PJ Media: Pope Francis went to Iraq (Saturday) and met with Iraq’s principal Shi’ite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and, according to the Associated Press, “delivered a powerful message of peaceful coexistence Saturday, urging Muslims in the war-weary Arab nation to embrace Iraq’s long-beleaguered Christian minority during an historic meeting in the holy city of Najaf.” That’s great, but the pope also conspicuously omitted mention of Jesus, not uttering the name even once, and thereby revealing what is wrong with all these “Muslim-Christian Dialogue” initiatives: They’re long on Islam, and short on Christianity.
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:12 ESV
After meeting Sistani, the pope went on to the ancient city of Ur, which is traditionally considered to be the birthplace of the biblical patriarch Abraham. With this backdrop, Francis said what everyone expected him to say: “From this place, where faith was born, from the land of our father Abraham, let us affirm that God is merciful and that the greatest blasphemy is to profane his name by hating our brothers and sisters. Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart: they are betrayals of religion.”
According to Church Militant, “In his lengthy address, Francis did not mention ‘Jesus’ even once, and the prayer concluding the event did not use the standard trinitarian formula or end in ‘the name of Jesus.’” As I explained to that publication, Jesus was not mentioned, for as always, interreligious dialogue involving Muslims and Christians requires Christians move closer to the Islamic position, not any genuine give-and-take or mutuality.
This omission was clearly intended to appease the Pope’s Muslim hosts. Another indication of the real situation behind this outwardly happy gathering was the fact that, according to AP, there were no Jewish leaders present at the “Abrahamic” gathering: “The Vatican said Iraqi Jews were invited to the event but did not attend, without providing further details.” Read More
Opinion: It cannot be a surprise to Pope Francis that the Quran is anti-Semitic.
“Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture – [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled.” Quran 9:29
That the pope made no mention of Isaac, the promised son of Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 17:15-27; Gal. 4:28), should be no surprise, since Muslims believe it was Ishmael whom God ordered to be sacrificed on Mount Moriah.
But it should be a wake up call to all Christians that the so-called Vicar of Christ saw fit to exclude Him from the message.
So why does this pope bow to Islam? Because he is a Jesuit, whose primary reason for existence is to bring all religions (except one) under the authority of the Roman pontiff.
Could there be a better setting for a new world religion (Rev. 13:11, 17:3-6) under a future authoritarian leader?
No, I don’t think so either.
