German Catholic theologian and priest Oliver Wintzek has published an op-ed arguing that Islam can be understood as an “alternative form of Byzantine Christianity” and that Muslims should be viewed as Christians’ “younger brothers and sisters.”
Wintzek also rejects portraying… pic.twitter.com/EPunCfbjgE
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 23, 2026
One of the many problems with this is that it won’t be reciprocated. Wintzek wants Christians in Europe to welcome mass Muslim migration and not be concerned about it. However, many of those Muslims in Europe believe they are “the best of people raised up for mankind, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong” (Qur’an 3:110), while non-Muslims are “the most vile of created beings” (Qur’an 98:6). Wintzek, of course, like other leftists, neither knows nor cares about those aspects of Islam.
ploome says
we have entered an era where the inmates are running the asylum
another crackpot raises its head
mgoldberg says
What’s so startling is that these are clerics; those who study the ins and out so theology, philosophy perhaps. Certainly the history of the entire rape of the Christian world by Islam was recorded and studied and now….. now they are back in kindergarten playing with dolls and making up fables for show and tell.
Taffy says
This priest has rocks in his head. Loving everyone unconditionally is not the way of Christ. The Muzzies certainly will not reciprocate, and in fact want to kill Christians, and Jews and Hindus and everyone who isn’t Muslim. They even want to kill the wrong type of Muslim. A priest has to realize this, and must act accordingly instead of making theological excuses for the Muzzies.
It was in fact, Pope Urban II who initiated the crusading movement in 1095 to reclaim Jerusalem and help fellow Christians. Pope Eugene III and Pope Innocent III proclaimed subsequent Crusades, maintaining the institutional backing of the Catholic Church.
It is wishful thinking, but Pope Leo XIV should proclaim a Crusade to rid Europe of its Muzzie filth, and bring back Catholicism as the national religion of previously all Catholic European countries, and Protestant Christianity to the rest.
Raja says
Pope Leo XIV will do nothing as his concern is not running his church but an enabler for Leftists/Islamists agenda. He seems to be a totally depraved man. He appears to be well versed with Lefty doctrine than the bible.
Alfred T says
There was another priest who said that Islam is the true religion and he even said Christianity is false…. Did the pope excommunicate him? No.
But he wants to excommunicate and already did to conservatives Catholics.
jerry glenn says
Heaven help us. He is a disciple of Pope Dhimmi II.
Billy says
Islam and its Muslims are a Criminal-Terrorist-Gang Enterprise against all Non-Muslims with Muslim propaganda, discrimination, deceit, hatred, violence, and terrorism as taught by Allah in Islamic Law and in Islam’s Qur’an(Qur’an 3:28; 7:99; 9:5, 29, 41, 111; 49:15, etc.). Allah in Qur’an 8:39 commands, “And engage in war with them[Non-Muslims] until there will not be sedition and the religion will be completely to Allah…” Ultimately, Allah desires to fill hell with Non-Muslims(Qur’an 7:18; 11:119; 32:13; 98:6, etc.).
Public Funding is a privilege that should not be granted to organizations like Islam and its Muslim Organizations which are fundamentally against the US Constitution and Western Constitutions due to Muslim discrimination, segregation, violence, and terrorism. Allah in Qur’an 49:15 teaches, “Surely the believers[Muslims] are only those who believed in Allah and his messenger. They do not doubt, and they performed JIHAD with their MONEY and their LIVES for the sake of Allah. Those are the truthful.” See also Qur’an 2:191; 4:89, 91; 8:60; 9:5, 29, 111; 47:4; 48:29, etc.
Hanspeter says
The useful idiots unfortunately do not die! In Sura 61 it says that Islam must defeat the other religions.
Raja says
Catholics have been pathetic for centuries as far as understanding doctrines goes thanks to the church’s practice of withholding the bible from the flock for a long long time. Not that doctrines are rocket science. It is just teachings and if you have the attitude of learning coupled with adding up similar verses in the bible you are pretty much on track to understand the bible and its principles. I don’t know it if there is emphasis on obeying the bible (God says: be holy as I am holy as found in Leviticus 19:2 & 1 Peter 1:16) When this man blurts out some nonsense he sounds like an absolute nut)
John the Mad says
Raja: Although I agree this priest is absolutely in error, you are wrong about the Church witholding the bible. The Catholic Church never issued a universal ban on laypeople reading the Bible, and the claim that it systematically withheld Scripture is historically inaccurate.
While no pope or ecumenical council ever issued an absolute prohibition on vernacular Bible reading, the Church did enforce localized restrictions in specific regions and periods to combat heretical movements and unverified translations.
Medieval Restrictions: Councils such as Toulouse (1229) and Oxford (1408) banned lay possession of vernacular Bibles in their jurisdictions, primarily to prevent the spread of heresy rather than to suppress Scripture itself.
Chained Bibles: Bibles were chained to lecterns in medieval churches for security reasons to prevent theft, a practice also used by Protestants, which actually facilitated communal reading rather than restricting it.
Historical Context: For most of history, low literacy rates meant most people could not read the Bible regardless of permission, and the Church preserved, translated, and promoted Scripture through the Latin Vulgate and various vernacular editions long before the Protestant Reformation.
Vernacular Bibles flourished across Catholic Europe well before 1500 [i.e., before the Reformation], often with explicit Church sanction. As historian Frans van Liere puts it: “There was a large corpus of medieval vernacular translations and paraphrase of biblical texts, and there were no objections against their use, as long as these texts and their uses avoided association with heretical groups.”
Key examples by region:
English Caedmon (7th c.), Venerable Bede (d. 735), King Alfred the Great (849–899), Aelfric (d. c. 1020), Orm (c. 1150), Richard Rolle (d. 1349)
French Bible du XIIIᵉ siècle (ca. 1220–60), Bible historiale (1297)
Spanish Biblia Alfonsina (1280), Biblia de Alba
Italian Archbishop Giacomo of Genoa (~1220), Malermi Bible (1471, reprinted 13+ times); 25 Italian versions with express Church sanction before 1500
German Raban Maur (late 8th c.), Mentelin Bible (1466 — first printed vernacular Bible)
Dutch/Flemish Herne Bible (1359–84), first printed Dutch Bible (1475)
Icelandic By 1279
Polish Commissioned by Queen Jadwiga
Swedish Mid-14th century
The Cambridge History of the Bible confirms that “no universal and absolute prohibition of the translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular… was ever issued by any council of the Church or any pope.” The localized bans (Toulouse 1229, Oxford 1408) were targeted responses to specific heretical movements, not a general policy — and even in those regions, vernacular Scripture continued to circulate.
somehistory says
Raja is not wrong. I’ve met many Catholics and none have ever been encouraged to read the Bible.
One, with whom I became close friends, began to read hers and then began to ask her priest questions. He told her she didn’t need to read and they he would tell her what she needed to know.
Certain Bible translators, were hounded by the “church” because they were making the Bible readable by the average person. Persecuted and murdered.
For one example, some paragraphs from the Briticannia:
“Tyndale became convinced that the Bible alone should determine the practices and doctrines of the church and that all believers should be able to read the Bible in their own language.
William Tyndale’s Bible
William Tyndale’s BibleThe opening page of chapter 1 of the Gospel According to John from William Tyndale’s translation of the Bible, 1525–26; in the British Library.
Because of the influence of printing and a demand for Scriptures in the vernacular, William Tyndale began working on a New Testament translation directly from the Greek in 1523. After church authorities in England prevented him from translating the Bible there, he went to Germany in 1524, receiving financial support from wealthy London merchants. His New Testament translation was completed in July 1525 and printed at Cologne. Again under pressure, this time from the city authorities, Tyndale fled to Worms, where two more editions were published in 1525. The first copies were smuggled into England in 1526, where they were at once proscribed.
“church authorities prevented him.”
He began work on the Hebrew Scriptures (a.k.a. Old Testament), but was murdered before he could finish the work
“Condemned for heresy, he was executed by strangulation and then burned at the stake at Vilvoorde in 1536.’
https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Tyndale
He was not the only one murdered by “church authorities.”…for translating so the common person could read for themselves.
James Lincoln says
somehistory says,
“I’ve met many Catholics and none have ever been encouraged to read the Bible.”
I was brought up a Catholic, and that also aligns with my own personal experience. Catholics in my church were certainly allowed to bring their Bibles to Catholic mass but it was not encouraged. Specific pre-picked written passages would be supplied in the pews so the implication was that it would be redundant to bring your own Bible.
I did not like that approach.
somehistory says
Thank you, James, for relating your personal experience.
One of my older brothers, when fairly young, was given an assignment in his Bible class. He had to memorize a certain number of verses…some from the Psalms, some from other books.
We had Bibles at home, so he was able to read the verses and memorize them.
For being able to learn and recite, he was given a beautiful Bible.
I encourage everyone I speak with about it, to read it for themselves. It’s a written letter from our God and HeavenlyFather.
PRCS USN (ret) says
While the Catholics you’ve met were not encouraged to read the bible, were they ever prevented from doing so?
And, if so, by whom?
Raja says
Somehistory,
Thank for the valuable response. Your elaborate reply is really appreciated. There is no point in “debating” how the churches have conducted themselves with their flock especially how they were led in the spiritual journey. If these “mainline” churches had “fed” the flock properly we would be having lesser Dems/Liberals/Progressives/Islamists in our midst and lesser jihad. It is very unfortunate that much of the demonic islam is active in many ” Catholic” countries including countries like UK, not a Catholic nation. Poland is a gem in this lot. People turning to atheism is alarmingly high. Things look rather bleak as people lack the patience to research God despite knowing the devil in islam, if they have any commonsense left. Thanks once again.
PRCS USN (ret) says
Raja said,
the church’s practice of withholding the bible from the flock for a long long time”
*read that as universally withholding it from the entire flock,everywhere.
John the Mad makes clear:
*The Catholic Church never issued a universal ban on laypeople reading the Bible, and the claim that it systematically withheld Scripture is historically inaccurate.
*While no pope or ecumenical council ever issued an absolute prohibition on vernacular Bible reading, the Church did enforce localized restrictions in specific regions and periods to combat heretical movements and unverified translations.
*Medieval Restrictions: Councils such as Toulouse (1229) and Oxford (1408) banned lay possession of vernacular Bibles in their jurisdictions, primarily to prevent the spread of heresy rather than to suppress Scripture itself.
*The Cambridge History of the Bible confirms that “no universal and absolute prohibition of the translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular… was ever issued by any council of the Church or any pope.” The localized bans (Toulouse 1229, Oxford 1408) were targeted responses to specific heretical movements, not a general policy — and even in those regions, vernacular Scripture continued to circulate.
ploome says
whereas Jewish religious prayer
aliyah,
a Hebrew term that translates as “going up” or “ascent” and has two predominant related meanings in Judaism. In the context of worship in a synagogue,
aliyah is the honor accorded to a congregant of being called up to the bimah (central platform) to recite a blessing and, depending on the abilities of the person called, to chant or read aloud an assigned passage in Hebrew from the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible).
In antiquity the term referred to pilgrimages to Israel to visit the Temple of Jerusalem on specific holidays, before the structure was destroyed in 70 CE. In modern times aliyah refers to Jewish immigration to Israel, and it is an important concept in modern Zionism.
Generally, aliyah describes a physical and spiritual ascendance from the profane to the sacred, whether the sacred is a physical space, as in the Holy Land, or a revered text, as in the case of the Torah.
In the synagogue
During certain worship services in a synagogue, community members read aloud selected portions from the Torah.
Congregants are called up to the bimah, an elevated platform in the synagogue, literally performing an aliyah (“ascent”) as they go up to read from the sacred text. Torah readings, and thus aliyot, occur on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and during holidays and fast days.
The number of Torah passages, and thus the number of congregants called for aliyot, varies based on the day of the week and for specific important days in the Jewish calendar. During the Sabbath-morning service, for example, the Torah portion is subdivided into a minimum of seven sections, and therefore at least seven individuals are called up for these readings.
Jews have always been literate, encouraging learning and discussion of different passages in the Torah and different interpretations to sharpen and refine understanding of the text.
Torah portions are read every Saturday during services, and as described above, members of the congregation are called up to read.
There is not intermediary between man and G-d. The Rabbi is a teacher,
John Pepple says
This is why I say that the future is Islamic. All kinds of people who should be against the Muslim invasion in fact support it. Why would any Christian want so many Muslims around? And why would leftists want to import so many people who are obviously religious conservatives? Why would feminists want to import so many men who obviously hate feminism? Ditto for gays, Jews, dog lovers, people who like booze, and so on. Every single one of them should be against the Islamic invasion, yet they all seem to be in favor of it.
40 rounds says
Yes, it’s like a grand plan, perhaps the anti Christ
gravenimage says
Another demand to surrender to Islam. John, I don’t plan on doing this.
James Lincoln says
gravenimage,
With highest respect, my read on the post by John Pepple is a little different.
I don’t believe that he is stating that everyone should just surrender to islam.
He’s just stating something that is actually true: the kinds of people who you think should be against islamization are either neutral or are actually encouraging it.
Yes, there are staunch anti-jihadists out there, but they are being marginalized by the mainstream media – as well as the very kinds of people that he has identified.
Moving forward, could the attitudes change as it becomes even more blatantly obvious what the goals of these muslim invaders are?
Certainly.
But right now – today – from 25,000 feet, the muslims – along with their wretched islam – certainly appear to be winning more than losing.
Since 9/11, in the Western world, the degree of islamization has increased not decreased.
And there currently appears to be no identifiable hard backstop against it.
John Pepple says
Yes, you got it right. In no way am I demanding that we surrender, but it is just so ridiculous that people who will lose a lot if Islam wins are instead working to help them win. As far as I can tell, they think they are fighting against bigotry, but after saying “yes” to every Muslim demand, they will find it impossible to say “no” when they finally realize what the end result is.
John Pepple says
I’m not demanding it, and I have been fighting against Islamification for 25 years. But it just seems to be inevitable that it is going to happen, because so many people who should be fighting with me are not fighting at all and, if anything, are fighting for Islamification.
Spiro says
This statement is so stupid not ignorant but stupid its beyond comment
Wellington says
???????
somehistory says
And The God he pretends to worship, obey, and about Whom he promised to teach, heard the fool say it.
From long ago, there has been a place ‘prepared for the devil and his angels’ (messengers) and there is a “lake” which is for “all of the liars and those disgusting in their filth.”
there is no way on this earth that Christians are seen by God as ‘brothers and sisters’ to muzzies who would gladly murder any Chistian at any time.
There is no way Christ will protect those who have beheaded His children when He returns.
Two Scriptures..
“6 After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels 8 in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.…”
“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
This German idiot is not doing any one any favors. He neither knows God, nor Christ, and has chosen to lie about Christianity, as opposed to trying to help people see.
God and Christ heard him say it.
Siddhi Nasranni says
He is a Slave of Satan.
somehistory says
Yes, he is “doing his father’s desires.”
GE says
An alternative form of Byzantine Christianity?
This is the biggest heaping pile of skata I’ve heard in a while.
If it was an alternative form, why did Emperor Alexios 1 Komnenos call for help in eradicating its practitioners from the empire?
Another priest with rocks in his head.
gravenimage says
+1
Tim gallagher says
You wonder how anyone could be as dumb as this fool. If you are going to comment on Islam maybe you have to take a look at the Koran. So this shit for brains priest says Muslims are Christians brothers and sisters. Only if they want to kill their Christian siblings as the Koran tells Muslims to kill the non believers. You couldn’t make up this level of idiocy, nobody would believe it. Surely there has to be an IQ level below which you can’t be made a priest.
gravenimage says
Germany: Catholic theologian says Islam is a form of ‘Byzantine Christianity,’ dismisses concerns about Islamization
…………………………………………………………………………….
What utter rot–as though Byzantine Christianity teaches that “Jesus'” main role is killing Christians in the last days as does Islam.
Kepha says
Speaking as a Protestant, I see that Wintzek has finally allowed the rot that destroyed so much of Protestant Christianity to run amok in Rome.
@James Lincoln, John the Mad, SomeHistory, and others…
Glad you’ve been reading Tyndale’s translation. A huge portion of the King James (and, don’t say it too loud, the Rheims New Testament) follows him. I recommend his _On the Obedience of a Christian_.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church I attend goes through whole books of the Bible in it preaching. We’re getting Mark now; and for a couple of the previous years, we went though Exodus. The adut Sunday School also has a class devoted to a book of the Bible. And, we’re encouraged to read the book!
I’m also sad to say that the liberal “Proetestantism” I was exposed to in childhood and youth did little more than snippets here and there. An Episcopalian friend of mine lamented that in his church, “Scripture” has been “reduced to the prettier passages of the Psalms”. Much as I love the Psalter, I would lament, too. But, when I got curious as to what the Bible as a whole looked like, and read it for myself in late teens/young manhood, the process ended with hearing Christ’s call to a new life.
While I accept justification by faith (understood as a forensic act rather than a process), while seeing it as part of a package deal of salvation (nonetheless distinguishing regeneration, justification, and sanctification), I nonetheless thnk God for a friend who went to the Roman Catholic school, who knew a lot of the New Testament. Indeed, throughout High School and college, it seemed that a lot of Roman Catholic kids got more of a grounding in at least some of Scripture than those of us supposed “Protestants” who had gone to public schools. My RC friend was, perhaps, one of the means which the Holy Spirit used to push me towards actually reading the Bible. I will also nod to my parents’ love of Johann Sebastian Bach (it saddens me that I run into lots of “scientific” types who also love his music, but don’t realize that a lot of it was written for the services of the Lutheran Church).
abu taleb says
Catholic Catechism says:
“Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation.” (CCC 847)
So, muslims who seek their god (allah) and do allah’s will as their conscience says so, may achieve eternal salvation
Correct me if I am wrong, I think Paul says something like those who do Torah teaching with knowing Torah, is the same as doing Torah teaching. But he doesn’t say they will achieve the eternal salvation. I think this is the closest thing from the quitation above. For me, this Catholic doctrin does not conform the true Christianity.
And certainly Islam is nowhere close to Christianity, in fact Islam is the opposite Christianity.
.
Kepha says
I think you’re thinking of is Rom. 2:14: Indeed, all here should really put some time into studying it.
For when Gentiles that have not the law do by nature the things of the law, these not having the law are a law unto themselves.
Paul’s argument is that whether we admit it or not, we live in God’s world–and he is as well aware of the millions who won’t admit it: “…because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are cearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his [God’s] everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.” (Rom. 1:19-20).
This is not confession of the goodness of present human nature, but part of an indictment against both the man without the Bible (the Gentile) and the man with the Bible (the Jews of Paul’s day; but applicable to those of us with Christian heritage today), who “hinder the truth in unrighteousness”.
For Paul, the presence of a moral sense, whether followed or not (the “natural law” of many a Christian theologian since him) is evidence that there is none who can excape God’s judgment. But, for Paul, against the optimism of theological liberalism, there are very few, if any at all, who are truly seeking God with a sincere heart.
No, there is no salvation for those who believe they are doing God a favor by crashing a planeload of strangers with the intent of killing them–and attempting to murder his co-worker in doing so.
Joe1 says
Islam theological thrust is a lust for power. Anything, including rape, murder, war, and theft, that makes Islam more powerful is considered sacred. Whereas, Christianity is based on love of God and each other. You don’t have to be a theologian to see that they are nearly opposite of each other.
somehistory says
To Raja, you are most welcome.