Pope's Speeches in Iraq (includes links to transcripts) + Commentary

I could be corrected, but from the small amount of news coverage that I've seen, it seems Pope Francis isn't doing too bad of a job in Iraq. He has said some things which are very good and he is not shying away from controversy.

First of all, I think it's bold and courageous for the pope to even be going to Iraq, given past terrorism there and the threats. Also, it is during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Here are some of the things Pope Francis has said during his visit:

March 5, Presidential Palace (full transcript).

“The age-old presence of Christians in this land, and their contributions to the life of the nation, constitute a rich heritage that they wish to continue to place at the service of all,” said Pope Francis.

This is important to note. Many people are unaware of Christianity's past in places like Iraq, Lebanon, etc. long before Muslim invaders came and violently took over. Many popes in fact came from Syria, which is not all that far away.

March 6, St. Joseph's Cathedral (full transcript):

In this speech, the  pope speaks about the virtues of patience, love, kindness. He says the world tells us the mighty and powerful are favored but God says happy are the humble and peacemakers.

March 6, Interreligious Event at Ur (full transcript):

The pope also delivered an interreligious speech at Ur, where Abraham was from. Here is part of what he said:

Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart: they are betrayals of religion. We believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion; indeed, we are called unambiguously to dispel all misunderstandings. Let us not allow the light of heaven to be overshadowed by the clouds of hatred! Dark clouds of terrorism, war and violence have gathered over this country. All its ethnic and religious communities have suffered.

I am glad the pope specifically talks about extremism and violence and says they have no place in religion. This is definitely a message some people need to hear. Some religious groups actually think violence is a legitimate option when it comes to religion. I have not yet met a Christian who thinks this is the case except perhaps under the condition of strict self-defense.

Strangely, the pope goes on to specifically mention the Yazidi as a group persecuted by Islamic terrorists, but says nothing about Christians, even though Christians were also greatly affected, many were murdered and so on. He is a representative of Christians, not Yazidi. I am not opposed to him mentioning other groups of people, but he should at least mention his own flock.

Other themes of the pontiff's message here at this event were about inclusivity of all people, ensuring the poor have adequate resources, people helping one another. I suppose themes you would expect from this pope.

Unfortunately there seems to be some level of indifferentism in his speech, rarely saying anything specifically about Christianity. Rather, it seems the pope is trying to strike a very conciliatory tone, one of ecumenism. While I don't think the pope should go out of his way to be overly triumphalistic, it can also go too far the other way. Again, he is the representative of Christians, not anyone else.

I thought there was a clip of him specifically mentioning "Islamism" and the threat of violence, but I cannot find in which speech that was contained.

As far as Pope Francis speeches go, these aren't too bad. I'm not saying they are great, but I haven't seen anything he has said that was completely out there. Perhaps I am wrong, and he still has more trip left to go. I don't know what else he has prepared. I wish him good luck on his trip.

Mosques in America: Jon Stewart compares Muslims to Christians on the Daily Show

Apparently there were some segments on the news on several channels about Americans being worried that too many mosques were being built. Jon Stewart used that on Wednesday night as his lead story. The concerned Americans felt that Islam did not represent their views and that they should not allow mosques to be built. Some people brought up the point that Muslims (or some) want a separate legal system to apply to them, namely sharia. One of the commentators noted that they are the only group that wants its own set of laws, specific to their religion.

Jon Stewart made fun of this in several ways, mostly comparing our current system with what the Muslims wanted. He implied that Christians already do impose their own morals on the country and gave the example of stores being closed on Sunday, and of gay people not being allowed to marry. I spose he could have also thrown in murder and rape. My point is the the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian values. That doesn't mean its citizens cannot be against another group imposing its morals on them. In any event, although the original framework of the laws of the United States may have been based on Judeo-Christian morals, the law is a totally separate entity, which is quite evident. For example, it is legal to get an abortion. Almost all Christian denominations are against this, but it is still legal.

A truly religion-based legal system would take guidance from religious leaders, not politicians. What certain Muslim groups are seeking is the imposition of Sharia Law. In Islam, there is not the concept of separation of religion and state as there is in Christianity. Like when Jesus said Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. That's why you see in Islamic countries, the supreme leader is a religious leader and their laws come directly from Islam. The US ought not create a separate legal system for some of its members.

Jon Stewart also poked fun at the idea that some were upset with the building of new mosques by saying the Mormons did the same thing in Utah 150 years ago. It seems to me most of these settlers were Mormons, so them building a church makes sense. What the news stories focused on was Muslims wanting to build mosques in predominantly Christian areas, even small rural areas.

I do not believe the construction of any religious building should be banned. There is a concept of freedom of religion and this involves implementing the same rules for all people regardless of their religion. It would violate this system if only Christians were allowed to build churches. As I mentioned in another article, how can Christians expect religious freedom in predominantly Muslim countries, if we do not extend the same rights to others.

I think we must also be careful to recognize that not all moral systems are equal. That's moral relativism, and I hear this argument used all the time. People will say "those are your morals, but I have different morals". It seems like all moral codes are equal so we can just pick and choose whatever we want. But this is not the case, it's just an easy cop-out. I believe Christianity represents the best moral code because it contains the truth. Other systems surely can approach it or be the same in some ways, and so they too would contain truth, but I do not believe that just because something can be classified as a moral, it is just as good as any other.

To conclude, Muslims should have the right to build mosques if they will use them just like Christians. We must ensure religious freedom everywhere in the world.

Why does Ramadan get so much publicity?

Ramadan is a time of year when Muslims fast during daylight hours. It happens once a year and lasts around 28 days. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar, each year it is 10 or 11 days earlier than the year before. After Ramadan, the next day is Eid, where there are great feasts in the Muslim world. I remember 7 or 8 years ago when Eid was around the same time as Christmas, but this year it will be in September. But something has struck me as funny, and a little bit disconcerting. People seem more aware of Ramadan than Lent. Lent, of course, is the Christian time of penance, fasting and almsgiving. But I find people are more familiar with Ramadan than they are with Lent.

A couple of examples will illustrate this point. I was speaking to a friend of mine at a party one time. I told him that at the time it was Lent. He seemed a little confused as if he wasn't really familiar with Lent. This person was born in Quebec, the most Catholic province in Canada, and is a completely bilingual white man. I indicated that Lent is a time of fasting and so on for Christians, and as though a light went off inside his head, he exclaimed, "Oh, like Ramadan!" It seems to me, it should have been the opposite. He is not Muslim, and although he himself would probably not consider himself Christian, his heritage surely is.

A second example is of another friend, who is also a white Canadian. Although he himself cannot speak French, he has French ancestors (from France), but mostly of Canadian origin. He dated a Muslim girl for several years. They broke up. Later he started dating a Christian girl. One night the topic of Ramadan came up because it had recently started. He perked up. He became interested becuase he said he normally participates in the fasting, not for religious purposes he says, but for the beneficial effects fasting can have on a person, such as self control. He was concerned however, because his new girlfriend was quite Christian and he felt that participating in Ramadan might give her a bad impression. Interestingly, he failed to consider Lent, which would be wholly acceptable to her, regardless of her particular denomination since he would be imitating Christ. My hunch is that he had never even heard of Lent.

But how do these examples exist? In Canada, about 77% of the population considers themselves Christian, and around 44% call themselves Catholic. Compare this to the less than 2% who are Muslim. I think there may be several reasons for this occurrance. One of the main reasons is something I wrote about in a previous post and it has to do with self-hatred. We as a society seem to hate ourselves. The closer we approach our own culture, religion, way of life, historical values, and even skin colour, the more we want to lash out in angry vitriol. Yet, at the same time, we feel compelled to be overly consiliatory when it comes to other cultures and religions. Statement: Christianity is against abortion. Response: "Well, don't tell me what to do about my body! And how dare the Church try to tell me anything! What about when *insert random, unrelated, exaggerated incident(s) from the Church's past*?" But then tell someone about cannibals in a foreign country and say that's morally wrong and people will once again lash out, but this time in defense of that culture. Response: "How dare you try to push your imperialistic ambitions on these poor innocent cultures that are living how they have lived for centuries! Don't push your morals on them! You're worse than they are for judging them!"

What makes this situation even more surprising is that there is good reason to believe that Ramadan is just a Muslim version of Lent. Mohammed came into contact with Christians, albeit nonorthodox ones, and from them took many Christian ideas and changed them in certain ways. He also took pagan beliefs and incorporated them into Islam. The idea of Ramadan came directly from Lent. In the time when Mohammed got his idea, Christians had a very strict regiment during this penitential season, even stricter than Muslims now. There was little or no eating during the day, eating meat was prohibited, including derivatives such as butter, cream, etc. Also, there was much prayer. Mohammed didn't just take the idea of Lent and turn it into Ramadan, he also took many other ideas from Christianity and modified them. He took the idea of monks praying 7 times a day and changed it to Muslims praying 5 times a day. He took everything he wrote about Jesus, the New Testament, and the Old Testament from the Christians he met, including the idea that only Christ and Mary were sinfree their entire lives. He took the ideas to a certain extent. He did not accept that Christ died on the cross for our sins, and fulfilled all of scripture and thus removed the necessity for another prophet (since Christ fulfilled all prophesy). He could not accept this, because this would mean he was no longer a prophet and that he would simply be a follower. So, Mohammed changed things as he saw necessary to give himself his own self-title of prophet. As a warlord, Mohammed spread his message by the sword. Having said this, I believe Muslims worship the same God (although they have an incomplete concept of him), and I believe many Muslims are good people. But we must also not be afraid of the truth.

Somehow, out of a sense of political correctness, we feel compelled to act as a defense lawyer for all "others", while feeling a similar obligation to denigrate our own culture. I'm not saying we should be disrespectful or encourage racism or prejudice. I'm just saying we need to stand up for ourselves, love ourselves, love our culture, our religion, our way of life. We must respect others as well, but not at the expense of our own self-respect.

It is just so very ironic. If someone speaks about 9/11, it is considered terrible to mention anything about Islam, and if someone does mention that the hijackers were Muslim, it is quickly and emphatically followed up with statements about the peaceful nature of "most" Muslims. However, it is considered completely alright to bring up anything about the Church's history when opposing her in some way. I've read articles written for top newspapers in the United States that have been along the lines of the Catholic Church is opposed to abortion, but how dare they speak out against abortion when there was a sex abuse scandal! Or The Catholic Church does not allow women to be priests. How dare they do this, considering all the stuff that happened during the sex abuse scandal! Or The Catholic Church opposes gay marriage. But why not use that money to pay off sex abuse victims instead! Imagine using the same logic when it comes to Muslims. As in "Muslim countries are against same-sex marriage. How dare they! Remember 9/11!" It would seem completely illogical, and it would be! It seems logic is not necessary when bashing the Catholic Church.

I believe it is high time that we put away our self-loathing and rediscover a love for our culture and heritage. There are innumerable things to be proud of when it comes to being Christian, and specifically Catholic. The Catholic Church furthered the idea that scientific laws were rational and that science is possible because everything is not as it is right this moment because God is specifically willing it to be that way (i.e. everything is a miracle). The Catholic Church founded the university system we have today. The Western study of astronomy started with the Church. International Law came from the Church. We built innumerable schools, hospitals, and other places which provide social services. We've campaigned for the poor and abandonned. Monks gathered and transmitted knowledge from the ancient world to our own. You may say others have done this also to some extend, but none come anywhere near the Catholic Church. It is the largest chartible organization on the planet. 22% of hospitals in India are Catholic, even though only 2% of the population is. 50% of AIDS victims in Africa are cared for by Catholic organizations. There are many more statistics like these.

Let us spread the Good News of Jesus Christ and his Church!

Amazing Origins of the Stations of the Cross

The Stations of the Cross, or Via Dolorosa (Way of Agony), is a special remembrance of the suffering and death which Jesus Christ endured for our salvation. In this brief essay, I will look at this event and what brought it about.

Many believe that Mary was the first person to trace the steps that Jesus took through his final hours. It makes sense as she is his mother and this is something she would do. However, most people place the start of this practice with St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis and his followers formed a great devotion to the suffering of Jesus, including his suffering and death on the Cross. During his life in the 13th century, the Muslims had unfortunately taken control of the Holy Lands, which prevented Christian pilgrims from retracing the steps of Christ in his final hours. In order that they could continue this practice, St. Francis initiated the stations of the cross within Churches across Europe. Eventually almost every church had the stations of the cross going around their church. People would contemplate on these things, especially during Good Friday. The practice became very widespread, and today is pretty much ubiquitous in Catholic Churches. St. Francis in fact was so devoted to contemplating the suffering of Christ, that he was the first person to receive the Stigmata, or the visible wounds which Jesus bore (some people also receive the pain without the visible wounds).

This is an amazing practice, which is especially popular on Good Friday. The following is the list of the 14 stations of the Cross:

1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus receives the cross
3. The first fall
4. Jesus meets His Mother
5. Simon of Cyrene carries the cross
6. Veronica wipes Jesus' face with her veil
7. The second fall
8. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
9. The third fall
10. Jesus is stripped of His garments
11. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus' body removed from the cross (Pieta)
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb

Next time you pray on the stations of the Cross, remember the history of it, and remember how Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.

Basilica of St. Mark in Venice and the Muslims

St. Mark was one of the Gospel writers, and a companion to St. Peter. He died in Alexandria, Egypt, but his amazing tale has much left to be told. St. Mark was buried, and in 828, Italian sailors went to recover his body, as a relic. The problem was, the Muslims were in control of Alexandria, and getting something such as this out would prove very difficult, but the sailors came up with an impressive plan.

Muslims are very much against anything to do with pork, so with this knowledge, the Italian sailors took the sarcophagus of St. Mark which they had located, and placed it beneath a large shipment of pork. The border inspectors would not go near the pork, and let the boat go out of port without being thoroughly inspected.

The body of St. Mark was transported to Venice, where he soon became its patron saint. A most unbelievable Basilica was built in honour of St. Mark, which is adorned with gold, rubies, diamonds, and many other fine jewels.

The design of St. Mark's Basilica is inspired in some ways by Muslim architecture. At the time, Muslims were very advanced in science and math, and several Muslim architects were hired to work on this magnificent project. At the time, Muslims may have been more advanced technologically than Christians.

The Basilica of St. Mark is an amazing Church and Shrine to one of the writers of the Gospels, which record to life of Jesus Christ.

The God of Reason

Christians, and particularly Catholics, believe in a God of reason, as opposed to a God of pure will without reason. We are to submit ourselves to God's will, but his will and reason are perfectly aligned. This doctrine is very beneficial to our religion as a whole, because it allows for thing such as justice and peace on Earth. In this short essay, I will briefly describe why this is the case.

As Catholics, we believe there are two sources of information from which a person can live his life. The first is natural law, or reason, which is within all people. The other is revealed truth, which is truth given to us by God, in various forms, including the Bible, the Church, the teachers of the church or Magisterium, which includes the Pope, Bishops, etc., as well as information obtained from ecumenical councils, and similar meetings.

Revealed truths cannot necessarily be ascertained through reason alone. It is important to understand also that revealed truth does not contradict reason, for they both contain truth.

Believing God to be the God of reason is important in how we live our lives. Believing that we can know things through our own minds is very important. This allows us to explore nature and discover scientific information and come to conclusions about nature. It allows us to know whether something is just or unjust, as well as how to treat one another. Many horrible things have been done in the name of religion, and sometimes these things have been done by people who have rejected reason. They do things in the "name of religion", as if religion was commanding them to behave in a certain way, despite how they personally felt about it. They may say they were opposed to it personally, but had to become somehow God had commanded them to do this. This is sort of like suicide bombers. Obviously, it goes against reason to be a suicide bomber for two reasons. First of all, we should not desire to kill ourselves, and secondly because we should not desire to kill others, especially innocent people. Reason would caution us against doing such a thing, whereas someone might look in the Bible or other holy book and based on their own personal interpretation think that God requires this action from us, even though it makes no moral sense. God is ultimately just, and would not want us to commit an unjust and immoral act, such as killing innocent people.

As an example of the negative impact of denying reason, we can look to Muslim Extremists, who promote such things as suicide bombings, etc. They reject reason, saying the only thing they can really know is God's pure will, which they say is impossible to understand, therefore should not be questioned at all or even understood. This position can lead to some very dangerous acts. People stop questioning whether something is right or wrong and instead rely on others to tell them what to do. They blindly commit crimes against humanity, without listening to their own reason. This point of view has lead to many problems, especially in the Muslim world. Around a thousand years ago, the Muslim world was flourishing with many discovers in science, the arts, mathematics, and other areas. This was possible because God was viewed as the essence of reason, and it was believed that humanity could possess reason as well. This knew that humans could know things such as science, math, arts, etc. In fact, Muslims, in many ways, especially the sciences were more advanced than Christianity. St. Mark's Cathedral was constructed mostly by Muslims nearly 1,000 years ago in Venice. I will discuss this in another blog posting.

This opinion and way of life however was conquered by Muslims who felt that we as humans could know nothing except the will of God, which might seem pleasant or scary for humans, but which only made sense to God. By abandoning reason, they essentially abandoned God's gift of understanding and violence took over.

Many evils in the world could be prevented if people used the reason God gave them. Deep down, I believe everyone knows that killing unborn children is wrong, for example. I will discuss this topic further in another blog, but I think people have abandoned their reason on this topic, and their own human ability to understand good from evil. We must all be careful to use reason when making decisions. Pray that God may impart true reason and love into our minds and hearts so that we may always do what the God of Reason and Loves wants of us.