Pope Francis is highlighting the Blessed Virgin Mary as a unifying figure between Muslims and Christians, despite the significant departures between Islamic trashing of the Mother of God and dogmatic Catholic teaching.
During his visit to Verona prison — a detention facility with a significantly high number of Muslim prisoners — the pontiff insisted that “the figure of Mary is a figure common to both Christianity and Islam, she is a common figure, she unites us all.”
Pope Presents Islamic Theology of God
Francis spent Saturday in the city made famous by the playwright William Shakespeare in his romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, where he visited the Montorio Prison and addressed the prisoners, urging detainees to “talk to God about our pain and help each other carry it.”
In a bid to relate to the Islamic notion of a compassionate Allah (which translates simply to “God”), Francis described God as possessing “three principal virtues: closeness, compassion and tenderness.”
“God is close to all of us, God is compassionate, and God is tender. And I thought about tenderness — we don’t talk much about tenderness — and I thought of this gift: the Madonna with Child, which is indeed a gesture of tenderness,” he added.
In her welcome speech, prison director Francesca Gioieni informed the 87-year old pontiff that the inmates came from 40 different countries and a variety of religious backgrounds.
“God is one,” the pope told the prisoners. “Our cultures have taught us to call him by different names, and to find him in different ways, but He is the same Father of us all.”
“He is one,” Francis continued, “and all religions, all cultures, look to the one God in different ways. He never abandons us. With Him by our side, we can overcome despair and live every moment as the right time to begin again.”
Academics Accuse Pontiff of Promoting Religious Indifferentism
The pontiff’s controversial remarks come days after a coalition of academics and writers accused him of promoting the heresy that “God not only permits, but positively wills the pluralism and diversity of religions, both Christian and non-Christian.”
Within days after those comments – the Vatican unofficially backpedaled somewhat, saying the pope’s words should be taken to understand that it is God’s permissive will, not active, that is responsible.
But 20 years earlier, the Vatican was a bit more direct.
According to the declaration Dominus Iesus (On the Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church), “the Church’s constant missionary proclamation is endangered today by relativistic theories which seek to justify religious pluralism, not only de facto, but also de iure (or in principle)”.
“It is clear that it would be contrary to the faith to consider the Church as one way of salvation alongside those constituted by the other religions,” the declaration, issued by Cdl. Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) as prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine for the Faith in 2000, stated.
Further, Ratzinger warned against identifying “the One and Triune God” revealed in the Holy Scriptures with “belief in other religions, which is religious experience still in search of the absolute truth and still lacking assent to God who reveals himself.”
Scholar on Islam Warns About Syncretism with ‘Muslim Mary’
In comments to Souls and Liberty, Islamic historian Raymond Ibrahim said that Francis’ series of remarks was “yet another attempt to try to convince Catholics that Islam is somehow similar to their faith when, in fact, Islam appropriates the names and sacred auras of biblical figures, but then recasts them with completely different attributes.”
Ibrahim, a prolific writer and author of recent bestseller Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War Between Islam and the West, explained: “Far from being the Eternal Virgin as she is for 1.5 billion Christians — Catholics and Orthodox — Islam presents Mary the Mother of Christ as ‘married’ to and ‘copulating’ with Muhammad in paradise.”
In an article for FrontPage Magazine titled “Muhammad and the Virgin Mary: A Match Made in Heaven?” Ibrahim cited a hadith (Islamic canonical tradition) where Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, declares: “Allah will wed me in paradise to Mary, daughter of Imran.”
Few Christians know about this claim, but medieval Christians living under Islamic occupation were familiar with it because their Muslim conquerors regularly humiliated them with this text to refute the Church’s claim of Mary’s “perpetual virginity,” writes Ibrahim.
In fact, Egypt’s former Deputy Minister of Religious Endowments, Dr. Salem Abdul Galil, openly declared that among other biblical women like Moses’ sister and Pharaoh’s wife, “our prophet Muhammad — prayers and peace be upon him — will be married to (the Virgin) Mary in paradise.”
Ibrahim obtained the Arabic video of Galil stating this on the Mahwar television network.
“Far from creating ‘commonalities,’ it should be clear that such appropriation creates conflict,” Ibrahim stressed.
Francis Urges Confessors to ‘Forgive Everyone’
Addressing priests in Verona, Francis urged confessors to offer unconditional forgiveness to penitents coming for confession.
“Please, may it not be a torture session. Please, forgive everything. Everything. And forgive without causing suffering, forgive opening your heart to hope. I ask this of you priests, The Church needs forgiveness, and you are the tools to forgive. Everyone,” he insisted.
“Have you understood? Forgive everyone,” Francis repeated.
Statistics from Italy’s Department of Penitentiary Administration reveal that a very high percentage of inmates in Italian prisons are Muslims who hail from Morocco (20.3%), Romania (11.6%), Albania (10.5%) and Tunisia (10.1%).
The prison in Verona has 580 inmates, of which 42 are women, and 313 are foreigners (54.0%), who are mostly Muslim.
Italy’s Ministry of Justice has expressed concern regarding the growing phenomenon of Islamic radicalization of inmates in Italian prisons, including forceful Muslim proselytism and training for terrorism.
Dr. Jules Gomes, (BA, BD, MTh, PhD), has a doctorate in biblical studies from the University of Cambridge. Currently a Vatican-accredited journalist based in Rome, he is the author of five books and several academic articles. Gomes lectured at Catholic and Protestant seminaries and universities and was canon theologian and artistic director at Liverpool Cathedral. This article has been cross-posted with permission from Souls and Liberty.
somehistory says
‘Where should we begin….to explore the windmills of his evil mind?’
First, the Son of God, Who actually Knows His Father, says, “True worshippers will worship the Father with Spirit and Truth.”
Jesus also said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The Apostle John, who learned directly from Jesus, wrote: “If anyone does not bring this teaching, never allow him into your homes.”
Again, Jesus said, “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, expel demons in your name and perform powerful works in your name; and Yet, I will confess to them, “I never knew you. Get away from me you workers of lawlessness.”
And Jesus said that if a ‘brother comes to you and repents,’ you must forgive him.
The Apostle Peter (and even non-Catholics know what the pope claims about Peter) said, that one must “repent and turn around,” so that one may be forgiven.
John the Baptizer said the same to those who came to him.
There is no forgiveness for those who do evil things and continue to do evil things.
Isaiah and Jeremiah made the same point in their writings.
Jeremiah
“Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you.”
Jesus proclaimed of Himself, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Of the Pharisees who saw Jesus as a great obstacle to their remaining in power, Jesus asked, “How are you to flee from the Judgment of Gehenna?”
The ‘god of this system’ is the god mozlums worship. That ‘god’ will be destroyed.
The God of the Bible ‘permits’ evil for a set time, “because He does not desire any to be destroyed, but desires all to attain to repentance.”
But, He does not approve of lies; and to say that the evil “prophet” of islam has intimate relations with the faithful women of the Bible, including the mother of Jesus Christ, are some of the most reprehensible.
They are vomit-worthy.
The Proverb tells us of the seven things Jehovah does hate. Two of them relate to lying, and one is directly against causing trouble. Murder, shedding innocent blood, hurrying to do evil things, arrogance, scheming to do bad and hurtful things to others.
islam commands all of the things Jehovah hates.
The ‘pope’ is not a man of God. The ‘pope’ is an agent of satan the devil. We can see his “fruits” and by his “fruits we can recognize him.” His “fruits are rotten” because he is rotten.
“Every rotten tree will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
The pope is relying on his lies to save himself “Forgive everyone” is his repeated instruction to the priests because he wants it to cover over his evil.
The pope, if he wants what Jesus promised, needs to repent and ask God to forgive. Being forgiven by man is not enough.
James Lincoln says
Excellent selection of biblical quotes, somehistory.
somehistory says
Thank you, James.
John Smith says
Seconded James
somehistory says
Thank you, John.
Hoi Polloi says
Thank you and I love the windmill bit. Is there no consequence within Catholicism to be meted out to such a man who so fully and repeatedly negates the faith? I don’t understand at all.
somehistory says
thank you, HP.
And I don’t understand either.
I recall the ‘man blind from birth’ who accepted the help of Jesus, and he was being kicked out of the synagogue. What he did was right, seen as wrong, and was paying a price.
One would think that Catholics would have something set up, as they do for excommunication, for a ‘pope’ such as he.
James Lincoln says
somehistory says,
“One would think that Catholics would have something set up, as they do for excommunication, for a ‘pope’ such as he.”
Likely something that was never even contemplated.
But here we are…
somehistory says
Thank you, James and William, for your replies.
Kepha says
Amen. 阿们.
The Jesus Christ of the Bible is indeed a divisive figure who will separate the sheep and the goats. I’m all for forgiving people, since Jesus Christ called on us to do so–a keen reminder that all of us born through ordinary generation are sinners from birth.
But I ask fellow Christians to pray for two young men in my classes who, during down time or free time to read, started reading the Bible. They are Afghan refugees and asked a load of good questions. My prayer is that God’s word of grace will not return to Him void in the cases of these students, their families, and other Afghani people who have relocated to the States.
Hoi Polloi says
Done.
somehistory says
Thank you, Kepha.
I will do so, as prayer for “all sorts of men” to “come to an accurate knowledge” of God and His Son are an important part of Chrisitan obligations: “Preach the Word….in troublesome season.”
Wellington says
He’s an idiot.
Siddi Nasrani says
I think the Pope is taking mind altering drugs, to come out with the crap he comes out with. We have to forgive him as he is not in the the right state of mind.
Wellington says
No, I respectfully think you are incorrect. Francis is just your standard Latin American Leftist and in microcosm he helps explain why Latin America has been desultory and dysfunctional for a very long time now.
No drug use explanation is necessary to demonstrate Francis’ mental rot. “Merely” a plethora of stupid ideas is the root cause. After all, if one is a Leftist, as Francis surely is, no further negatives like drugs are required for one to remain horribly in the wrong about so much and then some. Like Francis.
Kepha says
Wellington, you are absolutely right here.
Re Leftism–
One day, a mulatto-looking teen walks into my class. I initially assume she is probably Dominican or from some Central American place that got some African admixture. But she sees a Korda icon of Guevara on a classmate’s purse and literally gasps, “El Asesino!” It turned out she and her parents were fresh off the plane from Cuba to rejoin abuela in the USA. This was in the Obama years, when Cubans were no longer granted immediate asylum, and had to start immigrating through ordinary channels. Hence, this girl grew up under the Communist regime and had all of her early education in Castroite propaganda. Yet with only family memory, she was still horrified that outside Cuba people idolize Ernesto Guevara Serna y Lynch.
Similarly, before our school went to uniforms, a Panamanian kid used to wear a Guevara t-shirt. Then he got in thick with a kid from Eastern Bolivia, where the local heroes are the military squad that killed Guevara, and where the memorial statue of Guevara has to be guarded lest it get vandalized. The Guevara shirt disappeared.
Hence, my refusal to condemn all immigration willy-nilly is not just because I make my living as an ESOL teacher. Yes, immigration has brought some bad ideas and movements into the country (my tribes introduced Marxism and social democracy), but we give opportunities to live and learn. I believe that with God’s grace, these United States can turn around and get back on a healthy path.
As for Pope Francis, he is a reason why I will remain Protestant (apart from a whole lot of exegetical ones).
gravenimage says
Agreed, Wellington.
And Kepha, thanks for the anecdotes about the kids who realize what a murderous thug the romaticized “Che” was.
Only slightly off-topic–I belong to a portrait studio–we meet on Zoom and paint portraits of models we engage. Our current model is a big fan of Marx and Lenin–his wall is papered with Soviet posters–and he actually carries around a copy of Mao’s Little Red Book which he proudly showed us. Superficially he seems like a nice enough guy, but is dumb as a post and understands nothing about history. He’s in his late 20s, so he has even less excuse than do kids.
Tatanka says
The Pope is a traitor and an idiot. He’s in cahoots with the devil. Im glad i ain’t no longer member of that idolatrous cult .
somehistory says
He heard somewhere that ‘satan keeps transforming himself into an angel of light” and decided he should copy the deceit.
SC says
Sorry papa you are losing it. Stick to the catholics rather than the politics. You can say what you want but the majority of thinking people will never trust anything to do with Islam. Their PRIMARY raison d’etre is to wipe out INFIDELS like you.
gravenimage says
Yep.
Spiro says
Is this Pope even a Christian
God is one in three persons and the theotokos is a bridge only from darkness to light of Jesus Christ
Did this Pope go to a seminary
Kepha says
Agreed, Spiro. Mary is Theotokos because the Word became flesh within her womb. Let that title honor her sinless son Jesus as true God as a well as true man, the one mediator between our holy God and sinful man.
God has richly blessed me recently in allowing me to explain that the third person of the Holy Trinity is the Holy Spirit rather than Mary; that Jesus’ death on the cross was the atonement for our sins and necessary for his conquest of death on our behalf in his resurrection and his triumphant ascension. I pray that the Holy Spirit would be at work on those young men.
May Christ’s light shine in this great darkness, in which a supposedly Christian leader denies the Gospel, to bring grace to millions.
Spiro says
Well put
Thanks
Wellington says
As an agnostic, I still feel compelled to stick up for Catholicism. This Christian sect has done wrong per some of its adherents (including Popes like Francis) but it has also provided mankind excellence in sundry areas—artistically (e.g., Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque architecture {the last here being a magnificent architectural answer to the Protestant Reformation}), musically (e.g. Gregorian Chant), intellectually (e.g., Erigena, Anselm and Thomas Aquinas), societally (Catholic nun orders establishing schools and hospitals in voluminous amounts across the world), et al. And many Popes did very correct things, for instance Leo the Great talking Attila out of sacking Rome, Gregory the Great converting the Anglo-Saxons, Urban II thwarting Islamic imperialism by calling for the First Crusade, and Pius XII saving more Jews than any person in history, Jew or non-Jew.
Reconsider.
Rufolino says
Catholics would disagree with you. Catholicism is not a “sect”, it is Christianity. And every other “sect” is in error.
The telling thing is that Catholics don’t call themselves Christians, they call themselves Catholics. And when asked about belief, they proudly believe in “Catholicism”.
It’s sometimes as if Christianity gets overlooked.
Kepha says
Well, as a God-bless-King-Billy Protestant heir of the Swiss-Rhenish-Puritan Reformation, I hold that Rome was not built in a day, nor did it rot in a day.
abu taleb says
You forget to mention the wealth of Catholic church gathered from robberies on America, Africa and Asia, and even from the European people too.
And, at least in my country, the hospitals and schools run by Catholic church are looking for profit the same as private companies.
Catholic chirch is nothing more than a bunch of greedy people want to be in power using God’s name.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Wellington.
Tony Rice says
The Pope will be offering Islamists to open up an office, and recruitment centre in the Vatican soon
James Lincoln says
The unthinkable is now possible, Tony.
Donovan Nuera says
There will be a muezzin testing out the new 120 dB speaker system atop the lantern of St. Peter’s in a year.
Wellington says
I think there can be no doubt that Pope Francis I is just about the lowest point in the history of the entire papacy, an office which at its best has represented the sterling qualities of Western Civilization and which at its worst has been a major negative to Western Civilization.
Kinda’ like the office of the Presidency of the USA. You have those such as Washington and Lincoln and then you have others such as Obama and Biden.
Conclusion: The office in each case I noted is arguably a noble one but it can be enhanced or disgraced depending on who holds the office. It is not the office per se where ultimately greatness or failure resides but rather in its holder. Well, the two now holding the office of the papacy and the Presidency of the USA are truly deficient men but I would strongly counsel against negatively assessing in each case the office they hold.
The office in each instance is not deficient. They are.
James Lincoln says
Pope Francis is supposed to be the spiritual leader of the Catholic Church.
He is failing miserably – and that is tragic beyond tragic.
tgusa says
“Virgin Mary as a unifying figure between Muslims and Christians”
Muslims would not hesitate to rape the Virgin Mary you damned idiot. Get the hell out of our non-muslim civilization and dont come back. I would have thought the Catholic hierarchy would have picked someone with half a brain to be their boss but here we are.
somehistory says
Gang rape and then behead her. they can’t, so they break any statue they can which represents her to Catholics.
All Catholics should revolt against him as those 16 nuns have done. Then boot him all the way to tehran.
40 rounds says
Hey, I’m sure Mary was flattered!
࿗Infidel࿘ says
You beat me to it. I’m not a Christian in the first place, but just from the outside looking in, what about all those beheaded statues of Virgin Mary that nowadays happens in France? Are those muslims respectful of her the same way that Christians are?
somehistory says
+ I should say no way, Jose.
Christians see Mary as the mother of their savior. Every time I read the part where He is hanging, and she sees her firstborn, the Son of God, dying, it’s so very sad, heartbreaking. How it must have pained her.
Just as she was told it would be.
mozlums want her to be a victim of rape, to be debauched.
Walter Sieruk says
Pope Francis is an unconscionable liar for pretending that both Christians and Muslims believe in the same God.
For Christians believe in the God of the Bible , Who is the same Deity ,as the God of Christianity . This the the Supreme Being that is Tri-Personal God . Meaning the Trinity which is within the essence
of the One true God ,He exist as three distinct Persons , God the Father , God the Son and God the Holy Spirit . Three distinct Person in One God,. Matthew 3:13-17. 28:19. Second Corinthians 13:14..
He is the Triune God therefore a very complex God . So Great the that human mind find hard to understand.
In contrast,the god of Islam is a single being. A god that is very cruel and vicious that he causes all the disasters that harm humankind , all the time.Sharah 57:22
So Christians and Muslims don’t really believe in the same God just because they believe that there is only one God. As one Christian scholar and writer , Robert Morey had clearly explained it “Believing in one God doesn’t do you any good if it’s the wrong god’.” Meaning a false god.
tim gallagher says
This Pope is either as demented and clueless as Biden or is just plain evil. Muslims keep murdering Christians throughout the world, especially in Africa, which this idiotic Pope doesn’t seem to be aware of, and here is this moron talking about how Muslims and Christians are “united”. The most important sentiment expressed in stinking, rotten islam seems to me to be “Kill the non-believers wherever you find them”. That murderous level of hate dominates islamic thought, it always has and it always will. Neverending hatred towards Christians and all other non-Muslims is the main aspect of islam. This old codger of a Pope should retire. His brain is mush when it comes to islam’s nature. He wouldn’t have a clue..
tgusa says
In the Divine Comedy Dante reserves places in Hell for no fewer than five popes who reigned in his lifetime. Some already there, others whose damnation is foretold.
That was written a long time ago. Just sayin.
Scotsman48 says
The silence of this wee Popey fella about what muslims are doing to Christians across Nigeria is deafening to my ears.
muslims smash statues of Mary and yet this wee Popey guy says islam and Christianity both worship her.
Methinks he really is the Anti Christ spoken of to return in disguise.
I was not born nor wish to join the Catholic faith but surely the followers of that religion can see the damage done to their faith by this idiot.
He sleeps behind a massive wall built centuries ago to keep the islamic warriors out so why doesn’t he have torn down if he wants so many muslims into Italy and Europe, charity begins at home hombre.
jerry glenn says
Francis surges in the Olympic Islamopandering derby.
gravenimage says
+1
Hoi Polloi says
I do enjoy these posts. Such a grim subject benefits from the levity provided by the derby take.
PatriotLiz says
The Pope blasphemes the Virgin Mary in an attempt to pander to IslamoFascism and merging it into Chrislam.
Kepha says
Re Salem Abdul Galil statement on Muhammad being married to two Miriams in Heaven, there are the words of Jesus to the Sadduccees:
“The sons of this world marry and are given in marriage; But they that are accounted worthy to attain to that world [the next] and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage; for neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels; and sons of God; being sons of the resurrection.” (Luke 20:34-36 RV).
Islam gets so much wrong.
James Lincoln says
Kepha says,
“Islam gets so much wrong.”
Yes.
Come to think of it, I can’t think of anything offhand that they get “right”.
Jerry says
Bismilallah Rahmani Rahim
In the name of God the Merciful and forgiving
The Satanic Cult of Death
Makes war against all of us living.
Yogi says
This idiot is an Islamic Pope !, He is part of this global horror project , which we are all together , .
Walter Sieruk says
There are a number of apologists for Islam, some are imams and mullahs and strangely enough, even some so called “Christian” leaders ,as Pope Francis, who have declared the outstanding and false claim that Christians and Muslim both believe in and worship the same God. So it stands to reason that it’s important to know if this claims valid and true or invalid and false. The facts are that the god of Islam or the Muslims is a single being. In great contrast the God of Christianity, of the Christians consists as the Trinity.
Jesus as the Son of God and God the Son prayed to God the Father. His father.
So with attempted rhetorical question that given in this posting reveals that a fitting understanding of the and definition of the Trinity is very necessary.
By the Trinity, it means that “Within the essence of the one True God there are Three Persons. Being God the Father. God the Son and God the Holy Spirit” Not three gods in one But Three Distinct Persons in One God. Being the Tri-Personal Nature of God, Matthew 3:13-17. Second Corinthians 13:14. . The Bible teaches, the Father is God, Galatians 1:1.The Son is God, First John 5:20. The Holy Spirit is God, Acts 5:3,4. Not three gods but the one and only Triune God.
As further explained in the Christian book MAJOR BIBLE THEMES by Lewis Sperry Chafer on page 39 which informs the readers that “Many believe that the doctrine of the Trinity in implicit in the use of the word Elohim, as the name of God which is in a plural form and seems to refer to the Triune God. “ Likewise, in the Christian magazine PERHAPS TODAY November/December 2013 on page 8 it reads about Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning God [this is the plural noun Elohim, meaning ‘more than one’] created the heaven and the earth.” Furthermore, a bit of a view of the inner workings of the Trinity together may be seen in that the God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. Romans 10:9,10. Jesus raised Himself from the dead, John 2:19,20. The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, Romans 8:11.The inner-workings of the Trinity of God may also be seen in the fact that the Father sanctifies, First Thessalonians 5:23. The Son sanctifies, Ephesians 5:26. Hebrews 2:11; 9:12,14;13:12.The Holy Spirit sanctifies ,Romans 15:16. Second Thessalonians 2:13. Getting back to the Bible book of Genesis. In Genesis 1:26 in reads “The God said let US make man in Our image , according to our likeness…” The words are the plural “Us” and “Our.” As in “We the Trinity” For the very next verse, 27, it further reads “So God created man in His own image…” In verse 26 it’s the plural “Us” and “Our” to the singular “His” That is Three Persons in One God.
In conclusion the many apologists and propagandists for Islam who make the claim that Christians and Muslims believe in and worship the same God are make an untrue and outright false claim. For the God of Christianity, Christians and the Bible is not the god of Islam Muslims and the Koran.
Lisa T. says
As a Protestant Christian, I found it amusing learning in my A.P. European History class in High School that at one point there were two Popes simultaneously (or was it three) and that they each excommunicated the others’ followers, effectively condemning them all to hell. Sorry, folks, I don’t think that is how it works. God alone makes those decisions.
I have read that many Catholics are unhappy with this Pope and that the American bishops have been especially critical and a thorn in his side.
gravenimage says
Pope Francis: ‘Mary Unites Muslims and Christians’
……………………………………………..
Not really–pious Muslims murder Christians who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and Mary his mother.
But many Muslims are fine with making this claim to fool Christians, who so often hopefully look for common ground.
Goofy says
It is a tragedy that Mr Pope lends credibility to the Islamic claim that it is an Abrahamic “religion”.
Islam is as far away from Christianity as you can imagine, Islam is a perverted sorry mess, and its commands are in conflict with all laws and human dignity.
Unless Mr Pope has ambitions to become the Antichrist he better stay quiet
Kepha says
Frankie Boogaloogaloo–he’s a joke.
Mrs Gillian Miller says
Allah is a statue in Medina and has 3 daughters so no way is Islam anything to do with the Judeo-Christian religions.