Roman Catholic Blog

"They have no regard for life.."

 

 

Bomb blast near south Philippine cathedral kills 5

By JIM GOMEZ, Associated Press, 05JUL09

"MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Suspected Muslim guerrillas detonated a bomb near a Roman Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines on Sunday, killing at least five people and wounding 46.

Pope Benedict XVI condemned the attack.

The bomb exploded outside the Immaculate Conception cathedral in Cotabato city as churchgoers were attending Mass. Two people were killed instantly in the attack and three others, including a militiaman, later died in hospitals, military officials said.

Among the wounded were six soldiers and militiamen who were in an army van that passed by the cathedral when the device, fashioned from a mortar round, exploded, Cotabato city Mayor Muslimin Sema said.

The improvised explosive, which was set off remotely by mobile phone, was hidden near a row of food stalls selling roasted pig, Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton said. Police arrested one man seen using a phone during the explosion. He was carrying three identification cards with different names, Sema said.

Cathedral guard Nestor Luna said shrapnel flew in all directions, inflicting wounds on his head, arms and feet.

"I wanted to help the wounded, but I felt dizzy and saw my white uniform soaked in blood. Somebody helped me walk away," Luna told The Associated Press by telephone from the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center."

"Whoever did this should know that they hit so many innocent civilians," he said.

At the Vatican,  Pope Benedict XVI deplored the bomb attack.

"While I pray to God for the victims of this ignoble gesture, I raise my voice to condemn yet again the recourse to violence, which is never a worthwhile way to solve existing problems," Benedict told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.

Chief nurse Norma Reyes said at least seven of the wounded were in critical condition and needed surgery.

TV footage showed four wounded soldiers sitting dazed on the sidewalk and a militiaman lying unconscious, face down on the seat of the shrapnel-damaged van.

Two bodies lay sprawled near the sidewalk while a stunned woman limped out of a food stall, blood dripping from her foot. Soldiers helped the wounded into ambulances with sirens wailing.

Army troops with assault rifles surrounded the cathedral and cordoned off nearby streets, footage showed.

Cayton immediately blamed the 11,500-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been targeted by a monthslong military offensive in nearby Maguindanao province and outlying regions.

"Nobody has the motive, the capability and the track record to carry out this terrorist attack except" the group, Cayton told The AP.

Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu denied his group was involved and condemned the bombing. He said the rebels would not do anything to foment a religious war.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Romero Brawner said investigators were trying to determine if the attackers targeted the military van.

"They will hit any place where civilians congregate. They have no regard for life," Brawner said.

A similar bomb went off on a roadside in Datu Piang township in nearby Maguindanao late Saturday, wounding three people in an attack believed to have also been staged by the rebels, Brawner said.

The rebels have waged a decades-long battle for self-rule in the southern Mindanao region, homeland of Muslims in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

Malaysian-brokered peace talks between the government and the rebels collapsed last year when a preliminary deal on an expanded Muslim autonomous region fell apart, sparking new deadly clashes that have displaced large numbers of villagers.

Cotabato city, about 545 miles (880 kilometers) south of manila, has  been hit previously by deadly bombings blamed on Muslim rebels and extortion gangs.

A bomb exploded at a Cotabato city bus terminal in February, wounding two people. A 2007 bomb blast at another terminal killed a child and wounded 36 people."

Thy Brother's Blood Crieth

And he said to him: What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth.

Genesis 4:10

Dixitque ad eum quid fecisti vox sanguinis fratris tui clamat ad me de terra

Genesis 4:10

___________________________

Hat tip to "gates of Vienna" Blog.

See:(http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/)

Which in turn got the original story from: http://www.sonsofapesandpigs.org/

Coptic Protest Tomorrow in Front of the White House

by Baron Bodissey

American Egyptian Coptic Christians to organize a peaceful demonstration, on July 16, 2008, in front of the White House, to protest violent attacks against Coptic Christians in Egypt

Written by Coptic organizations in the United States

Coptic Organizations in America along with activists from Egypt, the Middle East, Europe and the United states, will conduct a peaceful demonstration in front of the White House on Wednesday July 16, 2008, from 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm.

The purpose is to convey, to world’s opinion and international human rights organizations, the systematic and continuous persecution, murders, discrimination, marginalization, and the organized (by the security police, and muslim organizations) kidnapping of Coptic girls inflicted on Coptic Christians of Egypt by the Egyptian government and Muslim “extremists,” which in many cases represent the whole “moderate” population of a village or a town, following recent killings and attacks on Christian homes, businesses and institutions.

We will expose the persecution of the Coptic Christians of Egypt, including unprovoked attacks against Coptic families, churches, monasteries, homes and businesses. During the past few weeks, news agencies worldwide reported attacks against the Copts in towns and cities of Zaitoun, Alexandria, Abu Fana, Dafash, El Menia, Luxor, and Fayoum. The situation became so bad to the extent that attempts were made to force Coptic monks to denounce their faith under torture and death threats.

Whatever our doctrinal differences with our Coptic brothers, we should stand in solidarity against their persecution by Muslims in Egypt.

Suicide of Christian Europe

The picture is of Polish King Jan Sobieski lifting the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683. At that time the notion of Christendom extended beyong a single European state, so that one Christian nation would come to the aid of another.

It stands in stark contrast to the actions of Austrain authorities who are charging a member of the Austrian Parliament with a "hate crime" for calling Mohammed a "warlord." O tempora, O mores!

Read more below:

Dispatch from the Eurabian Front: Austria, European Parliament, the Netherlands, Belgium

From the desk of Thomas Landen, The Brussels Journal on Tue, 2008-04-01 22:13

The Austrian authorities have indicted politician Susanne Winter on charges of incitement and degradation of religious symbols and religious agitation. This offence carries a maximum sentence of two years. Last January, Ms Winter said that the prophet Muhammad was “a child molester” because he had married a six-year-old girl. She also said he was “a warlord” who had written the Koran during “epileptic fits.”

The politician, a member of the Austrian Freedom Party FPÖ, an anti-immigration party which is in opposition, added that Islam is “a totalitarian system of domination that should be cast back to its birthplace on the other side of the Mediterranean.” She also warned for “a Muslim immigration tsunami,” saying that “in 20 or 30 years, half the population of Austria will be Muslim” if the present immigration policies continue.

Following her remarks, Muslim extremists threatened to kill Susanne Winter and she was placed under police protection. Today, the Justice Department in Vienna announced that Ms Winter will be charged with “incitement and degradation of religious symbols” (Verhetzung und Herabwürdigung religiöser Symbole). If convicted she may have to serve up to two years in jail for her opinions.

However, Alfred Hrdlicka, the Austrian “artist” who depicted Jesus and his apostles engaging in homosexual acts of sodomy during the Last Supper, has not been indicted. Nor will he be. Depicting Jesus sodomizing his apostles is not considered to be a “degradation of religious symbols” in Austria, but referring to the historic fact that Muhammad married a six-year old girl is “incitement to racial hatred.”

Neither has Mr Hrdlicka been threatened by Christian assassins for his “opinions.” The difference between Christian and Muslim extremists is that the former do not aim to kill those who offend them, but the latter do – which is perhaps also why the European authorities fear the radical Muslims and persecute their opponents while they subsidize those who insult Christians.

Meanwhile, it has become clear that only 144 of the 785 members of the European Parliament have supported the proposal of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Dutch politician who lives in hiding following death threats from Islamists, to establish a European fund to protect people who are stalked by assassins for their opinions. Ms Hirsi Ali is under de facto house arrest because the Dutch authorities are only willing to protect her while she remains in the Netherlands, but not when she travels abroad. Due to the lack of protection she is confined to hide-outs in the Netherlands.

Last month, Henk Hofland, a leading Dutch journalist, proposed that the Dutch authorities lift the police protection of Geert Wilders, another politician whom radical Muslims want to assassinate for his opinions. Several Dutch individuals and organizations have lodged complaints against Mr Wilders for incitement to racial hatred because he made a 15-minute film, called Fitna, to express his views about Islam.

VNO-NCW, the Federation of Dutch Employers, has ordered its lawyers to see whether it is possible to claim damages from Mr Wilders for the loss of income which Dutch companies may possibly suffer as a result of a boycott of Dutch products by Muslims who are angry at Mr Wilders and at the fact that the Dutch have not been able to shut him up. “Companies like Shell, Philips and Unilever are easy to recognize as Dutch companies,” VNO-NCW chairman Bernard Wientjes told the newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad. “I do not know how rich Geert Wilders is, or how well insured he is, but if we suffer from a boycott, we will investigate whether it is possible to claim damages from him.” Last November, Doekle Terpstra, a member of the board of Unilever, called upon the Dutch to “rise in order to stop Wilders” because “Geert Wilders is evil and evil has to be stopped.”

Today in neighbouring Belgium the government’s anti-discrimination body CEOOR warned bloggers and websites to remove their links to Wilders’s movie. The CEOOR states that the movie aims to foster “fear, distrust and hatred of Muslims.” The anti-discrimination body has asked the Belgians to be “vigilant” and to report “cases of incitement to hatred and/or discrimination.”

The Tipping Point?

Muslims more numerous than Catholics: Vatican

Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:29pm BST

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Islam has overtaken Roman Catholicism as the biggest single religious denomination in the world, the Vatican said on Sunday.

Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, who compiled the Vatican's newly-released 2008 yearbook of statistics, said Muslims made up 19.2 percent of the world's population and Catholics 17.4 percent.

"For the first time in history we are no longer at the top: the Muslims have overtaken us," Formenti told Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in an interview, saying the data referred to 2006.

He said that if all Christian groups were considered, including Orthodox churches, Anglicans and Protestants, then Christians made up 33 percent of the world's population -- or about 2 billion people.

The Vatican recently put the number of Catholics in the world at 1.13 billion people. It did not provide a figure for Muslims, generally estimated at around 1.3 billion.

Formenti said that while the number of Catholics as a proportion of the world's population was fairly stable, the percentage of Muslims was growing because of higher birth rates.

He said the data on Muslim populations had been compiled by individual countries and then released by the United Nations, adding the Vatican could only vouch for its own statistics.

(Reporting by Silvia Aloisi; editing by Andrew Roche)

____________________________________

When I read statistics like this I cringe, and yet what nation state today sees it self as the defender of Christendom?  Alas, none.

Your thoughts?

The Face Of Radical Islam [**Warning: Contains Graphic And Violent Scenes**]

Source: Thomas More Law Center (Videos)

See also:

LiveLeak pulls “Fitna” after receiving “very serious” threats

LiveLeak restores “Fitna”; Video: Indonesians call for Wilders’s death

For the Vatican, King Abdullah Matters More than 138 Muslim Scholars

The Story of a Convert from Islam – Baptized by the Pope at St. Peter's

Blogging the Qur’an by Robert Spencer

Pope Benedict XVI: The World Must Prevent Terrorists From Getting WMD's

Here's the story: Pope urges world to prevent terrorists from getting weapons of mass destruction

Quote:

Pope Benedict is urging the international community to prevent terrorists from getting their hands on weapons of mass destruction.

The pontiff outlined the Vatican's foreign policy priorities in his annual speech today. He says he wants the world to make "a global commitment on security" and keep the weapons secure. He also urges negotiations to continue with Iran over the country's nuclear program. The pope says he wants to see measures in place that would "increase transparency and mutual trust."

My thoughts:

Although I wouldn't call this report hawkish, and the Associated Press often spins things, they're not known for supporting the war on terror, or anything that appears to suggest support for anything like a war on terror, so I bet the report is fairly accurate.

It sounds like the Holy Father is worried about a terrorist threat and sees Iran's development of nuclear facilities as a danger to the world.

He must not be listening to Ron Paul, who says all we need to do is mind our own business and stop supporting Israel and the terrorists will leave us alone, and that Iran's nuclear facilities are nothing to worry about.

My money's on the pope being right.

Any thoughts?

(Unfortunately...) A Satirical Zawahiri Christmas Greeting

Unfortunately in the sense that it's only satire.

Source: AnnCoulter.com

Above the link, Ann Coulter wrote:

"If only we had followed my post-9/11 plan..."

The YouTube description says: "A satirical new video from al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, about the true meaning of Christmas."

Vatican Document On Evangelization Expected Soon

Here's the story: New Vatican statement to address central doctrinal dispute

Here is a quote:

The Vatican will release a new document on evangelization next week, with officials in Rome indicating that it will be an important statement on the duty to spread the Catholic faith.

The subject of the new document, which is being released under the auspices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is evangelization. The document will be released on December 14.

The importance that the Vatican attaches to the subject is reflected by the list of ranking officials who will participate in a news conference introducing the document. Three cardinals will join in presenting the subject to the press. And because the three cardinals head three separate Vatican congregations, it is clear that the document is the product of careful preparation involving several dicasteries.

Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will chair the December 14 presentation, assisted by Archbishop Angelo Amato, the secretary of the Congregation. They will be joined by Cardinals Ivan Dias and Francis Arinze: the prefects of the Congregation for Evangelization and Congregation for Divine Worship, respectively.

While Vatican officials have not announced a title for the document, or given a topic more specific than the broad theme of evangelization, informed officials suggested that this important new statement would address a lingering controversy over the claim that the Catholic Church is the one true Church of Christ.

This is a big deal.

Here's more:

In July of this year, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released, a document entitled "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church", reaffirming the central role of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church in the plan of salvation. That document, released without fanfare, revived a controversy that had been ignited in 2000 by Dominus Iesus, a powerful statement released by the same Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (headed at that time by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger), which affirmed the traditional Catholic teaching that the Christ and his Church provide the only means of salvation.

The new Vatican document is expected to carry the argument of Dominus Iesus a step further, explaining that because of the unique role played by the Church in the plan of redemption, Catholics have an obligation to spread the faith, thus offering others the best means of attaining salvation.

This will help in three ways:

1) It will clear up yet another difficulty in relations between the Catholic Church and the Society of St. Pius X.

2) It will make clear that so-called progressives who have denied or watered down the notion the need for conversion to the Catholic Faith and/or snubbed the articulation of the truth that the Catholic Church is the One, True, Church of Christ as an expression of "triumphalism" have been in error.

3) Most importantly, it will restate and clarify authentic Catholic doctrine, thereby instructing the faithful on what it means to be Catholic and what is required of believing Catholics.

It's actually a very exciting document, and one of the most important things the Holy See has done in a long time.

I suspect this document will be controversial and, because it expresses the truth that the Catholic Faith possesses the fullness of revealed truth and is the perfection of divine revelation and that other religions possess truth only in so far as they agree with the Catholic Faith, Pope Benedict XVI will be criticized even more than Ann Coulter when she said that Christianity is the perfection of Judaism.

Any thoughts?

Christians, Muslims Erect Cross In Baghdad

Here's a link to the to the picture and explanation: Christians, Muslims erect cross in Baghdad

Vatican: Pope's Refusal To Meet Rice Not A Snub

The Vatican has clarified erroneous media reports that the Holy Father's decision to abstain from meeting with Condoleezza Rice was not a snub and not intended to be interpreted as a reflection of the views of the Holy See pertaining to U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Here's the story: Vatican: Pope's refusal to meet Rice should not be seen as snub

Here's a quote:

Pope Benedict XVI declined to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during his August vacation, but Vatican officials said it should not be interpreted as a diplomatic snub.

"The only reason she wasn't received was that she came during a period when the pope doesn't receive anyone. It was a purely technical question of protocol," an informed Vatican source told Catholic News Service Sept. 20.

The source said it was "absolutely not" the Vatican's intention to rebuff Rice or signal disagreement with U.S. policy on the Middle East.

Rice was about to travel to the Middle East for diplomatic talks in early August when the request for a papal meeting was made. The pope was vacationing at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome.

Even as it declined the request, the source said, the Vatican made it clear that top officials of the Vatican's Secretariat of State would be happy to meet with Rice at any time.

"So clearly there was no intent to send a negative signal," the source said.

Rice instead ended up speaking by telephone with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, while he was visiting the United States in August.

Cardinal Bertone later praised Rice's mediating attempts, saying, "I recognize the untiring efforts of the secretary of state in reconciliation among the governments of the Middle East."

Any thoughts?