Pope Francis will soon visit the United Arab Emirates on 3-5 February 2019

Pope Francis UAE Visit Programme

Is There an Official Catholic Position on Islam?

William Kilpatrick

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2016

[Catholic Thing] Like most Americans, I didn’t know a great deal about Islam prior to 9/11. So, for a while anyway, I accepted the formula that “Islam” means “peace.”

That’s what President Bush and other world leaders assured us, and they also insisted that the 9/11 terrorists represented only a tiny minority of Muslims. The most compelling argument for me, however, was that the Catholic Church seemed to hold the same view – that Islam was a religion of peace.

The linchpin of that positive assessment of Islam was the Vatican II document Nostra Aetate. The section on the Church’s relationship with Muslims states that Muslims “adore the one God,” “revere Jesus,” “honor Mary,” and “value the moral life.” Their religion, in other words, was just like ours.

If that was the case, then it stood to reason that Islam, like Catholicism, was a peaceful religion and that terrorists, therefore, misunderstood their own faith.

The Australian: Church fear over Syria refugee intake

The Australian
November 21, 2015 12:00AM
Dennis Shanahan

Archbishop Anthony Fisher: ‘Groups like the Yazidis, Christians and Zoroastrians are at peril of extinction in the Middle East at the hands of Daesh.’

The Turnbull government’s plan to take a majority of the 12,000 extra Syrian refugees from persecuted Christian groups and other religious minorities in the ­Middle East is in danger of being derailed.

Christian leaders fear they are being blocked from recommending persecuted people to be part of the Australian intake ­because of confusion over the ­Immigration Department’s selection process and the selection rules of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Government sources believe drafting of the September 9 decision has undermined the clear intention of cabinet, which was to concentrate on the most persecuted groups who could not return to their homes in Syria. These included Christians, Yazidis and Jews, who would form the bulk of the extra refugees accepted.

A requirement included in the decision — that the UNHCR had to register the refugees — meant those who are displaced in Syria or living in tents or with family members outside the official UN camps were not registered.

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, who has written to Malcolm Turnbull about the issue, expressed concern yesterday that the bulk of the ­refugees would be Muslims rather than the persecuted non-Muslim groups the government ­indicated in September, such as Christians, Yazidis, Zoroastrians and Jews.

“The community and the Oriental Christians are feeling very anxious and can’t get clarity on what the Australian government is trying to achieve,” Archbishop Fisher told The Weekend Australian last night.

The Archbishop said Islamic State, also known as Daesh, wanted to “exterminate or enslave” Christians as part of its belief in the terrorist Caliphate.

“Groups like the Yazidis, Christians and Zoroastrians are at peril of extinction in the Middle East at the hands of Daesh,” Archbishop Fisher said.

Church concerns about the Australian intake emerged as the US House of Representatives voted to suspend a program giving Syrian refugees safe haven in the US, a move Democrats slammed as giving in to xenophobia after the Paris attacks. The vote yesterday on the Republican legislation, which seeks to impose more stringent security provisions on screening of Iraqi and Syrian refugees, easily had the required support to pass. The bill now heads to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.

Archbishop Fisher said there were mixed messages coming from the federal government and the Immigration Department, which put in doubt the government’s initial request at a meeting on September 9 for all the churches to nominate refugees who were persecuted and “ready for family reunion or quick integration into Australian society”.

The Immigration Department has received several thousand ­applications and a handful of families, including Muslims and Christians, have already arrived in Australia.

In the wake of the latest Islamic State terror attacks in Paris, including attackers who flowed in to France with Syrian refugees, there have been public calls to stop the intake completely or limit it to Christians.

Concern among Christian groups, particularly the Oriental Christian churches, which include the Copts, Melkites, ­Antiochian Orthodox, Maronite and Assyrians, has spiked as evidence flows from the US that the UNHCR will not give Christians priority, and has indicated a majority of the refugees going to the US will be Muslim.

Eastern Christian Welfare Australia, which represents 12 churches and is trying to identify genuine refugees, said last night it believed the current system was failing to target “vulnerable minorities who cannot obtain UNHCR registration; who do not live in refugee camps; and who do not have immediate family members to propose them”.

In a statement to The Weekend Australian, the welfare group said Christians were afraid to go to the official refugee camps because they were predominantly filled with Muslims and had also been infiltrated by the terror fighters.

“Vulnerable Christian and minority refugees who are not registered with the UNHCR or who do not have immediate family members in Australia are caught up in the bureaucracy,” the statement said.

“We believe a new visa subclass is needed to cater for minority applicants, as the current humanitarian visas fail to do this.”

The requirement for refugees to be registered with UNHCR is causing concern. There is a strong view within church groups that the government should use the Special Humanitarian Program, which has previously been used to relocate Copts from Egypt, more widely.

Scott Morrison, who was immigration minister before being appointed Treasurer, said this week Christians would make up a “very large component” of the 12,000 refugee intake in response to reports of 25 US states moving to stop all Syrian refugees being accepted.

“We are focusing on those persecuted minorities and that obviously includes a very large Christian component — in fact the majority, I would expect,” Mr Morrison said.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who has visited Jordan and Lebanon in recent weeks and this week welcomed the first Sunni Muslim family to Australia from the Syrian intake, said the government would not discriminate and was concentrating on taking women, children, persecuted groups and families.

A spokesman for Mr Dutton said the Immigration Minister had made it clear Australia would take refugees not only from the UNHCR program but also under the Special Humanitarian Program. He has previously said the Australian government will not be told by the UNHCR who to take, and Australia will make the decision on who is accepted.

Our Lady Conqueror of Muslim Hearts: The Virgin Mary's Coming Conquest Of Islam

Ultimately, the Blessed Mother of God will be Muslim's most hated Christian when she would finally conquer evil of terrorism!

Source: Catholic365.com By Nate Lauer

Photo Credit: Flickr/Our Lady of Fatima International Pilgrim Statue

On September 11th 1683, Vienna was besieged by Islamic Ottoman Turks. Christians throughout Europe prayed the Rosary in the midst of a desperate situation. At Vienna, vastly outnumbered European Christian forces miraculously and wonderfully delivered a crippling blow to Muslim expansion into Europe, preventing a grim invasion of the continent by Muslim forces. 41,000 Christian forces (including 30,000 troops of Polish King Jan III Sobieski that Pope Innocent XI had called upon) defeated a 140,000 man strong Turkish army the night of September 11th over three centuries before the 9/11 attacks on the United States that were also caused by Islamic terrorism. September 12th, the day after the great victory of Christianity at Vienna, came to be known as the feast day of the Holy Name of Mary (a feast day that has been restored to us thanks to Pope John Paul the II doing so not long before he died.)

Over a century before, On October 7th, 1571, Christian Europe stood on the verge of collapse before the onslaught of a large Muslim navy fleet. The battle of Lepanto it was known as. Also widely recognized was our Lady’s intercession at that historic moment when Christianity’s European fate stood on the edge of a knife. When hopes were fading, the Admiral, one Andrea Doria, pleaded in his cabin before an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, sent him by Archbishop Montufor of Mexico. In sending this image, the good Archbishop had been well foresighted in ascertaining the grave consequences of a potential defeat of Christianity on the high seas. Such a loss would likely mean that the waves of Islam would sweep Christendom away, changing dramatically the spiritual landscape and the course of history if it came to pass.

We are told that as the admiral prayed before the Guadalupe image, the tide turned against the Muslims, with winds literally changing directions unfavorably against them, and an encouraged Christian fleet triumphing over Islam that day, shattering two-thirds of the Muslim Navy, the 200 Christian Ship Navy magnificently overcoming the previously presumed unbeatable 300 ships. Also important to note is the fact that the Pope implored, and people indeed did, pray the Rosary to Mary, “Our Lady of Victory”. Ultimately, October the 7th came to be known as Our Lady of the Rosary, and the month of October dedicated to the Rosary.

For many years now, the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, unpainted by human hands, the great mover in the mass conversion of the Aztecs to Christianity, has held many enthralled and brought so many to Christ. It seems likely, especially considering the Great Battle of Lepanto, that the quarter moon on which Mary stands in the miraculous Guadalupe image represented not only the Aztecs, but also the Muslims, each of which had as symbol that same quarter moon. Mary triumphs over both the Aztecs and the Muslims. Mary’s triumphs are for the defense of Christ’s Church, and for the conversion of all mankind to Christ. She sought to gather the Aztecs to her son. She wishes to do the same for the Muslims.

It may have been the beloved Archbishop Fulton Sheen that first inspired more serious consideration of the subject of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her relationship to Islam. In what I, and many, consider to be one of the best Catholic books of the 20th Century, The World’s First Love: Mary Mother of God, Archbishop Sheen devoted a chapter to this topic in his book titled “Mary and the Moslems”. In this chapter, his very words concerning the coming powerful rise of Islam were prophetic, but so too, it appears, were his reflections on the means to convert the hearts that beat for Islam.

In this regard, an encouraging characteristic of Islam is its devotion and honor to the Virgin Mary. Inarguably, there are errors and misconceptions with the Koran regarding Mary, including the false view that Christians worship Mary and consider her part of the Holy Trinity. On the other hand, Muslims do believe that Mary stands above all other women. Mohammed stated “Thou shalt be the most blessed of all the women in Paradise, after Mary”, speaking in reference to Fatima, his own daughter. And as for Fatima, that name should ring a bell to you.

You may recall that in the early 20th Century, in the 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three children in the small Portugese village of Fatima. The apparitions would go on to become Church approved, and Our Lady took on the title of Our Lady of Fatima. More than ironically, that very village of Fatima, once reigned over like so much of Portugal and Spain by Islam (recall that many were the onslaughts of Islam against Christian Europe through the Middle Ages, and that Europe did not always keep Islam completely at bay), was named after the daughter of the last of the Muslim chiefs who ruled over Portugal, she who in turn had been named after Mohammed's own daughter, Fatima. This chief’s daughter fell in love with a Catholic young man and converted to the Catholic Faith for him, staying behind in a Portugal reclaimed for Catholicism whilst Islam had finally been banished from the southwestern coasts of Europe.

This is all fascinating because, given the Muslims already warm reception of Mary, her now title of “Our Lady of Fatima” was sure to, and has been, an effective mechanism in relations with Islam, with Muslim nations embracing the devotion to Mary under this title in many regards. With God there are no coincidences.

It is widely recognized that Muslims are exceptionally difficult to convert to Christianity, but it has become clear in recent decades to at least some theologians that the way home to the hearts of the Muslims is through the heart of Christ Jesus’ Mother, Mary, whom they already have a soft spot for. As Mary prepared the world for, and brought us our Savior, so she can, and it is the belief of many Christians that she will ultimately bring the Muslims to Jesus. Though Muslims refuse to believe that Jesus is himself God, As Archbishop Fulton Sheen points out to us, “The Moslems should be prepared to acknowledge that, if Fatima [Mohammed’s daughter] must give way in honor to the Blessed Mother, it is because she is different from all the other mothers of the world and that without Christ she would be nothing.”

It thus appears that Muslims will come to Christ not through a direct encounter and conversion, but gradually, through our encouraging and fostering their devotion to Christ’s Mother. We know that the Blessed Virgin Mary always points us towards, carries us to, and forms us in Christ. At a time when Hellish and cruel Islamic terrorist attacks rage against Christians, we have cause to pause and reflect on the fact that the Holy Spirit is working gently through Mary’s hands to establish a peaceful, beautiful widespread conversion of the Muslim people that some in the past and today consider an incredibly unlikely feat to achieve. But I hope they will recall that momentous day when the Angel Gabriel, in Luke Chapter 1:37, announced to Mary just before she gave her assent to become the Mother of God, “For with God, nothing will be impossible.” The time will come when the Muslim people, gazing at Mary lovingly and devotedly, shall look upon her as did the servants at the Wedding Feast of Cana once also looked upon her when she said to them regarding her son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5), and following her direction, they will follow Christ and she shall triumph over the quarter moon of Islam, and even for the converted Muslims, remembrance of the watery waves of Lepanto shall be turned into the wine of gladness recalling the victory of Mary for her Son, their Lord Jesus.

"A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." (Rev. 12:1)

Sabi ng Muslim: Katoliko ang may-ari ng Biblia (kontra angkin ng mga Iglesia Ni Cristo®)

Ang libro ng mga Demonyo ay ginagamit ng Iglesia Ni Cristo. Dahil sabe ng INC paghindi sakop nila ay Demonyo. Subalit sino ang unang lumikha ng Bible diba Mga Romano Catholico?

Posted by Happiness - Tagalog on Wednesday, September 30, 2015

SAGOT NG ISANG FILIPINO UZTADS TUNGKOL SA KALIGTASAN DAW NG MGA IGLESIA NI CRISTO®

“Sino bang founder?Si Manalo! Kailan ba founded ang ano… ang Iglesia Ni Cristo sa Pilipinas? Kung si Manalo ay… pagsilang ni Manalo ay siyang magmemensahe na maging Iglesia Ni Cristo, ay nasa kanila ang kaligtasan, how about those people before Manalo?

“… ang katuruan ng Iglesia Ni Cristo ngayon ay malayo po ito sa katuruan ni Jesu-Cristo. Mayron akong kaistorya na Iglesia Ni Cristo, Ministro. Ang palagi niyang inaatake, Romano Katoliko. So brother mag-aral tayo ng Bible. Nag-attend po ako… aral… Bible Study ng Iglesia Ni Cristo. Ang inaatake niya KATOLIKO! Katoliko ang binabanatan niya… Katoliko. Pagkatapos sabi niya, ‘brother magtanong ka’.

"Sabi ko ‘brother, unfair ‘yang ginagawa ninyo. Binabanatan niyo ang Katoliko eh wala naman sa harapan ninyo eh. Dapat ang binabanatan niyo Muslim. Dahil dito ako sa harapan at makasagot ako. Ang sinisiraan niyo Katoliko. Eh paano sasagot ang Katoliko eh wala sila dito. Unfair!’

"Tapos tanong ko ‘brother yung Biblia ninyo, gawa ba ninyo yan?’‘Hindi.’

‘San po ba nagmula ang Biblia ninyo?’

Sabi niya ‘sa Iglesia… sa Iglesia Katolika… eh.. Romana.

Sabi ko “Iglesia Ni Cristo kayo, tapos yung Biblia ninyo nagmula sa Romana Katolika Apostolika? ‘

Hindi sila nakakaintindi sa Biblia nila (Katoliko)… aklat ng Katoliko, at kayong mga Iglesia Ni Cristo NAGBABASA LAMANG sa aklat ng mga Katoliko, kayo ang nakakaintindi?

Dahil the history of the Bible, we cannot deny, the history of the Bible is compiled, collected by the early Christian Catholics. While the Roman Catholics in this latest century they’re reading the Bible. At ang Biblia, original ay nagmula sa ROMANO KATOLIKO! Imposible na ang gumawa sa Biblia Romano Katolika maiimpiyerno! ‘Yung lumikha sa Biblia maiimpiyerno. Yung nagbabasa, maparaiso. Imposible naman!

"Gagawa ako ng aklat, example, gagawa ako ng aklat, hindi ako nakakaintindi sa sarili kong aklat, ang nakakaintindi yung nagbabasa? At sila pa ang maliligtas… common sense lamang ‘yun. Naku naman. Very simple!

“Itong mga ito, maliligtas dahil sa panglan lamang?’Itong Iglesia Ni Cristo… itong lahat (aral INC) ay puro kasinungalingan. .. yun bang pulot dito, pulot dito. Para bang tagpi-tagpi! Alam mo ba yung bahay ng mga ano.. bahay ng mga squater sa atin, tagpi-tagpi… ganon ang Iglesia Ni Cristo. Pupulot ng teksto sa Old Testament , pupulot naman sa New Testament, itagpi-tagpi, ganito, pulot pulot kayo! Basahin niyo, tapusin ninyo at ipaliwanag. Hindi yung pulot ng bersikulo, ipaliwanag, pulot ng isang bersikulo, ipaliwanag, itagpi… naku, parang squaters na bahay. Naporma ang bahay, tagpi-tagpi. Nagporma ng doktrina, tagpi-tagpi!”

If Islam conquers Vatican, whom would the Iglesia Ni Cristo® side-- Muslims or Catholics?

Muslim extremists, to the rejoice of Muslim moderates who wanted to dominate within our democratic cities are waging war against the Christian Church which for them is represented by the CHURCH OF ROME, in the VATICAN CITY. [Read the News HERE and the Muslim Terrorist's MANIFESTO]

If such war would occur, whom will the Iglesia Ni Cristo® side for—Muslims or Catholics?

"WE HOPE TO CONQUER THE VATICAN" - Muslim Scholar

Muslims want to DOMINATE the World. Let's pray Lord protect your Church. Protect your people!

Photo Source: Magdi Alam

An ISLAMIC TERRORIST TARGETS ROME the SEAT of CHRISTIANITY (CATHOLICISM)! Lord Protect your Church!

Thanks to Mr. Robert Spencer's JihadWatch for bringing this evil intention of hell's soldiers to our attention:

“Imam Ahmad reported in his Musnad that Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin Al-‘As (may God be pleased with him) reports, Whilst we were around the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) writing down, he was asked, ‘Which of the two cities is to be opened first, Constantinople or Rome?’ He (the Prophet) answered, ‘The city of Heraclius will be opened first!’” (Imam Ahmad, and Al-Albany)

Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradawi quoted this hadith a few years ago and added: “This means that Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor, after being expelled from it twice – once from the South, from Andalusia, and a second time from the East, when it knocked several times on the door of Athens.”

And the Saudi Sheikh Muhammad bin Abd Al-Rahman Al-’Arifi, imam of the mosque of King Fahd Defense Academy, once boasted: “We will control the land of the Vatican; we will control Rome and introduce Islam in it. Yes, the Christians, who carve crosses on the breasts of the Muslims in Kosovo – and before then in Bosnia, and before then in many places in the world – will yet pay us the Jiziya [poll tax paid by non-Muslims under Muslim rule], in humiliation, or they will convert to Islam.”

There are many more such statements here.

TIME: "Pope Francis is proving himself to be one of the most powerful leaders in the world."

Pope Francis praying before the 'Separation Wall' erected by the State of Israel (Photo Source: ABC News)

By Elizabeth Dias - TIME

Pope Francis is proving himself to be one of the most powerful leaders in the world.

On Sunday, he arrived in Bethlehem and made an unexpected stop that surprised everyone: en route to mass in Manger Square, he halted the popemobile and caused a chaotic flurry of press, security, and onlookers as he walked over to the wall that separates Israel from the West Bank. Beneath the graffiti scrawled “Bethlehem,” he reached out, placed his hand on the wall, and prayed.

Only a Holy Father like Francis could pull off this kind of stunt. One small gesture, and the Israeli military in the watchtower above and the Palestinian people below were all at his mercy. He rendered all sides powerless by drawing them into his service, the most counterintuitive service of prayer.

To top it all off, during his sermon at mass, Francis made a historic invitation: “In this place where the Prince of Peace was born, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, and President Shimon Peres, to raise together with me an intense prayer to God for the gift of peace. And I offer my house in the Vatican to host you in this encounter of prayer.”

Within an hour, both leaders had accepted his invitation. What were they going to say, no?

The brilliance in this move goes something like this:

“Hey Peres, I’m in Bethlehem, preaching not in Jerusalem but in Palestinian territory, which happens to be where Jesus who founded my church was born, and don’t forget, I’m about to come to Israel to lay a wreath on the founder of Zionism’s grave. Hey Abbas, I’m visiting Palestine first, before I’m visiting Israel, and I just prayed at the wall, so all eyes are on you right now. I’m going to take this opportunity to invite you both, via my sermon, to come pray with me in the Vatican. And because I just made this historic invitation public, you pretty much are going to have to show up. Also, because Peres’ term expires in two months, this needs to happen ASAP. See you soon!!”

Wink, smile, drop the mic.

This is a pope who understands the power of his position, and knows how to wield it with disarming humility. Buckle up, people. We’re only fourteen months in to his papacy. This is already fun.

In Cairo the Lecture of Regensburg Is Relevant Again

Never has a pope been so clear and courageous in unveiling the roots of violence in Islam, before Benedict XVI. And not afterward, either. Two obligatory rereadings, to decipher the Egyptian crisis

by Sandro Magister

Source: Chiesa Espresso Repubblica

ROME, August 20, 2013 – In a few days many dozens of churches, convents, homes of Christians in Egypt have been attacked or burned. A tragedy within the tragedy, after the coup d'état that has plunged the nation of the Nile into a civil war with hundreds if not thousands of victims.

In covering the news of the numerous appeals for the cessation of violence, “L'Osservatore Romano” of August 18 did not, however, succeed in listing among these invocations even one from the Muslim world.

This public silence of the Islamic spiritual guides does not come as a surprise. It accompanies almost every act of political violence that sees Muslims in action, in one or another region of the globe.

It is a silence that is not explained by calculations of timeliness alone, or by the fear of retaliation. Nor by the fact alone that today in Egypt the greatest clash is between opposing Muslim factions, both of them determined to assert with force the precepts of Islam: because it is not only the Muslim Brotherhood of the deposed president Mohamed Morsi that has a conception of the political struggle as jihad, as holy war, but this is also held by its adversary, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, the general placed at the head of the armed forces by Morsi himself because he was believed to be the most faithful Islamist of all.

In order to understand the ultimate root of the silence of Muslim spiritual leaders in the face of the explosion of violence of Islamic inspiration, one need do just one simple thing. It is enough to reread the initial part of the lecture given by Benedict XVI on September 12, 2006 in the aula magna of the University of Regensburg.

Malaysian Muslims ask Vatican to recall envoy over use of “Allah”

Islamists are now the Catholic Church' nemesis in building peace among believers. Their ignorance of history is blissful.  For the information of those who don't know, Arab Christians have used the word 'allah' (الله) long way even before the advent of Islam itself.  In pre-Islamic Makkah Muhammad's father (Islam's prophet) was named 'Abdullah' (عبد الله) --'Slave of God' or 'Servant of God -- which suggests that pre-Islamic Makkah had used the same word even before Islam came to be.

BANGKOK, Thailand (RNS) The Vatican’s first envoy to Muslim-majority Malaysia should quit and go back to Rome, angry Malaysian Islamists said after the Roman Catholic cleric said Christians may use the Arabic word “Allah” to describe God.

In an escalating confrontation, dozens of Islamists marched to the Vatican’s mission in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, after prayers at a mosque on Friday (July 19), and presented a 670-word memorandum demanding his recall.

The troubled envoy, Archbishop Joseph Marino of Alabama, arrived in the Southeast Asian country in April.

Marino’s problems began after his interview with reporters on July 11, when he spoke about the Christian Federation of Malaysia’s controversial decision to call God “Allah,” the Arabic word for God.

“It seems to be quite logical and acceptable,” Marino said in the interview.

Some Muslims complained, and the Malaysian government summoned Marino on July 16 to discuss the issue.

Pope Francis Greets Muslim for the Start of Ramadan

Muslims should learn to reciprocate

Archbishop Hashem discussed the
Saudi talks whilst visiting Qatar
(Source: BBC News)

BBC, -The Vatican is holding talks with Saudi Arabia on building the first church in the kingdom, where some 1.5m Christians are not allowed to worship publicly.

Archbishop Paul-Mounged el-Hachem, one of Pope Benedict XVI's most senior Middle East representatives, said the discussions had begun a few weeks ago.

But the archbishop cautioned that the Vatican could not predict the outcome.

The discussions come in the wake of King Abdullah's historic meeting with the Pope at the Vatican last November.

Forming a religious identity "without antagonism" in young Christians and Muslims

The Catholic Church is Reaching out to non-Christians and in particular the Muslims.  In Amman, Jordan the two faiths concluded a meeting between the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialouge and the Institute for the real inter-religious studies in the Jordanian capital city.  As concluded, both faiths have much values in common that should be highlighted and differences that must be respected.  -CD2000

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Education, religious in particular, should not form identities in antagonism or in conflict, but on the contrary, while helping the youth to be well rooted in their own religious identity, it should favor the formation of identities open to other identities. This appears to have been the main focus of discussions in a meeting between the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and the Institute for the Amman based Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies (R.I.I.F.S.), held in Rome on "Human and religious values shared by Christians and Muslims for a common education. "

"Christians and Muslims - reads a statement released after the meeting - share basic human values like the sacred character of human life, human dignity and the fundamental inalienable rights deriving from it."

As for the religious values, “some of them are common to Christians and Muslims, meanwhile others are specific of each community. It is therefore important to point out commonalities and to identify differences. Respect for differences is in fact an important condition for an authentic dialogue”.

On Bin Laden's Death: Catholics Forgives!

"No matter how monstrous" a person is, "as a Christian, I am asked to pray for him and, at some point, forgive him."

-The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest comments published in America, a weekly Catholic magazine.

The CATHOLIC CHURCH of Christ is the ONLY Christian Authority that Bridges Different Faiths and Cultures Accross Nations for Understanding and Tolerance

Anti-Christian drumbeat loud before Egypt attack

By MAGGIE MICHAEL,Associated Press

Two Egyptian Copts fighting another Egyptian Muslim - AP

CAIRO – In the weeks before the New Year's Day suicide bombing of an Egyptian church, al-Qaida-linked websites carried a how-to manual on "destroying the cross," complete with videos on how to build a bomb and the locations of churches to target — including the one that was attacked.

They may have found a receptive audience in Alexandria, where increasingly radicalized Islamic hard-liners have been holding weekly anti-Christian demonstrations, filled with venomous slogans against the minority community.

The blast, which struck Saturday as worshippers were leaving midnight Mass at the Mediterranean city's Saints Church, killed 21 people.

President Hosni Mubarak has accused foreign groups of being behind the attack, which has sparked a wave of angry protests by Christians in Egypt.

In Pakistan, Christianity Earns a Death Sentence by TIME

Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi listens to Governor of

Pakistani Punjab Province Salman Taseer, unseen, at a prison

in Sheikhupura near Lahore, Pakistan, on Saturday,

Nov. 20, 2010 -AP

By TIME.com

It all began a year and a half ago, with a quarrel over a bowl of water. A group of women farm workers were suffering in the heat near a village in Pakistan's Punjab province. Aasia Noreen, an illiterate 45-year-old mother of five, offered them water, but was rebuffed. Noreen was a Christian, they said, and therefore her water was unclean — sadly, a common taunt hurled at Pakistan's beleaguered Christians. But rather than swallowing the indignity, she mounted a stout defense of her faith.

Word of the exchange swiftly filtered through the village of Ittan Wali, in Sheikhupura district. The local mullah took to his mosque's loudspeakers, exhorting his followers to take action against Noreen. In a depressingly familiar pattern, her defense of her faith was twisted into an accusation of blasphemy, according to her family and legal observers familiar with the case. As a frenzied mob pursued her, the police intervened, taking her into custody. But far from protecting her, they arrested and charged Noreen with insulting Islam and its prophet. And on Nov. 8, after enduring 18 months in prison, she was sentenced to death by a district court, making her the first woman to suffer that fate.

Thug Hardline Clerics in Pakistan offer reward to kill Asia Bibi

Thugs in Pakistan respect no laws. Asia Bibi has been found to be wrongly accused by some women of her town and used the infamous "Anti-Blasphemy Law" to silence her. Disgusting! (Read comments from JihadWatch.org). Can anyone double the prize to save Asia Bibi's life?

Asia Bibi Condemned to  Death by Islamic State of Pakistan proved by its court to be innocent
(Photo Source: beaconoftruth.com)

Hardline Pakistan cleric offers reward to kill Christian woman

By Faris Ali

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A hardline, pro-Taliban Pakistani Muslim cleric Friday offered a reward for anyone who kills a Christian woman sentenced to death by a court on charges of insulting Islam.

The sentence against Asia Bibi has renewed debate about Pakistan's blasphemy law which critics say is used to persecute religious minorities, fan religious extremism and settle personal scores. Non-Muslim minorities account roughly 4 percent of Pakistan's about 170 million population.

Maulana Yousef Qureshi, the imam of a major mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar, offered a $5,800 (3,700 pounds) reward and warned the government against any move to abolish or change the blasphemy law.

A Catholic Survivor of Iraqi Church Massacre Speaks

Source from Catholic Online

ROME, Italy (AsiaNews)- "I try to forget what happened," but "as soon as I'm alone I start to think and all of those images come to mind, of what I experienced there. It hurts, I'm still in shock, it is impossible to describe what happened". These are the words of an Iraqi Catholic, one of the "lucky" survivors of the October 31 al Qaeda attack on the church of Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad. He has shrapnel in his back and legs. But for another 58 people it was even worse, they lost their lives: among them, 46 faithful who simply had gone to Mass and the two priests who were celebrating. More than 70 injured. Of these, approximately 37 (the most severe cases) were transferred to France last November 8, 26 others, along with their families, have been hospitalized in Rome, where they spoke with AsiaNews.

"It was a Sunday and evening mass had just begun. Shortly after the Gospel reading, about 17.15, we heard the sound of gunfire outside the church. Don Tha'er, who was celebrating the liturgy, tried to calm everyone down, telling us to pray together. The noise became louder, then we heard a loud explosion and the terrorists entered the Church - five or six in all - and started shooting everywhere".