The Pope, the Catholic

Church and ‘Holy War’

Dr. Ali White

… and they will not cease fighting with you until they turn you
back from your religion, if they can…
The Holy Qur’an, Surat al-Baqara, [2:217].

Muslims For Peace

 The Pope the Catholic Church
and ‘Holy War’
Dr. Ali White
January 2007

Published by Muslims For Peace

Muslims For Peace Essay No. 3.

http://www.mfp.org.au/

http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/Muslims_For_Peace/

For all correspondence concerning this paper, e-mail:

sydneymumin@yahoo.com.au

MUSLIMS FOR PEACE

 The Pope, the Catholic
Church and ‘Holy War’
Introduction

P
ope Benedict XVI has fired the latest volley in the worsening himself comment directly on these insults to the Holy Prophet (S) of
War on Islam (Pope Benedict XVI, 2006). Speaking in his Islam and his message. Yet Benedict must be very aware that his mere
native Germany on 12 September 2006, the Pope cited a repeating of these slanders will lend them an air of apparent veracity
medieval conversation between the Byzantine Christian emperor in the eyes of most Catholics, given that he is supposedly ‘infallible’
Manuel II Paleologus and the latter’s unnamed Persian interlocutor. when speaking on religious matters, according to Catholic dogma.
Dated about 1391, the emperor’s remarks have nothing — in terms of
scholarship, informed commentary or even elegance of expression — The Pope then denounces ‘spreading the faith through
to recommend them. The Pope cites Emperor Paleologus’s inflamma- violence’ as ‘unreasonable’:
tory assertions without any reservation, nevertheless:
Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the
“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and ability to speak well and to reason properly, without
there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his violence and threats... To convince
command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or
weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a
No attempt is made to justify these assertions. As usual, when leading person with death...
Catholic churchmen make such accusations, the Pope is careful not to
In contrast to the barbaric Muslims, in other words, the Catholic Church It is impossible to fully understand Pope Benedict’s tirade without see-
is the paragon on of peace and reason. The Pope adds: ing it against the background of Cardinal Pell’s recent lengthy diatribe
(Islam and Western Democracies) and Pell’s status and role within the
The emperor must have known that surah 2, 256 reads: “There Catholic Church internationally. It will also be necessary to examine
is no compulsion in religion”. According to the experts, this is these assaults against the Catholic Church’s own historical record
one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still of relations with Islam. Finally, it is essential to situate all
powerless and under threat. But naturally the emperor also the recent attacks in the contemporary global
knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the political context.
Qur’an, concerning holy war.

In this and his other remarks, the Pope repeats the detailed attack by his
subordinate, former student and close colleague, Cardinal George Pell
(2006a & 2006b). Pell (2006a) asserts, inter alia, that Muslims are com-
pelled by the Holy Qur’an to engage in a violent ‘jihad’ to impose their
religion upon others:

It is difficult to recognise the God of the New Testament in the

God of the Koran, and two very different concepts of the
human person have emerged from the Christian and Muslim
understandings of God. Think, for example, of the Christian
understanding of the person as a unity of reason, freedom and
love, and the way these attributes characterise a Christian’s
relationship with God. This has had significant consequences
for the different cultures that Christianity and Islam have given
rise to, and for the scope of what is possible within them.

Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Pell have made repeated attacks upon
Islam, the Holy Prophet (S) and the Muslims. Allah (swt) warns us about
such people (Surat al-Baqara 2:217): ‘and they will not cease fighting
with you until they turn you back from your religion, if they can…’ The
Catholic hierarchy’s carefully calculated diatribes against the religion of
Allah (swt) are designed to have two very specific effects. They hope to
deepen the marginalisation of Muslims in Western societies due to the
current (and escalating) War on Islam. Most of all, however, they seek to
‘immunise’ Catholics against the attraction of the world’s fastest-grow-
ing religion — Islam.

The allegations of the Catholic hierarchy are easily refutable, as the

present paper will demonstrate, inshaAllah. The teachings of Islam con-
cerning so-called ‘holy war’ — an expression that does not occur in the
Holy Qur’an — will not be revisited, since Islam’s opposition to aggres-
sive war is well-known to all people of good will and has been stated by
many other Muslims ad nauseum over the past five years, in any case.

This paper does not start from the supposition that the Pope, Cardinal
Pell and other leading Catholic churchmen are ‘uninformed’ about Islam
or simply lack ‘enough information’. This paper does not attempt to
‘educate’ these leaders about Islam’s true nature, for the simple reason
that the repeated assaults of these men upon Allah (swt) in recent years
show that they do not lack access to the truth, but rather that they are bent
on spreading untruth. This is clear when viewed against the record of
The pious Crusaders
these men. The present paper will prove that their attacks are not
incidental but form part of a co-ordinated, premeditated campaign. The pillage
behaviour of Pope Benedict, Cardinal Pell and other Catholic leaders,
such as Italy’s Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, is
consistent with the Catholic hierarchy’s historical record of steady
fully
al-Quds (Jerusalem)
opposition in practice to not only Islam but also to the very values that
they slanderously accuse Islam of trampling on.

*****
Cardinal
Pell
Leading
Church
thinker
C
ardinal Pell’s paper was a carefully calculated rant against Islam,
which prepared the way for Pope Benedict’s latest attack. Given
Pell’s senior status in the Catholic Church globally, moreover, it
is probable that his attack was made at the request of Pope Benedict XVI,
who has a track record of demonising Islam. As Joseph D’Hippolito
wrote gleefully in the Jerusalem Post (9 May 2005): ‘The era of de-facto
appeasement under Pope John Paul II is over. The era of subtle, discreet,
yet firm confrontation has begun’.
The significance of Cardinal George Pell’s recent attacks on Islam is
underlined by his senior stature in the Church of Rome. As well as being
the Archbishop of Sydney, he is also a distinguished senior figure in the
Catholic Church’s international hierarchy. He received his clerical edu-
cation in both Australia and at Propaganda Fide College, Rome. He was
ordained simultaneously as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of
Melbourne and as the Titular Bishop of Scala, Italy. Promoted to
Archbishop of Melbourne in 1996, in 2001 Pope John Paul II appointed
him Archbishop of Sydney. He became a Cardinal in 2003, making him
Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric.
Other posts he has held include Director of the Aquinas Campus of the
Institute of Catholic Education from 1974-84 and Principal of the
Institute of Catholic Education. Between 1991 and 1995 he was the
founding Pro-Chancellor of the Australian Catholic University. Among
his current posts, he is Chairman of both the Bishop’s Committee for
Doctrine and Morals, and of the Bishops’ Committee for Education.
Cardinal Pell has been President of the University of Melbourne’s Board
of Owners since 1996.
According to the Web site of the Archdiocese of Sydney (2006):
In February 1998, Cardinal Pell attended the Constitutional
Convention in Canberra as a delegate
appointed by the Prime Minister. He served on the Resolutions
Committee responsible for drafting motions put to the
Convention and moved the motion in support of the
Republican model which was finally adopted by the
Convention. On 21st March 2001, he addressed a joint sitting
of the Victorian Parliament on the drug problem.
Cardinal Pell was awarded the Centenary Medal by the Australian
Government in 2003, the made a Companion in the Order of Australia by
the Australian Government in 2005. He has also received Catholic
Church honours:
Cardinal Pell is Grand Prior of the Equestrian Order of the
Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Australian Lieutenancy —
Southern, from 1998-2001, and was appointed Grand-Prior for
the Order in New South Wales in 2001. Cardinal Pell was cre-
ated Knight Grand Cross of the Order in 2003 to mark his ele-
vation to the Sacred College of Cardinals (Archdiocese of
Sydney, 2006).
From 1990-2000 he was a member of the Vatican Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith — a body previously known as the feared Universal
Inquisition, infamous for its torture and execution of countless alleged
‘heretics’ (Lea, 1958). In April 2005, Cardinal Pell participated in the
Conclave of 115 Cardinal Electors that elected His Holiness Pope
Benedict XVI as the successor to Pope John Paul II. He has lectured in
the United States, England, Ireland, New Zealand and Croatia.
Cardinal Pell’s attacks on Islam and Muslims therefore have internation-
al significance. His eminence in Church hierarchy will alone convince
many ordinary Catholics — who like most non-Muslims are quite unin-
formed about Islam — of the veracity of his accusations.
The Cardinal’s international status also makes it unlikely that he is act-
ing alone. Since the reign of the current Pope’s predecessor, John-Paul II,
Catholic churchmen have once again come under comparatively strict
centralised control from Rome. Pell himself has been an enthusiastic
advocate of this approach, drawing ire from sections of the Church for
his denunciations of free-lancing left-wing liberation theologians in the
past, for instance. The current Pope, Benedict XVI, has also made it clear
that he is not only taking the same approach, but that he is dragging the
Church even more sharply in an ultra-conservative direction (Allen Jr.:
2005).
 while ‘Islam is stuck. It’s stuck with a text that cannot be adapted, or even
be interpreted properly’. The Pope was therefore ‘pessimistic’ about
Muslims radically reinterpreting the Holy Qur’an. Given the Muslim
demographics in Europe, a new Dark Ages thus threatens Europe, seems
to be the conclusion, with the Muslims playing the role of the barbarian
hordes (Hewitt, 2006).

With such thinking afoot in the Church, we should not be surprised if the
Crusades are touted as an excellent example of Christian virtuosity. And
that is precisely what has happened. The current Pope rejected his pre-
decessor’s request for Muslims to pardon the Church for the Crusades
(The Times, 20 March 2006 & The Australian, 21 March 2006). In power
now himself, Benedict XVI is now in a position to reverse Pope John
Paul II’s gesture.

‘Rethinking’ the Crusades

In late March 2006, the Vatican sponsored an international conference of

Fr. Fessio and Pope Benedict XVI. Crusades apologists at its prestigious Regina Apostolorum Pontifical
Benedict XVI University (The Times, 20 March 2006; The Australian, 21 March 2006
& WorldNetDaily, 25 March 2006). Speakers such as Robero De Mattei
A key element in this new Vatican approach is a systematic campaign told the conference that the Crusades were ‘martyrs’ who had ‘sacrificed
against the religion of Islam and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S), as the their lives for the faith’. Robert Spencer, the American author of A
revelations of one Father Joseph Fessio show. Father Fessio is Provosty Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam, asserted at the conference that Pope
of Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida. He was a student of Benedict Urban II’s launching of the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont in
XVI (then Father Ratzinger) and remains his friend. Fessio is also the 1095, was ‘ long overdue’. Pope Urban II ‘was right’, Spencer added
founder of Ignatius Press, a Catholic publishing house. He reports a (WorldNetDaily, 25 March 2006).
remarkable private seminar that the Pope gave in September 2005 to
postgraduate theology students (Hewitt, 2006). Spencer admitted to the conference that Crusader atrocities had occurred,
including the sacking of Jerusalem in 1099. Nevertheless, he concluded:
The seminar was told that Islam was in the process of taking over ‘Westerners should not be embarrassed by the Crusades. It’s time to say,
Europe, through a combination of immigration and the Europeans’ fond- ‘enough,’ and teach our children to take pride in their own heritage’
ness of contraception. Another key speaker at the seminar — Father (WorldNetDaily, 25 March 2006).
Christian Troll, a supposed ‘expert on Islam in Europe’ — asserted that
Shari’a law is barbaric and needs to be modified radically, to adapt to In reality, the Catholic Church has everything to be ashamed of in the
democracy and the dignity of women, if Islam is to enter into the mod- Crusades. Christian historians verify this. The Christian Orientalist
ern age. Fessio reports Benedict XVI’s response: Phillip Hitti was no friend of the Muslims. In his Islam and the West,
Hitti (1962: 11) notoriously asserts that the Holy Prophet Muhammad
And immediately, the Holy Father, in his beautiful calm but (saw) was an impostor. Yet even Hitti (1970 [1937]: 639) told the bloody
clear way, said well, there’s a fundamental problem with that, truth about the Crusaders’ conquest of Jerusalem in 1099: ‘On July 15
because he said in the Islamic tradition, God has given His the besiegers [Crusaders] stormed the city and perpetrated an indiscrim-
word to Mohammed, but it’s an eternal word. It’s not inate massacre involving all ages and both sexes’. According to the
Mohammed’s word. It’s there for eternity the way it is. There’s Christian clergyman Raymond of Agiles (Aguiliers) (cited in Schlagel,
no possibility of adapting it or interpreting it, whereas in 2001: 30):
Christianity, and Judaism, the dynamism’s completely differ-
ent, that God has worked through His creatures. when our men had mastered the walls of the city and the tow-
ers, then wonderful things were to be seen. Numbers of the
And so, it is not just the word of God, it’s the word of Isaiah, Saracens [Muslims] were beheaded — which was easiest for
not just the word of God, but the word of Mark. He’s used His them; others were shot with arrows, or forced to jump from the
human creatures, and inspired them to speak His word to the towers; other[s] were slowly tortured and were burned in
world, and therefore by establishing a Church in which he flames. In the streets and open places of the town were seen
gives authority to His followers to carry on the tradition and pile of heads and hands and feet. One rode about everywhere
interpret it, there’s an inner logic to the Christian Bible, which amid the corpses of men and horses. But these were small mat-
permits it and requires it to be adapted and applied to new sit- ters! ... If we speak the truth we exceed belief: let this suffice.
uations… (Hewitt, 2006) In the temple and porch of Solomon one rode in blood up to
the knees and even the horses’ bridles by the just and marvel-
The problem preventing Muslims adapting the Qur’an, the Pope argued, lous Judgement of God, in order that the same place which so
was their belief that it was divinely revealed, while the clever Christians long had endured their blasphemies against Him should
had a Church with the authority to interpret scripture ‘to new situations’, receive their blood.

Godefroy de Bouillon (cited in Lâri, 2003: 34) reported to the Pope: ‘In Robert the Monk described events in which he personally participated:
Jerusalem Muslims who fell into our hands were slain by our people in
Solomon’s porch until the temple precincts flowed knee-high with
blood’. In fact, not only Muslims, but also Jews and adherents to rival
Christian sects (Eastern rite Christians) were massacred in Jerusalem by
the victorious Crusaders. An estimated 40,000 non-combatants were put
to the sword (Fuller, 1995: 33 & Zein, 2003: 173). Another Christian
eyewitness of these events, Gustave Le Bon (cited in Lâri, 2003: 33) Robert (cited in Lâri, 2003: 33-34) concurs with the account by
reports:
The atrocities committed by the Crusaders in their expedi-
tions, have placed them among the most savage of people. In
their eyes, soldiers or peasants, women, children, and the
aged, were the same…
The eminent English historian Edward Gibbon writes:
In the pillage of public and private wealth the adventurers had
agreed to respect the exclusive property of the first occupant;
and the spoils of the great mosque, seventy lamps and massy
vases of gold and silver, rewarded the diligence, and displayed
the generosity of Tancred. A bloody sacrifice was offered by
his mistaken votaries of the God of the Christians: resistance
might provoke, but neither age nor sex could mollify, their
implacable rage: they indulged themselves three days in a
promiscuous massacre, and the infection of the dead bodies
produced an epidemical disease. After seventy thousand
Moslems had been put to the sword and the harmless Jews
burnt in their synagogue, they could still reserve a multitude of vivors: ‘men, women, invalids and the infirm were massacred… The
captives whom interest or lassitude persuaded them to spare”
(Gibbon, vol. 6, p. 84).
Pope Urban II
launches
Crusades
at the Council
of Clermont
in 1095
Our army ceaselessly raged from one place to another… like
a lioness robbed of her litter, taking pleasure in massacring the
young, the aged and children. To speed-up their tasks, several
people were hung with the same rope!
Raymond of Agiles (Duncan & Krey, 1912: 109) about how the
Crusaders dealt with people who had swallowed their valuables:
Our squires and poorer footmen discovered a trick of the
Saracens, for they learned that they could find byzants [a gold
coin] in the stomachs and intestines of the dead Saracens, who
had swallowed them. Thus, after several days they burned a
great heap of dead bodies, that they might more easily get the
precious metal from the ashes.
Raymond of Agiles (Duncan & Krey, 1912: 109) adds: ‘The carnage
over, the crusaders entered the houses and took whatever was found in
them’. He continues:
Afterward, all, clergy and laymen, went to the Sepulcher of the
Lord and His glorious temple, singing the ninth chant. With
fitting humility, they repeated prayers and made their offering
at the holy places that they had long desired to visit…
Robert explains why the commander Bohemond assembled the sur-
young were sent to Antioch, where they were sold’.
The criminal nature of the Crusades was absolutely inherent in their very
nature, right from the start. On 27 November 1095 at the Council of
Clermont, Pope Urban II declared bellum sacrum (holy war — the
Pope’s own Latin phrase) against the Muslims. The Christian chronicler,
Fulcher of Chartres (1905 [1095]: 517), recorded how Pope Urban II
motivated this supposed ‘holy war’:
 All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in bat-
tle against the pagans [Muslims], shall have immediate remis-
sion of sins. This I grant them through the power of God with
which I am invested. O what a disgrace if such a despised and
base race [the Muslims], which worships demons, should con-
quer a people which has the faith of omnipotent God and is
made glorious with the name of Christ! With what reproaches
will the Lord overwhelm us if you do not aid those who, with
us, profess the Christian religion! Let those who have been
accustomed unjustly to wage private warfare against the faith-
ful now go against the infidels and end with victory this war
which should have been begun long ago. Let those who for a
long time, have been robbers, now become knights. Let those
who have been fighting against their brothers and relatives
now fight in a proper way against the barbarians. Let those
who have been serving as mercenaries for small pay now
obtain the eternal reward. Let those who have been wearing
themselves out in both body and soul now work for a double
honor. Behold! On this side will be the sorrowful and poor, on
that, the rich; on this side, the enemies of the Lord, on that, his
friends. Let those who go not put off the journey, but rent their
lands and collect money for their expenses; and as soon as
winter is over and spring comes, let hem eagerly set out on the
way with God as their guide.
Balderic, Archbishop of Dol, reports that the Pope’s speech upbraided Europe. The Christian chronicler Albert of Aix recounts some of the
Christian knights:
You, girt about with the badge of knighthood, are arrogant
with great pride; you rage against your brothers and cut each
other in pieces. This is not the [true] soldiery of Christ which
rends asunder the sheepfold of the Redeemer. The Holy
Church has reserved a soldiery for herself to help her people,
but you debase her wickedly to her hurt. Let us confess the
truth, whose heralds we ought to be; truly, you are not holding
to the way which leads to life. You, the oppressors of children,
plunderers of widows; you, guilty of homicide, of sacrilege,
robbers of another’s rights; you who await the pay of thieves
for the shedding of Christian blood — as vultures smell fetid
corpses, so do you sense battles from afar and rush to them
eagerly. Verily, this is the worst way, for it is utterly removed
from God! (reproduced in Krey, 1921: 36)
Yet Urban II urged these same wretched oppressors to embrace the
Crusades, as their only path to salvation:
Under Jesus Christ, our Leader, may you struggle for your
Jerusalem, in Christian battleline, most invincible line, even
more successfully than did the sons of Jacob of old — strug-
gle, that you may assail and drive out the Turks … and may
you deem it a beautiful thing to die for Christ in that city in
which He died for us. But if it befall you to die this side of it,
be sure that to have died on the way is of equal value, if Christ
shall find you in His army. God pays with the same shilling,
whether at the first or eleventh hour (reproduced in Krey,
1921: 36).
Advising his knights to ‘shudder at raising a violent hand against
Christians’, he added: ‘it is less wicked to brandish your sword against
Saracens’ and death in this conflict would gain them Paradise eternal.
Indeed, this was ‘the only warfare that is righteous’. And, just in case
these spiritual inducements were not enough, he stressed: ‘The posses-
sions of the enemy, too, will be yours, since you will make spoil of their
treasures and return victorious to your own’ (reproduced in Krey, 1921:
36). Urban II concluded dramatically to his knights:
Gird yourselves, every one of you, I say, and be valiant sons;
for it is better for you to die in battle than to behold, the sor-
rows of your race and of your holy places (reproduced in Krey,
1921: 36).
The Church scoured Europe’s towns and villages for foot soldiers. Any
able bodied Christian male could enlist — including the very worst crim-
inal elements, attracted by promises of wealth, glory and escape from
feudal drudgery. All their sins would be forgiven, the Church told them;
all they had to do was kill the Muslim ‘pagans’. And, as Desmond
Seward (1995: 33) also points out:
Many Franks [West Europeans] had been sent on the crusade
as penance for atrocious offences such as rape and murder and
reverted to their unpleasant habits. Pilgrims were a natural
prey, though one of the principal objects of the crusade had
been to make the Holy Places safe for them.
On the way to the Middle East, the Crusaders attacked the Jews of
atrocities committed by Crusades commanded by Emico, a German
noble, throughout the Rhineland:
they [the Crusaders] rose in a spirit of cruelty against the
Jewish people scattered throughout these cities and slaugh-
tered them without mercy, especially in the Kingdom of
Lorraine, asserting it to be the beginning of their expedition
and their duty against the enemies of the Christian faith (cited
in Krey, 1921: 54).
Ekkehard of Aura, another Christian chronicler, concurs:
As they were led through the cities of the Rhine and the main
and also the Danube, they either utterly destroyed the exe-
crable race of the Jews wherever they found them (being even
in this matter zealously devoted to the Catholic faith) or forced
them in to the bosom of the Church (cited in Krey, 1921: 53).
According to Cohn (1970: 69)
At the beginning of May, 1096, crusaders outside Speyer
planned to attack the Jews in their synagogue on the Sabbath.
In this they were foiled and they were able to kill only a dozen
Jews in the streets. The Bishop lodged the rest in his castle and
had some of the murderers punished. At Worms the Jews were
less fortunate. Here too they turned for help to the Bishop and
the well-to-do burghers, but these were unable to protect them
when men from the People’s Crusade arrived and led the
townsfolk in an attack on the Jewish quarter. The synagogue
was sacked, houses were looted and all their adult occupants
who refused baptism were killed. As for the children, some
were killed, others taken away to be baptised and brought up
as Christians. Some Jews had taken shelter in the Bishop’s cas-
tle and when that too was attacked the Bishop offered to
 baptise them and so save their lives; but the entire community In fact, when the Muslims finally united behind Saladin entered
preferred to commit suicide. In all, some eight thousand Jews Jerusalem on 2 October 1187, there were no deaths and no violence of
are said to have perished at Worms. any sort. Saladin forbade any acts of vengeance on non-Muslims and his
Muslim troops abided by this command — even though it was discovered
Similar scenes were repeated in Verdun, Treves, Mainz, Trier, Cologne, that the Crusaders:
Metz and other cities.
had profaned some of Islam’s holiest sites. The al-Aqsa
We should not be surprised that the outcomes of the Vatican’s ‘holy war’ mosque had been used as a stable for horses. Pieces of the rock
included some of the worst crimes known to humanity. In addition to the from which Mohammed was said to have ascended to heaven
senseless slaughter of men, women and children, young and old alike, in had been chipped away to sell in Constantinople (Curry,
both the Holy Land and in the Rhineland, already cited from the texts of 2002).
Christian chroniclers above, mention should be made of the events at the
city of Ma’arrah, of 11 December 1098, as documented by the Christian Saladin’s admirable restraint was modelled on an Islamic principle dat-
chronicler Radulph of Caen: ‘In Ma’arrah our troops boiled the pagan ing back to the bloodless surrender of Mecca to the force led by the Holy
[Muslim] adults in cooking pots; they impaled children on spits and Prophet Muhammad (saw) in 630 AD. In both cases, the framework for
devoured them grilled’ (Zein, 2003: 172-73). Nor was this out of desper- action was the words of Almighty Allah, in the Holy Qur’an:
ation due to hunger, for the Christian chronicler Albert of Aix reports:
‘not only did our troops not shrink from eating Turks and Saracens, they [41: 34] And not alike are the good and the evil. Repel [evil]
also ate dogs’ (Zein, 2003: 173). with what is best, when lo! he between whom and you was
enmity would be as if he were a warm friend.
According to Robert Spencer, one of the keynote speakers at the
Vatican’s recent conference to rehabilitate the Crusades mentioned
earlier, the Crusaders generally behaved with great honour. Their sup- The Inquisition
posedly few atrocities were nothing extraordinary, if judged ‘by the
military standards of the day’: Nor were the Crusades the only instance of Catholic ecclesiastical vio-
lence. This is a tendency that Catholicism has frequently displayed.
In those days, it was a generally accepted principle of warfare When Catholicism became the state religion of what was now the Holy
that if a city under siege resisted capture, it could be sacked, Roman Empire in 325 AD onwards, for instance, it physically eliminat-
and while if it did not resist, mercy would be shown. It is a ed dissenters such as the Arians and, of course, followers of Greco-
matter of record that Muslim armies frequently behaved in Roman paganism. The Inquisition — the successor of which was led by
exactly the same way when entering a conquered city Pell until recently — was established in 1215 to lead this gruesome work.
(WorldNetDaily, 25 March 2006). The Inquisition had branches in every city of European Christianity. Its
method of work was simple: torture, or ‘trial by ordeal’. Will Durant
(cited in Lâri, 2003: 31) describes this:

The ‘Court for the Inspection of Ideas, Laws and Religion’

had a legal procedure all of its own. Before a local assizes of
the Court was held, the ‘Faith-Act [Auto da fé] was read from
all Church pulpits, demanding that information be laid against
anyone suspected of atheism, irreligion or heresy and that such
persons be hauled before the tribunal. Informers were prom-
ised complete secrecy and protection. Anyone who harboured
an atheist, or failed to denounce him, was himself incarcerat-
ed, and threatened with the Church’s excommunication, curse
and ban.

Sometimes the dead were charged with atheism and blasphe-

my. Their property was confiscated, all heirs were stripped of
their inheritance; from 30% to 50% of the property of a
deceased person who was condemned was given to the suc-
cessful accuser, so that the legitimate heirs were deprived of
their inheritance!

Torture was inflicted in different forms. Sometimes the

accused’s arms were bound behind his back and he was sus-
pended from them. Sometimes he was bound so that he could
not move and then water was poured down his throat and he
died of suffocation. Sometimes ropes were tied so tight round
his arms and legs that they cut through flesh to the bone.

Christian
chronicler
Godefroy de
Bouillon
Bouillon
reported to the
Pope:
‘In Jerusalem
Muslims who
fell into our
hands were
slain by our
people in
Solomon’s
porch until the
temple
precincts
flowed
knee-high with
blood’
Far from Islam being steeped in intolerance and violence, it is the insti-
tution and worldview headed by Benedict XVI and supported by
Cardinal Pell that needs to face up to its history. Indeed, from the
moment the Roman Catholic Church became the dominant power it did
not tolerate any alternatives to the dogma it had fabricated, either in
Europe or elsewhere. What became of Arius of Alexandria and his fol-
lowers (who were consistent monotheists, denying the myth of the
Trinity) is well documented. The Inquisition of the Middle Ages is also
an historical fact and has already been dealt with above. During the
Inquisition, anyone who dared to question any point upon which the
Trinitarian Nicene Creed was established, was considered as an enemy of
the state. Contrary to Pell’s (2006a) claim that ‘Moderation and democ-
racy have been regular partners in Western history’, and to Pope Benedict
XVI’s assertion (2006) that his Church was always the epitome of ration-
ality, tolerance and humanity, Europeans were deprived of any kind of
human or civil rights. Whoever questioned or acted away from dictates
of the Church were liable to persecution in what were frequently inhu-
mane conditions. They would be robbed of their properties, tortured and
even burned alive. The Inquisition is infamous for its treatment of those
accused of such heresies.
The notorious Crusades have already been dealt with. The struggle of the
Catholic Church against Protestantism is also very well documented.
This conflict included violence on many levels, engulfing all of Europe.
Mary Queen of Scots and others carried out brutal acts on behalf of the
Church of Rome. The Catholic Habsburg ruler, Ferdinand II, was
deposed in 1619 and Europe was then overwhelmed by the Thirty Years
War and the destruction of Protestant churches in Catholic territories.
Pell (2006a) promises:
Every great nation and religion has shadows and indeed
crimes in their histories. This is certainly true of Catholicism
and all Christian denominations. We should not airbrush these
out of history, but confront them and then explain our present
attitude to them.
Yet the Cardinal and rest of the Catholic Church hierarchy studiously
ignore these sentiments — especially when dealing with the
actual history of the relations between his Church and Muslims. The
view of the Crusades that they offer is one at odds with history as actu-
ally recorded by Christian chroniclers. Certainly, the view promoted by
the Vatican is so at odds with reality, that it is difficult to escape the
conclusion that the Church is deliberately spreading misinformation, in
order to promote its apocalyptic vision of a new Dark Ages threatening
Europe, with the Muslims as the new barbarian hordes.
‘Pessimism’ on Islam
Pell questions whether Islam and ‘the Western democracies’ can live
together peacefully. Neither the diversity within the world of Islam, nor
Islam’s historic cultural achievements can convince him that those who
follow this Faith are capable of living in peace with the rest of humanity.
Pointing to Afghanistan, in fact, he notes what he alleges is the ‘the bru-
tality and rigidity of Islamist rule’. He concedes that most Muslims
‘share the desire for peace, stability and prosperity for themselves and
their families’, yet argues that the Holy Qur’an is itself the basis for the
most ‘pessimistic’ conclusions concerning Islam’s inherent justice and
equity.
For Pell, the Holy Qur’an is replete with exhortations of
violence, with the Prophet Muhammad (S) allegedly
engaging ‘in 78 battles, only one of which, the Battle of the Ditch, was
defensive’. The source of this allegation is a 2002 article by the arch-anti-
Muslim, Daniel Pipes (Jihad and the Professors). Cardinal Pell reveals
much about the credibility of his own arguments by relying heavily upon
the likes of this man. Pipes is not regarded as a credible scholar of Islam
by any expert — secular, Muslim or otherwise. He is a man who has ded-
icated his life to supporting Israel through the production of ongoing
pseudo-scholarly works. He is notorious for his reckless,
unsubstantiated, claims against Islam and Muslims.
One case in point is Pipes’s claim that Muslim immigrants in Sweden are
responsible for a rise in rapes and other violent crimes in that country.
According to Pipes’s own Web site, there is an ‘Immigrant Rape Wave in
Sweden’ — and it is allegedly led by Muslims. Pipes recommends the
Website of a Norwegian blogger ‘Fjordman’ (2005), who allegedly ‘doc-
uments a rape pandemic’ in Sweden. Pipes (2005) cites ‘Fjordman’
enthusiastically:
where some observers fear that law and order is completely
breaking down in the country. The number of rape charges in
Sweden has tripled in just above twenty years. Rape cases
involving children under the age of 15 are six — 6 — times as
common today as they were a generation ago. Most other
kinds of violent crime have rapidly increased, too. Instability
is spreading to most urban and suburban areas…
 demned the principle that no-one should be hindered because of religion
and that everyone should be free to think, speak and write as he or she
saw fit:

This monstrous law is suggested to the [French National]

Assembly by the freedom and natural equality of people, but
can there be anything more misguided than the establishment
of that licentious freedom and equality? That freedom ...
which the National Assembly grants to man as an inalienable
natural right is contrary to the laws established by the Lord of
Creation. As St. Augustine said, human society is nothing
other than a general consent to obey kings whose authority
derives not from a social contract but from God.

This view — that freedom of thought and of religion is contrary to the

principles of the Gospels — was proclaimed tirelessly by all popes until
the mid-twentieth century. Pius VI, thus, condemned the French
Revolution of 1789 against feudal tyranny and backwardness. Pope
Gregory XVI’s 1832 Encyclical Mirari Vos termed liberalism a ‘hideous
doctrine’ and freedom of conscience an ‘Error and absurdity, and even
madness’. Gregory XVI was so totalitarian, reactionary and wedded to
feudal backwardness that he forbad the introduction of technical innova-
tions, including the railroad and gas lighting, in the papal states.

In 1864 Pius IX’s Encyclical Quanta Cura condemned freedom of the

press, religious freedom under law, freedom of conscience, and a state
The Inquisition at work system that fails to punish attacks on the Catholic faith. A document was
appended called Syllabus Errorum (the Catalogue of Errors), in which
The number of rapes committed by Muslim immigrants in the last of eighty ‘errors propagated by word and deed’ that the bishop of
Western nations are [sic] so extremely high that it is difficult Rome condemned was the view that the pope ‘can and should accept
to view them only as random acts of individuals. It resembles progress, liberalism and modern culture’.
warfare.
‘If state authority rests with the people,’ Pius X asked, ‘what then will
In reality, neither ‘Fjordman’ nor Pipes present any proof that Muslims become of authority? It will become a shadow, a myth. Then there is no
are responsible for the rise in violent crimes of all types in Sweden or law in the true meaning of the word and no obedience’, he lamented.
elsewhere in Europe. No European nation documents the natal religion Less than two decades later, in 1929, his successor Pius XI declared: ‘In
of criminals in their crime statistics. ‘Fjordman’ and Pipes simply prove the Catholic state, ‘there can be no question of freedom of conscience’.
that these crimes are increasing in frequency. Pope Pius XI signed a series of agreements in 1929 with the fascist dic-
tator Benito Mussolini (the Lateran Pacts), which guaranteed unwerving
The Vatican and fascism Church loyalty to Mussolini’s state — to be policed by the Church hier-
archy — in return for opulent financial rewards. These agreements
In contrast to this organised clerical violence, all schools of Islamic signed by Benito Mussolini and Cardinal Gasparri, on behalf of Pope
thought teach that Muslims are required not to cause disorder in the land Pius XI, restored the full diplomatic and political power of the Holy See
and are obligated to abide by the law of the land in which they reside. Of of Rome. The Lateran Pacts of 11 February 1929 contained three sec-
course, this does not mean that Muslims are permitted to ignore the clear- tions. The Treaty of Conciliation re-established the Vatican City as an
ly expressed laws of Almighty God, on the excuse that they are merely independent state, restoring the civil sovereignty of the Pope as a
following the law of the land or — even worse — simply obeying the monarch. The Financial Convention annexed to the treaty decreed lucra-
ruler. It is not permitted for Muslims to blindly follow others into con- tive financial benefits from Mussolini’s state to the Holy See. The
doning or assisting injustice or oppression. For instance, Muslims in Concordat dealt with the Church’s relations with the Italian State.
Hitler’s Germany or Mussolini’s Italy would have been compelled to find
appropriate ways to oppose these manifestly unjust rulers — or stand The Treaty of Conciliation begins:
accused of meekly submitting to them. The Pope and Cardinal Pell
should explain how the popes of Rome have historically been the most In the name of the Most Holy Trinity.
virulent opponents of human rights and religious freedom. Leaving aside
the crimes already cited, such as the Crusades and the Inquisition, it is Whereas the Holy See and Italy have recognised the desirabil-
also worth remembering some examples of this reprehensible history, ity of eliminating every reason for dissension existing between
which prove that the Roman Church is far from being the champion of them and arriving at a final settlement of their reciprocal rela-
humanity and moderation that the Pope and Cardinal Pell claim it to be. tions which shall be consistent with justice and with the dig-
nity of both High Contracting Parties, and which by perma-
In the 1791 Papal Encyclical (letter) Quod Aliquantum, Pius VI con- nently assuring to the Holy See a position de facto and de jure
 which shall guarantee absolute independence for the fulfil- (1953).
ment of its exalted mission in the world…
The reader might be tempted to dismiss these shameful episodes as mere
The Holy See, in turn, was required to swear obedience to Mussolini’s episodic aberrations by the Church. Yet the Vatican still fondly com-
fascist state. All bishops were obligated to take an oath of fidelity to the memorates the odious agreement with Italian fascism, for instance. The
head of the State before taking possession of their dioceses, according to Vatican marked the seventy-third anniversary of the Lateran Accords on
the following obscene formula, in Section 20 of the Lateran Concordat: 11 February 2002 with the publication of a statement about what it
termed ‘healthy secularity’ in government. The occasion was commem-
Before God and his Holy Gospels I swear and promise on orated in an article published by the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore
becoming a Bishop fidelity to the Italian State. I swear and Romano, on 10 February 2002. The article viewed the Lateran Accords
promise to respect and make respected by my clergy the King as an agreement that ‘recognized the reciprocity of relations between the
and the Government established according to the constitution- political community and the ecclesial community’. The article asserted
al laws of the State. I swear and promise moreover that I shall that the pact offered ample freedom for the Catholic Church to act in the
not participate in any agreement or any counsel that can dam- areas of religious education, forming consciences, preaching the Gospel,
age the Italian State and the public order and I shall not allow and influencing the life of the community. Just as long as the Church did
to my clergy such participation. I shall concern myself with not denounce the dictator Mussolini and his oppressive Government, of
the well-being and interests of the Italian State and endeavour course!
to avert any danger that can possibly menace it.
The purpose of the new Vatican Crusade
At the conclusion of the signing, the following official communiqué was
released: It was shown at the outset of the present study that both Cardinal Pell and
Pope Benedict XVI have organic connections to the worst, most intoler-
The Holy See considers that with the Agreements signed ant and bloodthirsty episodes in the history of their Church. We have also
today it possesses the guarantees necessary to provide due lib- seen how the Crusades are touted by Pell as an excellent example of
erty and independence to the spiritual government of the dio- Christian virtuosity. Pope Benedict XVI has rejected his predecessor’s
ceses of Rome and of the Catholic Church in Italy and the request for Muslims to pardon the Church for the Crusades. Benedict
whole world. XVI is now reversing Pope John Paul II’s gesture. Pope Benedict XVI,
Cardinal Pell and certain other key Roman Catholic players envisage a
Mussolini was now free to consolidate his barbaric rule at home and systematic, across-the-board confrontation with Islam, the Holy Prophet
wage imperial adventures abroad. The Church of Rome had been bought Muhammad (S) and Muslims — to be waged in the name of ‘saving’
and sold and would not be an obstacle. Concordats were subsequently white ‘Christian’ Europe. This is evident enough from statements by
signed with Germany (1933), fascist Portugal (1940) and fascist Spain Cardinal Pell and the Pope.

Pope Pius XI,

Mussolini
and who signed
Hitler Concordat
deal with
Mussolini

The Pope,
Mussolini and
the King.
Commemorative
Postcard
Although Cardinal Pell is very carefully to disassociate himself from
neo-fascist anti-immigration groups, he nevertheless refers to declara-
tions by the Italian arch-racist Cardinal Giacomo Biffi favourably (Pell
2006b). Biffi is Italy’s equivalent to the notorious Australian racist
Pauline Hansen. Biffi has openly advocated restrictions on Muslim
immigration in the West. The International Religious Freedom Report of
the US Government’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
(2002) reports:
in June 2000, the press reported that Italian Episcopal
Conference Secretary Monsignor Ennio Antonelli commented
on the Conference’s decision earlier that year to tighten dis-
pensation for Catholics to marry Muslims. He said that ‘the
problem of mixed marriages is also tied in with the matter of
a possible accord between the Italian State and Muslims. The
Italian State should assure, in a rigorous manner, that Italian
constitutional values are protected, especially in regard to the
family.’ The report further noted that the Conference’s current
position represented a reversal of previous Church policy,
because 3 years earlier Church officials had responded to the
growing trend of Catholic-Muslim marriages by organizing
classes on Muslim world culture and tradition.
In the fall of 2001, hostile comment directed toward Muslims
intensified. Prominent priest Gianni Bagget [sic] Bozzo, who
often writes for the press, warned that the New York and
Washington attacks were consonant with ‘13 centuries’ of
Muslim warfare against Christians. Bologna Cardinal
Giacomo Biffi reiterated previous calls that immigrants be
selected for their ability to integrate into Italian society, ‘inte-
gration’ being chiefly dependent on religious identity.
The same Bureau of (2001) reports that Cardinal Biffi issued a ‘pastoral
letter’ in September 2000, calling for an immigration policy favouring
Catholics over Muslims ‘in order to safeguard our nation’s identity’.
According to the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
(2001) Father Bozzo then affirmed ‘the need to erect a Christian dike
against the Muslim invasion of Italy’. The Bureau continues (2000):
In October 2000, [Italy’s] Interior Minister Enzo Bianco
revealed a letter he had received from Cardinal Biffi, in which
the prelate repeated his warning that Europe must either return
to Christianity or risk becoming Muslim. The Cardinal main-
tained that Islam is fundamentally incompatible with histori-
cally Christian countries.
Biffi calls for the closure of Italy’s mosques and an end to immigration
by Muslims, who are, in his words, ‘outside our humanity’ (Time Europe,
30 October 2000) Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano,
then promptly issued a statement calling Cardinal Biffi’s words ‘wise,
very wise’. Cardinal Sodano, who is ‘No. 2 in the Church hierarchy’,
argues that Biffi had a point. And the prominent clerical commentator
Father Bozzo, whom we cited earlier, admitted about Biffi: ‘He gets a lot
more support in the Vatican than he does from the other Italian bishops,
who are more to the left. Many of the bishops think the same way Biffi
does, however, but don’t dare say it’ (Time Europe, 30 October 2000).
Cardinal Biffi further stoked the racist furnaces the
following year, when his spokesman defended a fresco in his cathedral
that depicts the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S) being cast into Hell com-
pletely naked, with a snake wrapped around his body and a demon next
to him about to torture him. And all this in a country — Italy — where
Muslims county for less than one per cent of the total population!
Father
Gianni
Baget
Bozzo
Far from condemning such xenophobia, Pell merely comments that Biffi: issues: ‘I have read the full text of Mr Downer’s Sir Thomas Playford
‘got into all sorts of trouble for suggesting there should be limits, but he’s Annual Lecture’, he said. ‘It is an excellent talk; worth studying’
raised a very real and interesting question that needs to be debated and (Catholic News, 2004).
discussed calmly’ (Pell 2006b). Such a relaxed attitude to Biffi’s
appalling campaign is very much like saying that Pauline Hansen raises This new Crusade against Islam is doomed to fail. Noted US conserva-
‘some interesting points’, which deserve serious consideration. When a tive Christian commentator Patrick J. Buchanan, (2006) recently remind-
leading churchman such as Cardinal Pell makes such statements, dan- ed us of the prediction of famed British Catholic Hilaire Belloc, who
gerous demagogues such as Biffi (and Hansen) only gain in credibility in wrote in 1938: ‘It has always seemed to me … probable, that there would
the eyes of many ordinary people. Is this what the Catholic hierarchy be a resurrection of Islam and that our sons or our grandsons would see
wishes to achieve? the renewal of that tremendous struggle between the Christian culture
and what has been for more than a thousand years its greatest opponent’.
It is instructive that Pell’s intolerant and baseless remarks were wel- Buchanan, (2006) observes that this seems to be coming true: ‘Even as
comed by Australian PM John Howard. Given the Howard Government’s Christianity seems to be dying in Europe, Islam is rising to shake the 21st
shameful record of persecuting asylum seekers and demonising century as it did so many previous centuries… Victor Hugo’s words
Muslims, it is hardly surprising that PM John Howard has voiced strong return to mind: No army is so powerful as an idea whose time has come’.
support for Pell’s calculated attacks on Islam and Muslims. ‘I think any
kind of analysis that somebody makes from his position, and he brings a Due largely to the support of the Australian Prime Minister and the
great intellect to the analysis he makes... I’m quite sure he is not trying media, Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Pell have already achieved their
to be unhelpful’ Mr Howard said (The Australian, 5 May 2006). first objective — to deepen the marginalisation of Muslims in Western
societies. Their second aim will most certainly fail miserably. Their
For his part, Pell has been quick to give comfort to the present Australian arguments and superficial scholarship are easily refutable, as the present
Government, when its immoral policies come under fire from other paper demonstrates. And not even the recent world leader of what was
Christian clerics. When Australia’s Foreign Minister Downer abused formerly called the Inquisition can prevent the truth of Islam from enter-
some Australian Catholic bishops for their ‘intemperate denunciations of ing the hearts of humanity. For Islam is certainly ‘an idea whose time has
Australia’s participation in the Coalition of the Willing in Iraq’, Pell come’.
praised Downer for criticising church leaders who spoke out on public

The Vatican’s Cardinal Sodano, who promotes the open racism of Cardinal
Giacomo Biffi, with a mutual friend.
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The Pope the Catholic Church and
‘Holy War’
Pope Benedict XVI’s comments about the Holy Prophet (S) of Islam were
not an ‘accident’, which only ‘more education’ will fix, as some Muslims
assert. The remarks were a deliberate, calculated insult — part of the
global War on Islam.

This essay proves that Pope Benedict’s attack forms part of a

co-ordinated, premeditated campaign. The behaviour of Pope Benedict,
Cardinal Pell and other Catholic leaders, such as Italy’s Cardinal
Giacomo Biffi, is fully consistent with the Catholic hierarchy’s historical
record of utter opposition in practice to not only Islam but also to the very
values that they slanderously accuse Islam of trampling on.

Pope Benedict’s tirade is shown against the background of Cardinal Pell’s

recent lengthy diatribe and Pell’s status and role within the Catholic
Church internationally. The Catholic Church’s own historical record of
relations with Islam is also examined. Finally, contemporary attacks on
Islam are placed in the contemporary global political context.

Dr. Ali White is a Muslim Political

Scientist who has published several
books and scholarly articles on Islam
and politics. He is the Co-ordinator of
Muslims For Peace. Other recent
essays in this series include Islamic or
Australian values? and Islam and the
Marxists.