Pope Francis plans major inter-faith event for ‘fraternity’ between Catholics and Muslims

[Stone]

A reminder that Pope Francis is continuing the actualization of the errors of Vatican II, putting them into fruition and carrying on the work of his conciliar predecessors (e.g. the infamous Assisi meetings).

A brief summary of some of those V-II errors regarding false religions:

SiSiNoNo
September 2003 No. 55

The Errors of Vatican II

PART V

Throughout Parts 1-4 of this continuing series, we have been discussing the "mentality" of the Second Vatican Council, both generally and in particular. In Part 5 we will concentrate on the doctrinal errors of Vatican II regarding

1.The false representations of non-christian religions, and
2. Errors concerning politics, political community, and relations between Church and State.


9) The False Representation of Non-Christian Religions

• Falsely attributing to non- Christian religions that, like us, they believe in God the Creator.
  Gaudium et Spes §36 states:
  

  "...[All] believers of whatever religion have always heard His revealing voice in the discourse of creatures."1

  To attribute this to non-Christian religions is false. Citing just the two examples of Hinduism and Buddhism, both completely ignore the idea of a God who created from nothing and who reveals Himself in His creatures, since both are convinced that reality proceeds through emanation of an impersonal, cosmic, eternal force which is identically replicated in all things, from which force all comes and to which all returns, becoming a part of it, dissolving into it.
  
  
• Likewise,inconceivably awarding the marks of truth and holiness to all the non-Christian religions, whereas they do not contain revealed truth, but are the fruit of the human spirit and, so, neither redeem nor save anyone
  Nostra Aetate §2 states:
  

  The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy (vera et sancta) in these religions. She looks with sincere respect upon those ways of conduct and of life, those rules and teachings which, though differing in many particulars from what she holds and sets forth, nevertheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men.

  It is necessary to note the contradiction in the above, noting too its decidedly Deist tone. That is, if these religions "differ... in many particulars" from the Catholic Church's teaching, how can they "often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men"? This means that, for the Council, the truth "which enlightens all men" perhaps comes through rules and teachings that differ "in many particulars" from the Church's teaching! (How could an authentic ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church have been inspired to articulate such an idea?)
  
  
• [Vatican II's] baseless assertion, always denied by Tradition and Holy Scripture (e.g., Ps. 95:5: "For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils"; and I Cor. 10:20), that pagan religions, past and present, would have in some way been included in the plan of salvation. In fact, §18 of Ad Gentes, on missionary activity, states:
  

  Working to plant the Church, and thoroughly enriched with the treasures of mysticism adorning the Church's religious tradition, religious communities should strive to give expression to these treasures and to hand them on in a manner harmonious with the nature and the genius of each nation. Let them reflect attentively on how Christian religious life may be able to assimilate the ascetic and contemplative traditions whose seeds were sometimes already planted by God in ancient cultures prior to the preaching of the gospel.

  Here, "ancient cultures" whose gods were "devils," and whose sacrifices were offered "to devils and not to God" (I Cor. 10:20), are unjustly re-evaluated by the Council, which wants to recognize in them a salvific presence of "semina Verbi" of the "seeds of revealed Truth." But that violates a truth always held to belong to the deposit of Faith. In Lumen Gentium §17 and in Ad Gentes §11, the same idea is applied to all contemporary non-Christian peoples, including pagans: missionaries must discover the "hidden seeds of the Word" in the people whose evangelization has been entrusted to them.
  
  [...]
  
  
• In Lumen Gentium §16, the statement:
  

  But the plan of salvation (propositum salutis) also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place (in primis) among these there are the Moslems, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind (qui fidem Abrahae se tenere profitentes, nobiscum Deum adorant unicum, etc.).

  This statement falsely attributes adoration of our God to the Moslems, and includes them, per se, in the plan of salvation. This statement is contrary to dogma because those who do not worship the true God are not included in the plan of salvation. And the Moslems do not adore the true God because, although they attribute to God (Allah = "God"), the creation of "the world" and "man" from nothing, and accord traditional attributes of omnipotence and omniscience to Him, and although they recognize him as Judge of human beings at the end of time, Allah is not thought of as God the Father, who in His goodness created man "in his image and likeness" (Gen. 1:26; Deut. 32:6, etc.). Further, Moslems do not believe in the Holy Trinity, and their abhorrence of it repeats the Jews' error. Consequently, they deny grace, our Lord's Divinity, Incarnation, Redemption, His death on the Cross, and His Resurrection. They deny all of our dogmas and refuse to read the Old and New Testaments. Because they obviously contain no mention of Mohammed, the Moslems consider the Old and New Testaments to be falsified texts.
  
  Too, Moslems deny free will (defended only by a few minority Moslem exegetes who are viewed as heretics), while professing an absolute determinism which admits of there being no place in the world for true relationships between cause and effect, so that, out of time, all of our actions, good or bad, have already been "created" by Allah's inscrutable decree (Koran 54: 52-53).
  
  Lumen Gentium §16's recognition of Islam is repeated in an even more detailed and gravely erroneous way in the Declaration Nostra Aetate's §3:
  

  Upon the Moslems, too, the Church looks with esteem. They adore one God, living and enduring, merciful and all-powerful, Maker of heaven and earth and Speaker to men (qui unicum Deum adorant etc...., homines allocutum). They strive to submit wholeheartedly even to His inscrutable decrees (cuius occultis etiam decretis toto animo se submittere student), just as did Abraham, with whom the Islamic faith is pleased to associate itself.

  This goes so far as to state that the God in whom the Moslems believe "has spoken to men"! Therefore, by this does the Council demonstrate that it views as authentic the "revelation" transmitted by Mohammed in the Koran? If so, isn't this implicit apostasy from the Christian faith, given that the "revelation" in the Koran specifically contradicts all of Christianity's basic truths?
  
  Moreover, it also represents the Moslems' way of believing precisely as they themselves understand it, as if to approve it. In fact, it employs the usage, "submission to God," which is the meaning of the term "Islam" (submission), and whose substantive adjective is muslim (Mussulman = submission [to God]). In its entirety, this passage seems to reflect the Koran's own 4:124: "And who has a better religion than he who submits himself entirely to Allah, doing good and following the belief of Abraham, like a pure monotheist (hanif)?" Finally, the allusion to obedience to the decrees of Allah "even if they are hidden" has a strong Islamic aura because it reminds us that in the Koran, Allah is defined as "the visible and the hidden" (57:3), visible in his works and hidden in his decrees. Therefore it seems that the Council wanted to have its "esteem" understood, rather than shrink from according such esteem to the Koran and Islam because of the ambiguous, troubling, impenetrable quality of the entity spoken of in the Koran.
  
  Vatican II praise of the Moslems' profession of the "faith" of Abraham, as if it constitutes a quality linking them to us, obscures the truth, since we know that the Abraham of the Koran, who is infused with a legendary and apocryphal quality, does not correspond to the real Abraham, who is evidently the Abraham of the Bible. This, because the Koran attributes a "pure monotheism" or anti-Trinitarianism, anterior to Judaic and Christian monotheism, to Abraham. Thus, as an Arab prophet and a descendant of Abraham thanks to Israel, Mohammed would have been sent in order to restore this pure monotheism by liberating it from the so-called Jewish and Christian falsifications!
  
  
  
• Nostra Aetate §3 also takes into serious consideration the veneration that the Moslems accord Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary:
  

  "Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they call on her, too, with devotion."

  But it is well known that the Koran's "Christology" is founded on an altered and deformed Jesus of the apocryphal gospels and of all sorts of Gnostic heresies that proliferated in Arabia in Mohammed's time. The Koran's Jesus (Isa) was born of a virgin through a divine intervention (of the angel Gabriel), a prophet particularly appreciated by Allah, a simple mortal whom Allah permitted to work numerous miracles, a prophet who thus preached the same monotheism as that attributed to Abraham (57:26-27), whose recited formula is: "There is no God but God, one, lord" (38:65). This is why, for the Moslems, Jesus was a servant of God (19:31), submissive to Allah, that is, a Moslem, a Mussulman, to the point that, like Abraham, he announced the coming of Mohammed (51:6)! Therefore, when the Moslems venerate Jesus as a prophet, they mean that he is a "prophet of Islam," a lie that any Catholic, provided that he still has the Faith, obviously cannot accept.2
  
  As for the Moslem veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, that they "sometimes call on her with devotion," from a practical standpoint, it must be said that this "devotion" is meaningless and based on superstition. Such as it is, this "devotion" to Mary is such only in terms of her being the mother of a "prophet of Islam," and not because she is the Mother of God. Therefore, it is offensive to Catholic ears.
  
  Moreover, it is necessary to repeat that the Koran's "Mariology" is also entirely corrupted because its origins are in apocryphal and heretical sources. The existences of St. Joseph and the Holy Ghost are completely ignored. And Mary is called "sister of Aaron," "sister of Moses," and "daughter of Imram" (Hebr. Amram), who was their father (Num. 26:59), thus confusing her with the prophetess Mary (Ex. 15: 21) who lived circa 12 centuries before Christ! And as if this weren't enough, she is introduced into the Christian Trinity, so detested, and which is denied with such aggressiveness, because, according to the Koran, it is made up of God (the Father), Mary (Mother) and Jesus (the Son): "Jesus never said: take me and my mother as two divinities, before God"! (5:116).
  
  
  
• Finally, Nostra Aetate §3 seems to praise the Moslems and to present them as an example to Catholics because
  

  "they await the day of judgment when God will give each man his due after raising him up. Consequently, they prize the moral life and give worship to God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting."

  
  The article concludes:
  

  Although in the course of the centuries many quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this most sacred Synod urges all to forget the past and to strive sincerely for mutual understanding. On behalf of all mankind, let them make common cause of safeguarding and fostering social justice, moral values, peace, and freedom.

  
  Historical facts are also overturned here, since the bloody, long, and cruel battles, faith against faith, that we have had to launch over the course of the centuries to repulse Islam's assault, are adroitly reduced to the size of simple "quarrels and hostilities." Passed over in silence are the abysmal differences that exist between Catholic and Moslem eschatology (the absence of a Beatific Vision, the luxury of paradise, the eternity of infernal punishments reserved only for infidels), as well as the abysmal differences between our and their conception of "moral life" and of "veneration": Islam is a religion which not only allows unacceptable moral structures, such as polygamy, with all of its corollaries, but also alleges to guarantee salvation simply by carrying out legalistic practices of worship: therefore, it is an exterior and legalist religion, even more so than Pharisaism, expressly condemned by our Lord (cf. Mt. 6:5).
  
  All of this is passed over in silence in order to invite us into collaboration that is impossible for the simple reason that the meaning the Moslems give to the words "social justice," "peace," "freedom," etc., is merely that which can be drawn from the Koran or from the words and deeds of Mohammed, a meaning established over the course of the centuries by "orthodox" interpretation: an Islamic meaning totally different from our own. For example, Moslems do not understand peace in the way that the currently reigning Pope understands it. They do not believe that Moslems can live under infidels. This is why they divide the world into two parts, one where Islam rules (the house of Islam) and the rest of the world, necessarily an enemy unless it converts and submits (house of war), the rest of the world with whom the Islamic community believes itself to be perpetually at war. Therefore, for them, peace is not an end in itself that allows them to coexist with different nations and religions; it is only a means, imposed by circumstances which oblige them to make truces with infidels. But the truce must have a limited duration; it must never exceed ten years; and every time they have the means, then war must be resumed. For the Moslem, this is a juridical, religious, and moral obligation. It is in force until the final, inevitable battle that results in the installation of a world Islamic State.

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Pope Francis plans major inter-faith event for ‘fraternity’ between Catholics and Muslims
Pope Francis has reportedly tasked the Vatican to organize a high-level inter-religious event with Muslims, following a request from the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, who cited Francis’ ‘Fratelli Tutti’ as inspiration for the event.



Chems-Eddine Hafiz greets Pope Francis, February 2025.
Grande Mosque de Paris

Thu Feb 13, 2025
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Upon the suggestion of the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Pope Francis has reportedly tasked the Vatican to organize a high-level inter-religious dialogue event between Muslims and Catholics this year.

As the outcome of a February 10 private audience with Chems-Eddine Hafiz, the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, Pope Francis has instructed the Vatican’s Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue to coordinate yet another event to promote fraternity between Islam and Catholicism.

Hafiz’s idea of “a new international meeting” for a “brotherhood” of Christians and Muslims in Europe on a “continental scale” was presented to the Pope during their encounter, which is their second such meeting after they first met in 2022.


Christians and Muslims in Europe

“How many of our prayers have risen like two shores called to join together, how many hearts have opened to the certainty that the love of God is reflected in our will to love all his creatures?” So began the message delivered by Hafiz to Pope Francis on Monday, during which Paris’ leading Muslim sought to win papal support for the cause of Muslims “who are facing increasing stigma.”

“For too many years, in the West, Islam has been perceived through the distorting prism of terrorism and violence. This misperception fuels the discourses that are hostile to Muslims, who are facing increasing stigma,” Hafiz stated in his message.

Hafiz cited Francis’ 2020 encyclical Fratelli Tutti, which promoted inter-religious activity and “fraternity” and which is widely argued to promote religious indifferentism, highlighting the theme of “dialogue.”

Along with Pope Francis’ equally controversial 2019 Abu Dhabi document on human fraternity –itself a key text showing Francis’ desire for collaboration with Islamic leaders, and which was heralded by Hafiz as “a turning point in the dialogue between Christians and Muslims” – Fratelli Tutti has become the “go-to” reference text for all such events relating to the topic of fraternity.

But “fraternity” between Christians and Muslims in Europe, said Hafiz, “is nonetheless threatened by indifference, dehumanization, fear of others and of the future.” This he partly attributed to how Islam is perceived by non-Muslims, as he urged Europe to “welcome” Muslims more than it does and added that Europe has “long been a land of diversity.”

“The Muslims of Europe are also acting as protectors, as citizens, and intend to shape a peaceful future,” said Hafiz. “But the lands that welcomed them now seem to be inhabited by fear. Many Europeans are giving up hope, locking themselves into a narrow vision of themselves and rejecting those they no longer see as brothers and sisters.”

“For too many years, in the West, Islam has been perceived through the distorting prism of terrorism and violence,” added Hafiz. “This misperception fuels anti-Muslim discourse, which in turn leads to growing stigmatization.”

Citing the 2019 Abu Dhabi declaration, which Francis has himself often cites in ecumenical and inter-religious events, Hafiz urged increased unity between Christians and Muslims since he said they are “members of the same family of faith in God”:

Our fellow citizens, both Christians and Muslims, need to recognize each other as members of the same family of faith in God and of profound values, in a dialogue where differences do not distance but bear witness to the richness of divine Creation. Pope John Paul II thus addressed young Muslims: we believe in the same God, the living God, who created the world and cares for his creatures.

A new inter-religious event for unity

Pope Francis has regularly championed and attended key ecumenical and inter-religious events through the nearly 12-year course of his pontificate, many of which have been “in the spirit” of the controversial 1986 Assisi meeting, at which Pope John Paul II prayed together with Orthodox Christians, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and representatives of many other religions.

Speaking to gloria.tv in 2020, Bishop Athanasius Schneider stated that the Assisi meeting was a “preparation” for the worship of the Pachamama statues in the Vatican Gardens, as it accustomed Catholics to the “erroneous teaching … that all religions are on the same level.”

In light of this same meeting, Hafiz asked Francis to lead an event “marking the friendship of the Christians and Muslims of Europe, in the spirit of the inter-religious meetings of Assisi initiated on October 27, 1986, and in memory of their exceptional significance.”

©Grande Mosque de Paris