At this point, would anything stop them from doing so?
Vatican News, which describes itself as “the news portal of the Holy See,” ran the story in Italian: “Countering the walls of prejudice: CEI and PISAI present ‘Fact Sheets for Understanding Islam.’” CEI is the Italian Bishops’ Conference, and PISAI is the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies. So what we have here is the spectacle of the Vatican and the Italian bishops taking it upon themselves to teach the world about Islam. Don’t hold your breath waiting for al-Azhar to issue fact sheets for understanding Christianity, and that’s likely just as well. The Holy See’s Islam material looks to be as biased, misleading, and inaccurate as anything one can imagine coming out of al-Azhar about any non-Islamic Faith.
As if to emphasize that this ill-conceived venture had backing at the highest levels, the Vatican News article notes happily that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the Archbishop of Bologna and president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, “was among those present at yesterday’s launch at Palazzo Borromeo—the seat of the Italian Embassy to the Holy See—for a resource developed by Catholics and Muslims.” Zuppi called the new fact sheets on Islam “a powerful antidote to violence and ignorance.” Fr. Wasim Salman, dean of PISAI, added that “in-depth study” was “a way to counter a clash of civilizations.’”
This is because, Vatican News informs us, “prejudice builds walls, while knowledge constructs bridges.” And so these “Fact Sheets for Understanding Islam” purport to provide that knowledge. Taking for granted the mass Muslim migration that has transformed Europe and will continue to do so in ways that are all too foreseeable, Zuppi said: “It is vital to get to know one another, especially when living in close proximity. We often think we know someone, yet in reality, we do not know them at all—or rather, we only ‘know’ them through the lens of prejudice.”
Secure in his righteousness, Zuppi continued: “Ignorance should have no place in our schools, yet, unfortunately, it often ends up setting the agenda. As a result, people feel entitled to pass judgment on others without truly knowing them. These fact sheets on Islam, created jointly by Catholics and Muslims, therefore serve as a powerful antidote to both violence and ignorance.”
Violence? Who is committing the violence here? Only Muslims, not Catholics. Yet the fact sheets don’t seem to spend any time telling Muslims not to be violent. Instead, “the eleven fact sheets go beyond common stereotypes.” That’s a relief! “The material begins with ‘What is Islam?’ and ‘A Brief History of Islam,’ covering faith and theology, the Quran as the revealed word of God, the emulation of the prophetic model, and acts of worship (‘ibāda’).”
Wait a minute. The Qur’an as “the revealed word of God”? Surely they’re teaching young Catholics that Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the revealed word of God, not that the book itself is actually the revealed word of God? That seems likely, but nowadays the spirit of ecumenical openness has become so all-pervasive that one cannot be sure without further clarification from the Vatican or the Italian bishops, and that was not forthcoming. Would anyone really be surprised if far-left, pro-mass migration bishops and other high Catholic Church officials endorsed the Qur’an as the “revealed word of God”?
After all, there is one notable precedent. Back in September 2014, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who at that time was Archbishop Emeritus of Washington and had not yet been disgraced, appeared to have converted to Islam, beginning an address with the Qur’anic salutation “In the name of God, the Merciful and Compassionate,” and asserting that “Catholic social teaching is based on the dignity of the human person… [and] as you study the holy Koran, as you study Islam, basically, this is what Muhammad the prophet, peace be upon him, has been teaching.”
The new fact sheets seem to be a continuation of that kind of thinking. McCarrick meant to seem generous, broad-minded and welcoming when he referred to “Muhammad the prophet, peace be upon him,” but he didn’t expect the Muslims in his audience to take his words fully seriously or to hold him to them, and they clearly knew better than to risk alienating someone who was at that time a powerful ally by doing so.
When Christians in general make these gestures that they believe to be generous, they don’t realize that in seeming to confirm the Qur’an’s divine origin or Muhammad’s status as a prophet, they’re condemning themselves in the eyes of the Muslims they think of as friends, for not being consistent, announcing their conversion, and living fully as Muslims. There will come a day, in the not-too-distant future, when Muslims will demand that they make good on the rhetorical checks they’ve been cashing. That day will come even for the Italian bishops and the Vatican itself.
L.P.M. de de vette says
it is getting worse and worse, just unbelievable!!!
STEVEN says
Imagine if Islam was invented as a means for control; a guy who sought recognition and power appropriated not only the customs of his nemesis’s religious beliefs, but also their prophets, in order to claim superiority and dominance over it, and voiding their credibility as passe.Sun Tzu, Genghis Khan, Hitler, Lenin, and Pol Pot are envious.
gravenimage says
+1
WPM says
This is blaspheme in the highest form .Why not take any religious book or teaching as the “word of God” that is not Christian in any way as part of Roman Catholic teaching ?,Especially a violent one calling for the killing or enslaving, or forced conversion of all Christians and Jews ?This appeasement goes against spreading the “good news ” of Christianity that is in the gospel .You cannot just add or subtract the basic gospel that Christ was the son of God died for our and raise from the dead ,Islam is against all the beliefs of Christianity ,it is a mocking of Christianity . Islam is a clobbered together mis-match of bits and pieces of a religion that only promotes slaving ,thieving , lying ,murder and supremist mind set against all non-Moslems .A high Bishop or any leader of any religion group (Jewish ,Christian ,Buddhist ,Hindu ect) to try appease this beast of a belief system is not protecting his followers .He is exposing his followers to a breast that will swallow them whole if has its way.
mgoldberg says
“In the Quran, Surah Al-Bayyinah (98:6) states that those who disbelieve (often translated as al-kafirun or those who reject the truth) from among the People of the Scripture and the polytheists will abide in the fire of Hell, and describes them as “the worst of creatures” or “the most vile of created beings” (sharrul-bariyyah)” Well now…. all these ‘bishops’ and clerics, what do you make of such teachings? Do you think it’s just some anodyne criticism of secular people or rather, the excuse to subjugate, enslave and murder those who refuse to join or be submitted. How foolish and stupid of you……
Siddhi Nasranni says
After studying the history & workings of the Roman Catholic Church & the same with Islam, I came to this final conclusion that both of them are in bed with Satan.
These warnings have been told in both the Old & New Testaments.
Prove me wrong ?
Equimox says
Prove you wrong about what?
You haven’t presented a detailed argument that could possibly lead to a mere metaphor (“in bed with Satan”).
As Pauli (no, not Saul/Paul) would say, your vague thesis (if that) “is not even wrong”, meaning you present nothing that a reasonable person could engage in a rational way to prove anything right or wrong. Not even wrong.
gravenimage says
Your idea that the Catholic Church fighting off Islam for centures means they are “in bed with Satan” is *much mistaken*. You would not be free today if not for brave Catholics defeding against Islam.
This idiocy today is dhimmitude and “political correctness”–not Catholicism.
abu taleb says
People who fight Islam are not necessary good people.
But people who defend Islam are indeed bad people.
John1 says
As a practicing Roman Catholic, and a student of history, it is quite obvious that Islam is a political system masquerading as a religion, and spread not through reason, or divine revelation, but through terror, violence, torture and death ( and in some current cases mental illness or demonic possession)
gravenimage says
Agreed, John.
somehistory says
There should be “a wall.” The words of Jesus, “Do not give what is holy to dogs nor throw pearls before swine.”
And Paul wrote, “Do not eat and drink at the table with demons”
Way back, the Jews were told not to associate with devil worshippers….such as the Canaanites and Philistines. The very first of the Ten Commandments is regarding their worship of God….To “have no other gods before me.”
Many who claim to be Christian, believe they should be obedient to the Commandments given to the Jews.
And yet, here we are when people who claim to follow Christ, who have the full Bible in any language they many read with understanding, those who have chosen to “lead” the flack are “having a sharing with demons” (a.k.a. God’s enemies.) They are ‘putting’ satan in a revered place.
On that “broad and spacious road to destruction.” Jesus said that He “will say to them, “Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
Siddhi Nasranni says
Amen & Hallelujah to that.
somehistory says
Thank you, Siddhi.
Giancarlo MATTA says
matteo zuppi is well-known in Italy
as a “catholic-communist”.
as such, he has a fondness for “true” muslims.
he is a wretched renegade—a living affront to the religion he claims to represent.
gravenimage says
Another communist, huh? I am not surprised.
gravenimage says
Are the Italian Bishops Promoting the Qur’an as the ‘Revealed Word of God’?
………………………………………………………………
*Insanity*. The claim that caravan raiding, slavery, pedophilia, sex slavery, rape, and mass murder of Infidels–*including Chrstians*–is a “powerful antidote to both violence and ignorance” could not be more perverse.
Walter Sieruk says
Those Roman Catholic Bishops who have stated that claim when they said that “The Qur an is the revealed Word of God,” have declared a false claim.
For the Qur’ an which is the foundation of Islam has blasphemous doctrines such about the actual natural of Jesus is God .
For Islam denies that Jesus is the Son of God. Meaning that Jesus of the only Son of God the Father. That is in blatant contradiction to the information revealed in the Bible.. As found, for example, Matthew 3:16, 17, First John 2:22, 23. Likewise, Jesus is God the Son, as seen in Hebrews 1:8. First John 5:20.
The Deity of the Son taught in the Bible .For in Colossians 2:9 It reads “For In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form. ” [N.I.V.]
That Jesus is God is further revealed in the Bible in John 1-1-3. Colossians 1:15-17. Romans 9:5 Second Peter 1:1. Titus 2:13 First John 5:20.
So in the Light of the Bible it’s then no surprise that in Islamic countries, the Muslim clerics attempt to discourage the people from reading the Bible, by their words and even owning a Bible, by their actions.
For those Islamic clerics would have no hold or control over the people if they discovered the truth of the sculpture, Bible, Second Timothy 3:16 and the Jesus is the way to heaven, John 14:6.
those Bishops are wrong , they are in terrible and total Biblical error..
Walter Sieruk says
Those Roman Calcific Bishops, in spite of that religious education, are in terrible Biblical error when they said the “The Qur ‘an is the “Revealed Word of God .”What they had actually is that they are in a condition of spiritual darkness. For the Bible verse Isaiah 8:20. This instructs “To the law of the testimony. If they do not speak according to the word, it is because there is no light in them.”
As the Quran in 112 teaches “He is God alone: God is the eternal begetteth not…” Likewise, this religious book which is the entire foundation of and for Islam further teaches in 19:35. “It is not befitting to God that He should beget a son.”
In great contrast, the Bible teaches in John 1:14. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory , the glory of the only begotten of the Father ,full of grace and truth.” Likewise John 3:16 teaches “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… Then just a little further in verse 18 it is written about Jesus Who is “the only begotten Son of God. “ Other places in the Bible further teach that Jesus is the Son of God as in Matthew 16:15:16. Luke 1:35. John 3:36. First John 4:14. 15. 5:14,15.
Moreover, to be even more clear the Bible teaches that Jesus is the Son of God, Who is God the Father. As found in Matthew 3:16,17. First John 2:22,23. 4:14,15. Of course , it ,very much, needs to made even more specific . The Bible teaches that Jesus is also God the Son. As seen in Hebrew 1:8 and First John 5:20.
The imams and mullahs as well as the other apologists for Islam will try to “explain” this all away. As in they will try brush off all those Bible verse off by making the claim that the Bible had been corrupted, through time, by Christians and that’s why the Bible reads as it does. That claim they make actually underestimate the Power of God to protect and keep His Word safe and intact ,through time, and away from the corruption of men.
In conclusion ,with the above instruction of the way to find doctrinal truth in Isaiah 8:20 and in the light of the Bible verse provided it may be clearly seen, by all those who are willing to see, that Islam is in terrible doctrinal error and it is therefore a false religion, Proverbs 14:12. John 14:6.
The Bible has ex[posed that those bishops are terribly wrong when they said that ignorant fool statement.