POPE, ITALY, WATCH AND PRAY


The Pope comes first because he is bigger than Italy or any country in the world, except China and perhaps India, as the leader of about one and a quarter billion Roman Catholics and indeed the leader of all the about two and a quarter billion Christians. He is the most important human being alive though I may be challenged by adherents of Islam because there are over one and half billion Moslems of whom seventy five to ninety per cent are Sunnis. Since the Sunni leader – who is he anyway? – has not been traversing the world preaching peace and love thy neighbour, I congratulate the Pontiff on the good work he is doing bringing hope to the seemingly hopeless. He had successful trips to the United States of America and East Africa and now he has just concluded five day tour of Poland where he communed and held vigil with one million children of diverse races and visited holocaust sites in Germany. He has been a ray of hope in this confused world of ours. If leaders of other churches or other religions travelled the globe with similar messages the world would be a much better place to live in. But he must not be deterred. He should continue spreading the light. Italy is a country of about sixty million people and cannot be taken lightly.
I took note of the Pope’s recent speech which contained among other things the assertion that the world is at war. Part of what he said was, `To be clear, when I talk about war, I talk about genuine war. Not a war of religion. There is a war of interests. There is a war of cash. There is a war for characteristic assets. There is a war for control of people groups.’ He obviously spoke as a man in the public eye, avoiding sensation and anything controversial.
But in my view it is more a war of interests, of Islam trying to eliminate Christianity so as to be the paramount religion in the Western world. This religious war has been on for centuries, initially with Christians going on Crusade from all over Europe to Palestine to fight Moslems. But since then the war has been simmering, virtually one-sided. The Moslems have carried it on with Christians in the Middle East being wiped out, forced to leave or being forcibly converted to Islam. The tempo rose with the war in Afghanistan and the rise of Bin Laden, Al Qaeda and terrorism. Then there was the New York twin tower bombing in 2001, the invasion of Iraq and the use of drones. In East Africa Al Shabaab became active killing Christians and all comers. In Nigeria the destruction of churches has been going on for decades and the tempo increased with the coming of Boko Haram in the North who began with killing policemen, then Christians, the usual targets, and later everybody else in the way.
The onslaught against Christians has been speeded up with the emergence of ISIS. Christians are being eliminated or forcibly converted. But what should be particularly alarming is the onslaught in Europe, bombings and massacres in Germany, France and Belgium with nobody spared, Christians or Moslems. The perpetrators believe they are serving Islam even though the `true Islamists’ would say that they are simply misguided murderers. But one could ask why there are no misguided Christians killing all and sundry in the name of Christianity. Does this not give the impression that Christianity is a religion of peace?
My appeal is to the Pope, the Vatican and Italy to note that while there have been bombings and chaos in surrounding countries, Belgium, France and Germany, Italy, a Godly and welcoming society has been calm. It even takes the trouble to bring drowning and stranded migrants ashore from the Mediterranean. It is the gateway to Europe for refugees. Thousands of them have settled there and thousands more are in transit. I think it would be naïve to believe that there are no radical Islamists in Italy or that there are no knife-wielding, `Allahu Akbar’ shouting deranged citizens listening to the terrible message from ISIS. The mystery is that no attacks have been launched there, no killings, no bombings while all around them other countries are being bombed and are scared of more crises.  Does that mean that Italy is immune? I believe that Italians should be worried. So should the Vatican.
Are the radical Islamists planning something special there? Remember that in 2014 a Palestinian Imam said at a conference in the Vatican organised by the Pope himself that there will be world peace only when Islam rules the world. Surely, the Islamic jihadists would love to embarrass Italy and the Vatican in particular. So I would advise that while Italy should be watching and praying and preparing to react to terror like the other nations, the Vatican should be particularly watchful and prayerful! What great capital the Islamists would make of a bombing or an attack in that fortress, the capital of the Christian religion!
This is a world war without rules. Nuclear weapons are useless! The aggressors know themselves. The rest of us can only be vigilant. We can only react after they have carried out their dastardly action. May God help us! But the Italian security agencies should be proactive, act on suspicion and apologise later if they are proved wrong. This is a war in which suspects should be presumed guilty until they prove themselves innocent. These chaps show no mercy, do not expect mercy and should not be shown any. Related articles Religion – The Opium Of TheMasses, and Radicalised and The World is Afraid

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