According to a Focus-Online report, what the Muslim attacker Ahmed A. said after the knife assassination attempt in Hamburg
Hamburg (kath.net) "I do not want to do anything to you, I want to attack Christians." According to a Focus-Online report, this is what the Muslim terrorist Ahmed A., told another Muslim after the knife attack attempt in Hamburg, who had apparently prevented the terrorist from further attacks. Also involved was Aimen Zahri. The 37-year-old told Focus that he was the one who threw the 26-year-old assassin on the ground and held him after he stabbed one man and injured five others. "I did not hesitate for a moment when I realized what had just happened." They were in total eight, and with whicker chairs and an iron bar, they had driven the attacker into a corner and finally overwhelmed him.
To solve the problem of Islamism, Muslims have to realize that "the real enemies that threaten Islam are not in Jerusalem or Washington but in their countries of origin and in the midst of their own communities"
Frankfurt am Main (kath.net) Multiculturalism has failed. This is the opinion expressed by the Dutch Sociologist and researcher Prof. Ruud Koopmans in a contribution by FAS, as idea reports. He himself had long believed that good integration would not place demands on immigrants. He had been convinced that the reason for integration problems, such as unemployment among immigrants or worse education in their children, was a wrong policy because they did not grant people enough rights and did not sufficiently recognize their culture. In the Netherlands, it was a complete failure when the migrants' culture was expanded. For example, Islamic burials were allowed and many state-funded Islamic and Hindu schools were introduced. Public media must fill at least 20 percent of their broadcasting time with programs for minorities. Despite all these measures, immigrants are four times as unemployed compared to people without a migrant background.
The sociologist sees Islamic terrorism in Europe critically. Thus the interpretation prevailed that it had nothing to do with religion, nor with migrant countries of origin, and that society was to blame. He wonders why there is so much violence in the Islamic countries themselves, where there have been no Western military interventions. The problem of Islamic extremism can not be solved until the majority of the Muslims realize "the real enemies that threaten Islam are not in Jerusalem or Washington or among the European right-wing populists, but in their countries of origin and in the middle Their own communities ".
Marian consecration in North Syria coincides with the papal trip on the 12th and 13th of May in Fatima - Bishop: In the Marian Month of May, "all the churches are full of the faithful who pray the Rosary, kneel before the exposed Eucharist and recite litanies"
Rome (kath.net/KAP) The Christian community in Aleppo is preparing to celebrate the Fatima Jubilee and dedicate Syria's second-largest city to the Mother of God of the Fatima Apparition of Portugal. This was reported by the Chaldean bishop of Aleppo, Antoine Audo, on Wednesday, according to the Roman mission news agency "AsiaNews". According to this, the consecration should bear testimony of a faith which "remained strong" in the time of the affliction on Saturday, May 13th. In the past few years the feeling of a "deep fellowship" reaching beyond confessional boundaries has developed, the bishop said.
The Marian Consecration in North Syria coincides with the Apostolic Journey of Pope Francis on the 12th and 13th of May. In Fatima, 100 years ago Mary appeared to the shepherd children, Francisco Marto, Jacinta Marto, and Lucia dos Santos; Francisco, the sibling of Marto, already beatified in 2000, will be sanctified in Fatima on Saturday.
"It must be said that the whole month of May is important to the Christian communities of Aleppo," said Bishop Audo, "all the churches are full of the faithful who pray the Rosary, kneel before the suspended Eucharist and recite litanies Very important time, it is a tradition that is deeply rooted and has lasted all the time. "
The three days of the festivities dedicated to the Mother of God of Fatima in Aleppo, organized on the initiative of the Latin parish of St. Francis, began on Thursday, 11 May, with a prayer at 5 pm. The highlight of the celebrations was Saturday, May 13th, with the Pope's Mass in Fatima, a solemn Eucharistic celebration in the St. Francis Cathedral, in which all the bishops and priests who are present in Aleppo and the surrounding area are participating. The faithful of all confessions in the largest north-Syrian city are invited to the Mass.
"The long-standing epicenter of the Syrian conflict is dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima - after a procession with the statue by the streets," said Audo. This highly symbolic gesture is linked with the hope "that it can help to restore peace not only in Syria but throughout the Middle East after decades of conflict."
"The consecration of Aleppo to Mary and the issue of peace are a source of hope and a sign of our presence as a Church," said the Chaldean bishop: "We also want to use the event to address the themes of dialogue, unity and invitation to the Church. And not only among the various Christian denominations, but also with the inclusion of the Muslims by taking advantage of the huge echo produced by the Pope's visit to Egypt."
Ex-Caritas chief for Egypt and former "Caritas Internationalis" Council for North Africa and the Middle East: "The West and the Pope do not know the true nature of Islam"
Budapest-Wien (kath.net/KAP) The well-known Jesuit Henri Boulad has been one of those voices for years, warning against a spreading Islam. A few weeks ago, the long-standing Egyptian Jesuit Provincial and director of the Jesuit Cultural Center in Alexandria has now accepted Hungarian citizenship. In order to support the restrictive migration policy of the Hungarian head of government, Viktor Orban, and to exert a corresponding influence on the European immigration policy. This is what the 85-year-old Jesuit from Alexandria declared in an interview for the Hungarian weekly newspaper "Heti Valasz", the text of which was published by the Austrian magazine "Kirche In" in his current May issue in German.
During an Egyptian visit to the Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister, Zsolt Semjen, Boulad said that he wanted to be granted citizenship. The request was made by decree. In the middle of March the Jesuit spoke the oath at a ceremony in the Budapest Parliament. With the assumption of Hungarian citizenship, he wanted to "signal that the country led by Viktor Orban has made the right decision on the issue of the migration crisis that threatens the existence of Europe," said Boulad. "I would like to (...) fight for the future and for the Christian values on the side of the Hungarians and Viktor Orbans," explained the Jesuit.
In principle, support for refugees and poor is "right and good," said Boulad, " The Church had adapted itself to the views of the French Islamologist Louis Massignon (1883-1962), for whom mystical Sufism had meant the essence of Islam. Islam, however, historically chose not the "Meccan," but the "Median," path that still determines it: "The surprises of the Koran, which appeal to unbelievers with violence and jihad, are from the Medina period [The prophet Mohammed, note], the tolerant, msystic surprises of the Mecca period." "Rome," said Boulad, "does not understand this, and the Christians of the East, who know Islam from the inside, are not asked, they are put to the side." According to the Jesuit, the Catholic Church is based on the expertise of "Experts in Paris, Berlin, or America who are regarded as great Islamic scholars, whose views are purely academic," and thus "fell into the trap of the Christian-Islamic dialogue, which in reality resembles a dialogue of pigeons." Boulad sees this dialogue, even after 50 years, "is still at its starting point." Big announcements about reforms in Islam have hardly any consequences.
The Jesuit also complained that there is little dialogue with him either, and French and Canadian bishops have banned him from entering in their countries. "Masses of moderate and intelligent Muslims and Muslima think like me. They are trying to destroy Islam to save Muslims and Muslims," Boulad said in the interview. The Liberals of Islam are "faithful to the beauties of their religion. In order to preserve and defend them, they want to free themselves from the imposed dictatorship."
Announcement of the Mercedarian Province of Chile:
Pope Francis Acknowledges Dismissal of the Former
Superior General from the Priesthood and Order
(Rome / Santiago de Chile) On April 20, the Chilean Mercedarian Province published the scarcely noticed news that the most severe Church punishments have been imposed by Pope Francis upon the former Superior General of the Order, Mariano Labarca Araja. The Vatican has not given any opinion on this.
The message of the Order, the silence of the Vatican
The Chilean Mariano Labarca was from 2004-2010 the 86th Superior General of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy for the Ransom of Prisoners (Ordo Beatae Mariae de Mercede redemptionis captivorum) founded in 1218, better known as Mercedarian Order. Since 1574, the General Magister has been elected for six years.
The Chilean Province said:
"Father Pedro MLA (ex-General Superior) was dismissed from the priesthood and the Order by decree of HH Francis, so he is no longer a priest and no longer a religious. This decision, which is irrevocable, has been taken after careful examination of the case brought to light in 2013, because of the serious damage to the priestly dignity and religious vows."
Labarca in "better" times
According to Spanish and Latin sources, the "reported case" appears to have involved sexual abuse. The case started in May 2013. The extent to which Pope Francis himself has been personally interested in the matter or has routinely signed the laicization decree is not known.
It is more astonishing that "there are cases of priests who are broadly and publicly treated and accused, and others, of whom we hear nothing, or just as good as nothing, as is the case here. The Spanish Catholic columnist, Francisco Fernandez de la Cigoña, is an attentive observer of the Church's developments in Latin America.
Mariano Labarca, for six years as a Superior General, led this Order rich in tradition, which included numerous Saints, including the founder and first General Magister Petrus Nolascus, Raimund of Peñafort, Raimund Nonnatus, Petrus Armengol and Seraprion, the first martyr of the Order. All these saints lived in the first 100 years of the Order, which at that time developed a very extraordinary charism.
The Mercedarian Order - For the Ransom of Enslaved Christians
The Holy Founder Petrus Nolascus
The Mother of God had appeared to the Occitan nobility, Petrus Nolascus, in 1218, who asked him to found an order to buy Christians, who were in Islamic captivity. Even then the south of Spain was still under Islamic rule. Until the eighteenth century, Islamic princes, army leaders and pirates sailed all over the Mediterranean and the European coasts. They attacked ships and Europe's coastal areas and, according to recent estimates, carried at least two million Christians as slaves to North Africa and the Middle East.
The Mercedarian Order collected money to buy the enslaved Christians in the south of Iberia, as well as in North Africa, which, because of the great hardship caused by the slaving of the Muslims in Iberia, also a few other Orders. When no money was available, the Mercedarians offered themselves as pledge to obtain the release of other Christians. Their actions were a "triumph of mercy" in the history of the Church.
Because of this original charism, the Order is still active in the prison system.
During the period when the Habsburgs also ruled over Spain, a Mercedarian monastery was established in Vienna, but in 1782 it fell victim to the Josephine sack of the monasteries.
Determined defense by the progressive side
Today, the Order is only a shadow of its former greatness. Today, however, little is known about the names of the great saints from the beginning of the Order. In 2015 it counted 581 members, but in large part this is over aged. The Mercedarian Order is responsible for the most important place of pilgrimage in Sardinia, the Basilica of Our Lady of Bonaria, named after the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.
While the Labarca case is hardly to be read in the media, the former priest and former Mercedarian, the Basque Xabier Pikaza Ibarrondo, published on the progressive Spanish news site Periodista Digital an unconditional defense of the former Superior General. The contentious, progressive theologian Pikaza was not laicized punitively, but gave up his priesthood and left the Order to marry.
Pikaza criticizes the "zero tolerance" as unchristian. It contradicts the commandment of repentance and reconciliation. Labarca, who until a few years ago played a considerable role in the Church of Chile and was described as a possible bishop, had not been condemned by any secular court. His ecclesiastical condemnation had taken place in the silent chamber. The possibility of defense was doubtful, no one knew with what he was being charged. He, Pikaza, had tried to contact his old religious brother during the proceedings, which was not possible. He had only been informed by the Order that the ex-Superior General should not be in contact with the outside world on the instructions of the Vatican.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Mercedarian Chiles / Wikicommons (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com Link to Katholisches...
AMDG
[Express UK] President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken control of six churches in the war-torn southeastern city of Diyarbakir in his latest move to squash freedom of speech and religious movement.
The state-sanctioned seizure is just the latest in a number of worrying developments to come out of increasingly hardline Turkey, which is in advanced talks with the EU over visa-free travel for its 80 million citizens.
Included in the seizures are Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, one of which is over 1,700 years old.
Three tweets from Emmanuel Macron on immigration, subsidized housing, and naturalization:
1 - I want to create a highway of freedom and responsibility that crosses Africa into Europe. 2 - From the beginning of my five-year mandate, I want to create very social housing on a massive scale using simplified procedures. 3 - I will not promise foreigners the right to vote. The correct answer to the right to vote is access to nationality. Link...
Massive police presence when a suspicious man triggered a mass panic in Catholic during Good Friday Mass - arrest of a 33-year-old - UPDATE: criminal charges against the suspect
Essen
(kath.net) "During a church service, with almost 500 people were in the church, a man entered, behaved very suspiciously, said some things. As a result, a panic broke out among the faithful, who wanted to get out of the church building as quickly as possible. A woman and a six - year - old boy had been injured as a result. "The police officer Peter Elke describes the incidents during the Good Friday Mass in the Essen district of Vogelheim (North Rhine-Westphalia). It was the Good Friday liturgy of the Croatian Catholic Church of St. Thomas More. According to the police, after the emergency call was received, responded with th "standard" strong force.
The "Rheinische Post" reported that the stranger had "walked through the rows of people," according to some church visitors, "apparently frightening some visitors." After a popping noise, there was a panic, with hundreds of people pushing to the exits," accirding to the presentation of the "Rheinische Post".
The "Bild" quoted an eye-witness: "In the middle of the Mass came an Arab-looking man, who behaved strangely. He ran along the pews. "When the priest and the ministries wanted to carry the cross through the nave, the man had gone forward to the first pew row." Another witness said, 'I was sitting with my children and my husband just half a meter away from him. He stared at us with an irrational glance and scratched the wooden benches. There were already more and more people leaving the church."
Then a loud bang sounded, then panic ensued. Another witness reported the "picture": "I do not think it was a shot. I rather assume the cross had fallen to the ground."
Some of the worshipers overwhelmed the man and held him until the police arrived, who were summoned by an emergency call. The police searched the 33-year-old and arrested him, he was then interrogated, reports the "Bild". Apparently there is the suspicion that the "33-year-old Essen man" is mentally ill.
The "Bild" remarked explicitly: "But the pastor remained firm, remained until the end in the church."
According to the newspaper "Westfälische Allgemeine Zeitung" (WAZ), "most of the 500 faithful" had rushed to the exit, "two women aged 56 and 18 were slightly injured". Some of the elderly worshipers were "externally uninjured," but the excitement had evidently grown too much. Outside the church, they had to be "supported by others; some of them went to medical treatment later because of circulatory problems." According to the WAZ, the police confirmed that the suspect "has Arabic roots" due to his name.
The online portal "Der Westen" reported that the suspect had been released again, that the Essen police had confirmed what the online portal belonging to the radio group had said. The man was probably mentally ill, explaindd the "Westen" further, now he was facing a charge because of disturbance of the worship. It was also planned that the police will show more presence in Vogelheim on Saturday evening than usual.
[Junge Freiheit] One and a half years after the escalation of the refugee crisis, more and more books appear, illuminating the background and consequences of the events. Robin Alexander just landed with his book "Die Getriebenen" the political bestseller of the year. In this book, he succeeds in chronically reevaluating the dramatic sequence of the opening of the border in September 2015, thereby laying bear the motives and failures of political leaders.
Now another book catches attention: "Inside Islam". Here the ARD journalist Constantin Schreiber went to the Friday prayer in 13 mosques to find out what is actually preached to Muslims in Arabic or Turkish. Schreiber summed up anxiously, the Imams preached against the integration efforts of the German state. At the same time, to be Muslim and Democrat were to be completely ruled out. And it was partly "harshly agitating against the Yezidis, the Armenians and the Jews," writes Schreiber.
"School without racism" bully Jewish students
A recent incident at a community school in Berlin confirms the massive problem of anti-Semitism rampant among Arab and Turkish youths. A Jewish family, after repeated verbal and physical attacks on her 14-year-old son, saw no choice but to take her child from school. Three quarters of the pupils at this institution, which is engaged in the project of a "School without racism", have a migration background.
The fact that anti-Semitism is nowadays no longer "from the midst of German society" but from Muslim immigration, is a dilemma for leftist politicians and journalists. Some media, such as Spiegel Online, conceal the ethno-religious backgrounds of the perpetrators in their reports about crimes.
The call to hatred of unbelievers is dangerous
But we do not get any further. The facts must be on the table. Some of what Constantin Schreiber excavates in "Inside Islam" sounds alarming. That Christians have forgotten to see themselves committed as believers to a mission is a problem of Christians, not the Muslims. The fact that sermons invoking fervor of the faith, is sorely lacking among pastors. What is dangerous is the call to hatred for the other believers and the state.
Here in Germany, half a millennium ago, in the Thirty Years' War, we had to learn secularization through bloody religious conflicts, constitutions, and the rule of law. It has taken centuries to live with confessional opposition among Christians. Uncontrolled immigration of Muslims makes integration into a task that is no longer manageable in a quantitatively simple manner and is thus a program for civil war. Finally, politics should take heed.
[Epoch] A brutal murder has shattered the Lake Constance region. A 19-year-old man from Switzerland was involved in a quarrel at a Konstanz shisha bar. In the parking lot, one of the attackers drew a knife. A little later the 19-year-old died in the hospital. The offender is said to have been a Syrian, which the police neither denied nor confirmed. The deadly stab wounds are alleged to have been directed specifically against the heart and throat of the 19-year-old.
Symbolic image: Shisha water pipe whistle Photo: Public Domain
The investigation by the 50-member special commission of the Kriminalpolizei of Friedrichshafen found several young me. in the course of Sunday, who are suspected to have been involved in the lethal dispute before a Konstanzer Shisha bar. Four suspects were arrested. The role of the persons involved in the event is currently under investigation.
Also on Sunday an autopsy was performed on the 19-year-old victim. The result is expected for today, Monday.
Homicide at shisha bar
In the night of Saturday, March 11, 2017, a deadly conflict broke out at 1.30 am in the parking lot in front of the shisha bar "Pasha of Dubai" on the Fritz-Arnold-Strasse in the industrial area of Constance.
For hitherto unknown reasons, two groups of people were involved in an argument, during which a 19-year-old Swiss man was stabbed, presumably with a knife.
While the victim was still able to go to the bar, where he collapsed, the culprit escaped with his companions."
(Police authority)
"In spite of immediately initiated rescue and resuscitation measures, the 19-year-old died a little later in the hospital," said police officer Markus Sauter from Constance.
A Lectoress in Dillinger Studienkirche (Diocese of Augsburg) had to interrupt the reading briefly - church service visitors afterwards said that they had been frightened.
Dillingen (kath.net) In the Dillingen Studienkirche (diocese of Augsburg) there was a disturbance last Sunday during the Sunday Mass. According to the police, a man shouted out during the first reading with slogans like "Convert to Allah" and with spread arms "Allahu akbar" (God is great). This was reported by the "Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung". The lectoress had to interrupt the reading briefly. According to the newspaper, various faithful said afterwards that they felt frightened. The sacristan and two other men led the non-violent man out of the Church and informed the police. They took the 38-year-old Turkish man in the county temporarily and brought him to a hospital because of mental disturbances. It is still unclear whether the pastor will report the incident.
'Diocese of Augsburg'
According to the Augsburger Allgemeine, last September, the 38-year-old had already damaged several costly statues in a different church, and he also kicked several cars outside. The man was temporarily arrested and then sent to the hospital.
A court in Palermo imposes 18 years of imprisonment because in 2015 Muslims apparently had thrown 12 Christians into the sea on their flight across the Mediterranean Sea - the judges regarded religious hatred as an aggravating circumstance
Palermo (kath.net) An Italian court last week condemned six migrants to 18 years imprisonment because they had thrown twelve Christians into the sea in April of 2015. The judges considered religious hatred as an aggravating circumstance. A defendant was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for torture, and others charged were released. Italian and Austrian media, including the daily newspaper "Der Standard", published in Vienna, reported on a report from the APA press agency.
Christian and Muslim refugees had dared to flee across the Mediterranean, and religious disputes arose on the ship: Christians had been compelled to pray to Allah. Muslim migrants are said to have beaten twelve Christians from Nigeria and Ghana and thrown them overboard.
BERLIN. [Junge Freiheit] The asylum crisis cost the Bundesrepublik 21.7 billion euros last year. This is evident from the monthly report published by the Federal Ministry of Finance on Friday. For this year, € 21.3 billion has been earmarked for the national budget.
For the reception, registration and accommodation of asylum seekers, the federal government spent 1.4 billion euros, for integration services 2.1 billion and for combating the causes of flight 7.1 billion.
Social benefits of the federal government cost another 1.7 billion euros. As a direct relief, the federal government also provided the federal states and municipalities with 9.3 billion euros.
" Huge stimulus package"
"More than 90 percent of the federal expenditures," says Ferdinand Fichtner, the economic researcher of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), have, however, continued into the economy, such as the spending of refugees for foodstuffs and other consumer goods, rental payments or construction investments. "This can also be described as a huge economic stimulus program," Fichtner told the news agency Reuters.
In 2015 about 890,000 asylum seekers had come to Germany, 2016 about 280,000. According to the report, "high entry rates" were limited to the year 2015.
"Into the black" could be held
The Ministry points out that on paper, in 2016, the Bundesrepublik could, for the third year in a row forgoing new debts and still keeping in the "black" with the budget. A surplus of 6.2 billion euros had even been achieved. This was due above all to the high tax revenues and low interest rates.
At around EUR 289 billion, the Federal Government achieved a 2.6 percent increase in tax revenues in 2016 compared to the previous year. At EUR 288.6 billion, the increase was 7.7 percent for the federal states. At the same time, the government had to pay 17.5 billion euros interest last year - 2.8 billion euros less than expected. In 2015 the interest payments amounted to more than 21 billion euros. (Gb)
Edit: several people were stabbed along the way to Mass, which is a strong indication, including alleged eyewitness accounts that the attacker was Muslim. There is no confirmation yet as to any religious motivation for the attack.
[Gates of Vienna] More information is trickling in on the stabbing of people on their way to church on Christmas Day in the Valais canton of Switzerland. (See the previous reports from yesterday and earlier today.)
The original assertion that the perpetrator was a Muslim cannot be confirmed, but it has not yet been definitively ruled out. The latest reports say that the dead man may not in fact be the one who carried out the stabbings, and thus the perpetrator may still be at large.
I still don’t know where the original source (Dreuz.info) obtained the information that the attacker or attackers were alleged to be Muslim.
Many thanks to Ava Lon for translating this article from the French-language Catholic news portal Cath.ch:
Valais: One death and three assaults on the route to the hermitage at Longeborgne
by Raphaël Zbinden
December 26, 2016
On December 25, 2016, several people were stabbed on the way to the hermitage of Longeborgne in Valais. One person was found dead. This death is probably related to the attacks.
A heavy police deployment was set up in Bramois on the morning of December 25, in the Borgne gorges, reports the Valais daily Le Nouvelliste. Three people were injured. A dead body was found in the bed of the Borgne in the afternoon. The attacks took place as the faithful went to Christmas Mass.
Edit: we picked this up initially at Gates of Vienna. Now one of the victims has died as reported in Le Temps, although the leftists at that newspaper still can't or won't admit the Islamic nature of the attacks.
Switzerland: Anti-Christian attack in Longeborgne: three wounded, including one seriously
by Christian Larnet December 25, 2016
Christians were attacked with cold steel — always the weapon of Islam — for going to Mass this Sunday morning at Our Lady of Longeborgne, Brumous.
On the social networks, eyewitness reports speak of a knife attack against three faithful of the Hermitage of Longeborgne — one of which was seriously wounded — who were on their way there.
One of them succeeded in crossing the roadblock made by the aggressors, and arrived in Longeborgne with his face covered in blood. He was taken to the hospital as soon as the police arrived. According to the priest, his condition was not worrisome, but another victim was reportedly found by the policemen on the ground and seriously wounded.
(Istanbul) Since 2003 when the Islamic Party for Justice and Development (AKP) took control of the government in Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a re-Islamization of the country has taken place.
Since mid-19th century the expulsion and oppression of Christians had begun. In the decade 1910-1920 the coup de grace against the Christians took place by a cruel and bloody genocide. Armenians, Greeks and Chaldeans were killed, expelled or forced to convert to Islam. One hundred years ago in Istanbul, then still Constantinople, it was said that it was half Christians and Muslims. About 25 percent of the residents in the area of what is now present-day Turkey were still Christians. Today there are only 0.2 percent.
Prestige
The "Prestige" items of Re-Islamization is fulfilled by the conversion of famous ancient Byzantine churches. After the Turkish conquest of the country, they were made into mosques. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a representative of a national Turkish secularism, made them museums. For years, ACP Islamic circles have again called to make them mosques.
Magnificent frescoes in the Hagi Sophia of Trebizond: the four Evangelists surrounded by angels. Mosque since 2012.
In some cases, Erdogan's government is already putting the various proposals into practice.
The Hagia Sophia of Nicea which was built in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian I. again became a mosque in 2011. In 787 it had witnessed the Second Council of Nicaea. In 1337 Nicaea was conquered by the Muslims and made into a mosque. However, the Turks forfeited it and gave it up at the end of the 19th century. Under Atatürk it became a museum in 1935.
2012 Hagia Sophia of Trebizond followed. It had been built in 1250 by Emperor Manuel I Comnenus on the site of an earlier church. In 1204 the Byzantine Empire had been conquered during the Fourth Crusade. The noble family of Comnenus established the Empire of Trebizond as a successor state. In the new capital, the Hagia Sophia was inspired by the famous model of Constantinople. Trebizond would even last a few more years than Constantinople. In 1461 the small empire on the Black Sea was conquered by the Muslims as well. Since the Basilica was a few kilometers outside the city walls, it was only desecrated in 1511 by the Turks and converted into a mosque only in 1584. The monastery which was attached to the Basilica was inhabited until the early 18th century by Greek Orthodox monks. The use as a mosque ended in the 50s of the 20th century. In the spirit of Ataturk it was then made into a museum. At the same the church frescoes whitewashed by the Muslims were uncovered again.
Hagia Sophia of Constantinople, the magnificent Basilica of the East
The most significant and magnificent Basilica of the Byzantine Empire, Hagia Sophia of Constantinople is still a museum. The question is: for how long? The Hagia Sophia was begun under the Emperor Constantine the Great in 325. Under Emperor Justinian I it took its present form and was consecrated in 537. It is one of the outstanding monuments of late antiquity. The great dome which rests only on four pillars, represents an architectural masterpiece. It was the cathedral of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the coronation church of the Byzantine emperors. For 1128 years, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated there, of which 916 years was in its form visible today. After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by the Turks, it was desecrated and converted into a mosque in the same year.
The Hagia Sophia, the largest and most splendid Basilica of the East, the imperial church of East Rome was desecrated by the Turks and converted into a mosque after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. The Christian basilica can be seen today. In the Muslim period, four minarets were built and the cross was replaced on the main dome with the crescent to mark the Islamic conquest. In 1931 it was converted into a museum and is the biggest tourist attraction of Istanbul.
Since 2010 Demand for Renewed Conversion Into a Mosque
Its conversion into a mosque was called for at the political level in 2010. In 2012 an unknown Muslim Turk named Talip Bozkurt from Kahramanmaras in Anatolia, made a proposal in the Turkish Parliament to transform the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque. The suggestion was taken up and entered into parliamentary debate in January 2013.
Hagia Sophia of Nicaea, in 787 meeting place of a council. Mosque since 2011
The Orthodox Patriarch of Moscow and Constantinople demand its the return to the Christians. If the Hagia Sophia is to be reopened for prayer, then it should be a church again, says Patriarch Bartholomew
Due to its formative significance on the cityscape of Istanbul, neither Muslims nor Turkish nationalists are ready to return it to the Christians. For the AKP government, the issue of re-Islamization of the monument has a special symbolic meaning. This also applies to the Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, who was relected in May. In order to understand the reasoning behind this, the words of the then Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, Bulent Arinc, on the conversion of Hagia Sophia of Nicaea (Iznik Turkish) in 2011, are useful:
"With this act we have recovered the recognition of our ancestors. The Hagia Sophia of Iznik is the booty of our conquest and as such we have a right to it. A church can be converted into a mosque. "
From a Ramadan Mosque to a Permanent Imam
Last June, the Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque during Ramadan for a month. This is only a first step, say observers. Since then, imams who entered the Basilica, were there to do two of the five Islamic daily prayers. Now the next step will take place. As the Turkish news agency Anadolu reported, a proposal was made jointly in Constantinople between the State Office for Religious Affairs and the Mufti of Fathi to nominate a permanent imam for the Hagia Sophia who will perform the five-day prayers daily.
With the appointment of Imam, conversion into a mosque is consummated fact, regardless of any expressed decision.
For now there is still no response from the Greek Government and the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Athens has criticized attempts at Islamicization in the past as an "insult to the religious sensibility of millions of Christians", which is all the more serious because these have been "undertaken by a country that wants to join the European Union."
In the European and overall in the international press it is difficult to find mention of these initiatives toward Islamicization. "Not a good sign," writes Corrispondenza Romana.
Text: Andreas Becker
Image: Wikicommons / MiL
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com Link to Katholisches...
AMDG
The first district of Vienna, Döbling, now prohibits the distribution of complimentary Korans by a controversial Foundation [The First District, is the center of the city, where many of Vienna's cultural and religious treasures referring to its glorious historical past are located.]
Vienna (kath.net) The first district of Vienna, Döbling, now prohibits the distribution of complimentary Korans. This was reported by the "Kron" [Left-Wing Broadsheet]. The ban was the result of protests from local residents and a request from the Freedom Party controlled district council.
This is so that no more of the Koran's "Lies!" will be allowed to be distributed by the Foundation in public places in the district. The Foundation is, according to media reports, also accused of recruiting members to ISIS through their work.
Previously, the Foundation had started distribution campaigns already in the center of Vienna on Mariahilferstrasse and at Stephansplatz. But only in the civil district of Döbling. has the district administration now cracked down.
In Rome several churches have become the target of attacks - a suspect is already known, a 39-year-old Ghanaian - Pastor of the church concerned: "I thought it would be ISIS"
Rome (kath.net/KAP/red) In Rome several churches have become target of attacks. After two incidents occured on Friday night, just a few steps apart, the churches of San Martino ai Monti and Santa Prassede, on Saturday a rioter also beset San Vitale and San Giovanni dei Fiorentin, according to police. According to physical descriptions by the priests, police have arrested a man in Rome. It is presumed to involve a previously known 39-year-old Ghanaian.
The suspect has since been questioned. Whether he is actually responsible for the actions and for what motive he acted, according to the police, is still unclear.
According to the report a statue of the saint in the church of San Martino ai Monti on the Esquiline was damaged on Friday night and a man had fled. Shortly afterwards, apparently the same person appeared in Santa Prassede and attacked two saints. The rector of the church declared then that about 15 present had chased the perpetrators, after a moment of shock, before he could set alight a crucifix. The man appeared deranged.
According to the Italian newspaper "Messaggero,"the priest of Santa Prassede said: There was a great noise, "I thought it would be ISIS". The church was filled with pilgrims, who became panicked, "the people fled and ran. But I managed to stop him while he was on the altar, then other people came and helped me. However, he managed to escape. We were in fear and anxiety, because we did not know if he was armed."
In retrospect, explained the priest, he obviously does not know whether it was a terrorist or not. In any event, it is but "a great lack of respect for the religion. That was a very serious matter."
(Paris) One in three Muslims in France have a "radical profile". This is the result of an IFOP study yesterday published in Le Journal du Dimanche. Thus, there is in France between two and three million "radical Muslims".
In France there lives, followed by the Federal Republic of Germany, the largest Islamic community in the West.The exact number of Muslims is not known, since the state does not perform a census of religious affiliation. This was abolished in the wake of mass immigration to - as critics claim - to make less visible the the remodeling of the population. For this reason, there are different estimates. Islamic organizations say there are between 6-9 million Muslims. Government and politicians tend to downplay the number. The study itself incomprehensibly points to 3-4 million Muslims. The assumed "consensus" until recently, is that there are five million Muslims in France, is regarded by experts as outdated.
The study firmly represents a radicalization trend among young Muslims. The group of "radical Muslims" is relatively young. 84 percent are under 50. Their average age amounts to 35.8 years. The lesson is: the younger, the more radical. The re-Islamization is also a generational issue.
The authors of the study emphasize the "successful integration" of a "majority" of Muslims. The "radical" third is to some extent an inevitable byproduct. Despite this "politically correct" interpretation, the study reveals worrying findings.
Around 50 percent of Muslims living in France today were born in France and therefore are French citizens by birth. Overall, 74 percent of all Muslims living in France have French citizenship. For 66 percent of them, Islam plays an important role.
According to the study, the younger generation of Muslims follow the Islamic rites and rules more stringently and fervently than the older generation. The polling firm IFOP interviewed 1,029 Muslims about Islam, from the veiling of women and halal food.
28 percent were in favor of polygamy and the actual complete veiling for women.
Especially high is the proportion of radicals among young Muslims. 70 percent of young women are to wear the headscarf, 28 percent for the full-body veiling. Among the young, male Muslims, they are 58 and 20 percent respectively.
According to the study, one third attends Friday prayers in the mosque, another third on special feast days, one-third do not go to the mosque.
Text: Andreas Becker
Image: muzulmania (Screenshot)
