So it seems the Pope may be considering pulling together representatives of the three major Abrahamic religions to discuss why it’s not appropriate to kill others in the name of God. There’s a few problems I see right off and that seems to be who do you speak to as a representative of Islam who would have any say that would resonate with the Islamic world.
I could give a million reasons why something like this wouldn’t work but one must never underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit in the cause of peace. Pray that if the Pope decides to do this, some good comes out of it.
UCA News reports:
Israeli government sources claim Francis is apparently thinking of calling a meeting between leaders and faithful of the world’s three biggest monotheistic religions, in Rome, to launch a message of peace, countering violence and the use of God’s name to justify hatred and terrorist acts.
The sources say the Pope announced his intentions during an Audience on April 30, but there was no mention of this in the communiqué the Holy See’s issued after the Audience.
President Shimon Peres of Israel “told the pope that there are people who use God’s name to justify terrorism” and religious leaders should “say out loud that God did not give anyone permission to kill their neighbor.”
According to the information contained in a summary of the Audience received by the Israeli government, Francis told Peres he “whole-heartedly supported” his appeal against violence and that “he wanted to promote a meeting between religious leaders and faithful of the three major religions” founded by Abraham, “in Rome”. The aim would be to “make people see” that the religions “oppose violence and terrorism.”
If these statements were indeed made during the Audience, it looks like the pope is thinking about possible peace initiatives that would be restricted to the world’s three major monotheistic faiths.
May 31, 2013 at 7:52 am
This is the problem with the Catholic Church: Words over actions. Muslim theologians and clerics preach hatred and violence daily against "the infidel;" does anybody seriously believe that a conference of intellectuals will influence them? The Muslim intellectuals who attend likely will offer the same old Western-sounding nostrums. Once they get back, they'll either encourage or be silent about the atrocities committed in Allah's name.
Murders and assaults are increasing daily. The
Catholic Church is powerless to stop it because it has placed its ultimate trust in human resources (the UN, interfaith conferences) rather than on God.
May 31, 2013 at 7:54 am
I suggest all of you do an Internet search for an Italian immigrant from Egypt named Magdi Allam. He is a commentator who fights Islamism in Europe and converted from Islam to Catholicism in 2006; Pope Benedict himself baptized him during Easter Vigil. Two weeks after the College of Cardinals elected Francis, Allam announced in his column that he was leaving the Catholic Church because it's weak on Islam. He's absolutely right.
May 31, 2013 at 2:08 pm
As a person of Morisco (Crypto-Muslim) descent, I have to agree with Joe. Muslims have always been an aggressive, militant religion. The only time these guys talk is when such talk will advance Islam.
The Jews have always hated Jesus Christ and the Church, so it's ridiculous to join up with them to fight terrorism.
The only kind of talking that we really need to do to either of these groups is the preaching of the gospel. Otherwise, it's waste of time.
May 31, 2013 at 3:09 pm
Joseph, you're a joke.
May 31, 2013 at 3:13 pm
I'd side with the Jews anytime. They're our elder brothers as Pope JPII taught.
Do you know what the popes in the past taught about the Islamists and Mohammed?
May 31, 2013 at 4:10 pm
Rick, this "elder brother" thing is nonsense. The Jews don't believe in Jesus Christ. They crucified him and have persecuted Christians since 33 AD. The only Jews that count as "elder brothers" are the ones who first believed on Jesus Christ. The other Jews believed in the heresy of the Pharisees (which became known as Judaism) that Christ said it would make them the children of hell.
The Popes of the past always taught that Islam was a false religion. it is only in the last 50 odd(!) years that mush brained thinking by high prelates have embraced this evil sect as a so-called Abrahamic religion. Abraham had nothing to do with Mohammad, and he certainly would not want anything to do with those who crucified the one whose day he was glad to see come.
May 31, 2013 at 6:19 pm
Though I don't doubt the power of the Holy Spirit to make it POSSIBLE, I'm not expecting much out of a group of three religions meeting so that two of them can cough and go "so… how about stopping this whole systematic slaughter of our people?"
**************
The Jews did not crucify Christ. As a simple matter of fact, they didn't have the authority to do so.
While they're wrong to not accept the One that fulfilled the promise they were given, there's no reason to spread nonsense claims.
May 31, 2013 at 9:13 pm
Foxfier, they hollered "Crucify him" and intimidated Pilate into doing it. Also, Paul blamed the Jews, not Pilate for killing the Lord Jesus (I Thes. 2:14-16), so this "nonsense claim" has been around for almost 2000 years.
May 31, 2013 at 10:51 pm
Pope Francis is following not only Vatican II but also the Catechism of the Catholic Church which clearly state that Islam Judaism and Islam are 3 Faiths which believe in only one God. Of course there are great differences between all three but there are also extremists in all three of them. The problems with the Muslims are more about Politics and the state of Israel. As far as the Jews they still think Pius XII was silent.
May 31, 2013 at 11:41 pm
Steve-
"they bullied the Romans into killing him" is not the same statement as "they killed him."
Katalina-
CCC 841 does not say that Islam worships the same god, only that they profess to hold the faith of Abraham. I do believe the documents it drew on for that– Jimmy Akin has an article on it, but the only copy I could find was on an redirect to the homepage of Catholic.com instead of the new location for the article– stated that they follow the same god so far as they recognize that God is the creator of all and merciful.
Of course some Jews think the Pope was silent; Hollywood, Stalin and uncounted numbers of anti-Catholic bigots (some overlap there) told them so. Some Catholics do, too. Some Jews, on the other hand, practically foam at the mouth when that lie is repeated.
May 31, 2013 at 11:44 pm
Katalina, it doesn't matter if Judaism or Islam believes in one God. The "one God" of both Judaism and Islam are false gods. Both of them reject Jesus Christ as Christ/God come in the flesh, which is Anti-Christ. Both reject the Holy Trinity, which if you don't profess faith in you are damned. Only Christianity can say it have true faith in the one true God.
Differences? One faith is the true faith leading to heaven, the other two are false sects that makes its adherents the children of hell.
Extremists? Both Judaism and Islam reject the True God, Jesus Christ and persecute Christians. That's pretty extreme in my book.
Problems? Their real problem is that they reject the Triune God, not politics, Israel, or Pius XII's silence.
May 31, 2013 at 11:48 pm
Foxfier, didn't you read what Paul said?
June 1, 2013 at 12:23 am
Steve Dalton, the old Catechism says that we are all responsible for Christ's death. Vatican II said the same thing.
June 1, 2013 at 1:45 am
Steve, you already admitted that the straight narratives in the Bible say that the Jews did not kill Jesus, the Romans executed Him.
June 1, 2013 at 1:48 am
Well the result of this meeting might be doubtful, but it's definitely worth a try.
If agreement is not possible, then things will certainly be much clearer. We'll see…
June 1, 2013 at 2:09 am
Katalina– found it! The thingie explaining the relationship with Islam and the Jews, I mean. Incidentally the same place that the Church formally absolved "The Jews" of killing Christ. (Actually how I ran into it, looking for the formal declarations.)
June 1, 2013 at 3:50 am
So the cult of islam is now Abrahamic? I suppose we better also include Mormons and any other group that simply decides they have a vision and then systematically snub all of Gods laws in celebration of themselves.
June 1, 2013 at 1:06 pm
Ishmael was Abraham's son but the Muslim understanding of God comes from Muhammad not whatever Ishmael and Hagar may have remembered about Abraham's God.
June 1, 2013 at 3:11 pm
Foxfier, Paul blamed only the Jews for Christ's death. The Romans performed the actual act of crucifixion because the Jews didn't have the legal authority to do so. Why is that so hard for you to understand?
June 1, 2013 at 6:58 pm
Steve Dalton: We crucified Jesus by our sins. The Romans were the gun, we pulled the trigger.