy are particularly “obnoxious” in this “matter” (and gravenimage has detailed time and time again here at JW how Putin and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch have sucked up to Islam over and over).
All of Christianity right now is in a new dark age, one of its own making. Classic example, actually, of the enemy within being more deadly than the enemy without.
gravenimage says
Sadly this seems likely the case, Wellington.
JamesC. says
There is a very good reason why the post-Francis papacy will continue to pander to Islam: because since 1964, every single pope has done so, in obedience to what Vatican 2 said on the matter in 1964.
For reasons I don’t understand, there seems to be some idea going the rounds that Pope Francis is uniquely Islamopandering. Such an idea is utterly false. All he is doing in pandering to Islam, is, following in the steps of his predecessors since and including Paul the sixth. And as Vatican two is a General Council of the CC, its teaching enjoys almost the highest possible authority, so it cannot be reversed.
I’ve posted this link before, but it seems it could with being posted again. It leads to acpage full of papal remarks since 1964 that are uniformly friendly to Islam, from all the popes (except JP1) since then:
https://www.usccb.org/committees/ecumenical-interreligious-affairs/vatican-council-and-papal-statements-islam
Wellington says
Benedict XVI (2005-2013) was the exception. He did not pander to Islam. His Regensburg speech in 2006 was critical of Islam and led to death threats toward him. On other occasions he made statements that challenged the peacefulness of Islam, including his bringing up what Byzantine Emperor Manuel II (1391-1425) had to say about Mohammedanism. Eventually he wet quiet because I think he feared harm to Catholics in Muslim lands but he gave it a shot. I have to wonder if that was one of the reasons he may have been forced to abdicate in 2013.
Nan says
Has the Vatican ever been anything but political? I just don’t see it being anything else throughout time.
Doomer says
I certainly don’t have any problem with nationalism and populism,as long as the said movement is also pro-human rights. The pope denounces “populism” as an evil.
Yet the pro-Islam movements and parties all over the Muslim world also fall under the concept of populism. Populist simply means in accord with the wishes of the people.
The pro-Sharia movements in the Muslim world are in accord with the people’s desire.The pope thinks we are stupid.
In Sweden, where the desire of the Swedish people is not be thought of as Islamophobic, racist,xenophobic,it is their populist wish and dream. It seems the people willingly accept to have thousands of Swedish girls raped by Muslims,
about 50,000 in 20 years, as long as the Muslims in the West don’t accuse them of being racist,Islamophobic, xenophobic. Their behavior confirms it.
When you listen to the Muslim intellectuals you realize they claim that human rights is a myth,it is a fiction ,something invented for utilitarian reasons. Western atheist intellectuals ,whether Leftist or not,agree, in private, because it is not politically correct to say it in public.
There is an atheist intellectual called Cosmic Skeptic ,who indirectly agreed with a Muslim intellectual he was debating, that human rights is a leftover from Christianity.
It’s over.
Doomer says
You see this in the famous confession by Richard Dawkins,atheist intellectual,author of “The God Delusion”, who in 2008 admitted thinking rape is wrong
is a myth,”arbitrary”.Here are the exact words:
https://www.anthonysmith.me.uk/2008/11/06/dawkins-on-rape/
“Justin Brierley,of the radio show “Unbelievable”:
Okay, but ultimately, your belief that rape is wrong is as arbitrary as the fact that we’ve
evolved five fingers rather than six.
Richard Dawkins: “You could say that, yeah.”
gravenimage says
Just appalling, Doomer.
And the idea that if you an Atheist or Agnostic that you automatically believe that ethics are completely arbitrary is also mistaken. There are many very moral Atheists here, and those like Ayn Rand had a very moral code based on reason.
Mike says
For now , SOROS is running Vatican . Check CHURCH MILITANT web site to see how deplorable the situation is .
CogitoErgoSum says
Francis concentrates too much on the material needs of people and not on their spiritual needs. If Jesus was all about helping the poor and the homeless He would have gone about begging for money so he could buy the material needed to build houses to give away to those who needed one. After all, Jesus was a carpenter. He would have used his carpentry skills to teach his disciples to do the same. Instead He told them he was gong to teach them a skill about which he had no experience at all – how to be fishermen, or more precisely “fishers of men.” However, the Pope doesn’t want to be a fisher of men. He thinks he’s supposed to be supervising the building of houses and then giving them away for free (at the expense of his own workers).
somehistory says
Some would point to Jesus feeding the “multitudes” as what they should do…where the term “rice Christians” originated.
However, Jesus fed the people so they would not be so hungry that they would be unable to listen, and also, as He told His disciples, “So that they give out on the road.”
I don’t believe for one second that this guy who has assumed to sit in the seat of counselor, advisor, somewhat of a ‘judge’ and disciplinarian, knows what the Bible, Jesus Christ, Almighty God, the spiritual man, is all about.
I don’t believe he actually understands any of it; doesn’t try even to understand it, but just sits on his throne and dictates to others what they should and should not do.
And he wants to be seen as the most righteous, most pious, man to have lived and breathed…to impress the masses…and is being led by his pride and the whispers from satan in his ears.
As Jesus said in the Book of Revelation: “He needs salve for his eyes,” in order to see, “he thinks he is rich,” and yet, is spiritually dead.
CogitoErgoSum says
Yes, I think Francis is more of a follower of Marx than he is of Christ. He’s using the Catholic Church to spread Socialism (and for some reason Islam also) instead of Christianity. I guess he figures it will be easier to make Socialists out of the Muslims than to convert them to Catholicism.
somehistory says
marx and the mass-murdering, raper of children, thief, liar, slave trader, maggot….son of satan, do have so much in common. Isn’t marx the one who said he gave his soul to satan?
And the instigator of islam listened to the devil and claimed it was an angel.
But, this pope guy is delusional if he believes he can persuade mozlums not to slice and dice him if given the opportunity.
gravenimage says
You are right about Francis and Commuism, CogitoErgoSum.
He denies that he is a Marxist, yet he hates Capitalism and free trade:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/15/pope-francis-defends-criticism-of-capitalism-not-marxist
Never mind that besides everything else, there is far less poverty and virtually *no* real hunger under Capitalism, and that in addition it is people in Capitalist nations that are the most charitable givers. Americans are the most generous, even adjusting for income, followed by Britons and other Anglophones, and then western Europeans.
And what he does not mention when claiming that the percentage of poor does not change is that the nature of the poor in Capitalist nations does. Many of the poor in first world countries are actually better off than the “middle class” in unfree nations.
John says
Orban should have educated Pope Francis on Pope Callixtius III and San Juan Capistrano (siege of Belgrade 1456) three years after the fall of Constantinople.
Wellington says
John: It would have done no good. Francis is invincibly ignorant and is going to his grave that way.
On a side note, Callixtus III (1455-1458), the first of the Borgia Popes, is also notable for having a posthumous re-trail of Joan of Arc in which she was completely exculpated of any heresy and this was the beginning of her path to eventual sainthood in 1920 by Pope Benedict XV.
John says
Thanks for that bit of history.
gravenimage says
Thank you, Wellington.
Sharon says
The God of Israel Is Real .
Believe in His SON +
James Lincoln says
So, in 2021, we have:
Pope Francis destroying the Catholic Church.
And
Joe Biden – with his handlers – destroying the United States of America.
Not lookin’ good…
Wellington says
An iniquitous symmetry, James, to be sure.
The West continues to descend because it is now led by fools aplenty.
gravenimage says
Pope Francis Meets Viktor Orban
…………..
Kudos to Orban for standing his ground and protecting his people!
OLD GUY says
The Pope should protect his flock not feed with the Wolves.