Pope Francis recently released a new encyclical. Portions of it deal with environmentalism, global warming, and climate change. Naturally, this has prompted controversy.
It’s noteworthy that Francis didn’t merely make a passing comment on global warming during this or that sermon, but that he issued a papal encyclical on the matter. Encyclicals are much more formal and significant than remarks made during mass. They are letters written by a pope and sent to bishops all around the world. In turn, the bishops are meant to disseminate the encyclical’s ideas to all the priests and churches in their jurisdiction, so that the pope’s teaching reaches every church-attending Catholic.
All this leads to the following question: Where is Pope Francis’ encyclical concerning the rampant persecution that Christians—including many Catholics—are experiencing around the world in general, the Islamic world in particular?
To be sure, the pope has acknowledged it. On April 21, during mass held at Casa Santa Marta, Francis said that today’s church is a “church of martyrs.” He even referenced several of the recent attacks on Christians by Muslims (without of course mentioned the latter’s religious identity).
Said Pope Francis:
In these days how many Stephens [early Christian martyred in Book of Acts] there are in the world! Let us think of our brothers whose throats were slit on the beach in Libya [by the Islamic State]; let’s think of the young boy who was burnt alive by his [Pakistani Muslim] companions because he was a Christian; let us think of those migrants thrown from their boat into the open sea by other [African Muslim] migrants because they were Christians; let us think – just the day before yesterday – of those Ethiopians assassinated because they were Christians… and of many others. Many others of whom we do not even know and who are suffering in jails because they are Christians… The Church today is a Church of martyrs: they suffer, they give their lives and we receive the blessing of God for their witness.
The pope is acquainted with the reality of Christian persecution around the world. So why isn’t he issuing an encyclical about it? Such an encyclical would be very useful.
The pope could instruct bishops to acknowledge the truth about Christian persecution and to have this news spread to every Catholic church. Perhaps a weekly prayer for the persecuted church could be institutionalized—keeping the plight of those hapless Christians in the spotlight, so Western Catholics and others always remember them, talk about them, and, perhaps most importantly, understand why they are being persecuted.
Once enough people are familiar with the reality of Christian persecution, they could influence U.S. policymakers—for starters, to drop those policies that directly exacerbate the sufferings of Christian minorities in the Middle East.
Whatever the effects of such an encyclical—and one can only surmise positive ones—at the very least, the pope would be addressing a topic entrusted to his care and requiring his attention.
As recent as 1958, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical that addressed the persecution of Christians. A portion follows:
We are aware—to the great sorrow of Our fatherly heart—that the Catholic Church, in both its Latin and Oriental rites, is beset in many lands by such persecutions that the clergy and faithful … are confronted with this dilemma: to give up public profession and propagation of their faith, or to suffer penalties, even very serious ones.
[…]
Missionaries who have left their homes and dear native lands and suffered many serious discomforts in order to bring the light and the strength of the gospel to others, have been driven from many regions as menaces and evil-doers…
Note that Pius does not mention the burning and bombing of churches, or the abduction, rape, enslavement, and slaughter of Christians. The reason is that Christians living outside the West in 1958 rarely experienced such persecution. In other words, today’s global persecution of Christians is exponentially worse than in 1958. Pius complained about how Christianity was being contained, not allowed to spread and win over converts.
Today, indigenous Christians who’ve been in the Middle East before Islam was conceived are being slaughtered, their churches burned to the ground, their women and children, enslaved, raped, and forced to convert. “ISIS” is the tip of the iceberg.
Even in the West, statistics indicate that Islam is set to supersede Christianity, at least in numbers.
Yet no encyclical from Pope Francis on any of this. Instead, Francis deems it more fit to issue a proclamation addressing the environment and climate change.
Whatever position one holds concerning these topics, it is telling that the pope—the one man in the world best placed and most expected to speak up for millions of persecuted Christians around the world—is more interested in speaking up for “the world” itself.
Bear in mind, the Christian worldview is not about “saving the earth”—“where moth and rust do corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal”—but in saving souls, both in the now and hereafter. The Lord questioned Saul of Tarsus as to why he was persecuting his flock, not about the environment.
Yet here we are: if even the Catholic Pope does not deem the ongoing, systematic assault on Christianity and Christians a priority issue in need of its own encyclical, what can be expected from the average secular/atheistic politician in the West?
The answer is before us: brutal persecution and slaughter of Christians on the one hand, and absolute indifference from the West on the other.
Raymond: “The pope is acquainted with the reality of Christian persecution around the world. So why isn’t he issuing an encyclical about it?”
Good question, Ray. Or it is implicit in his message examples of the horrors individual and groups of Christians suffer and are martyred? Does the pope take it for granted that these Islamic atrocities will be disseminated as “encyclical”?
Jules: Then why doesn’t he assume that global warming, etc., will also be disseminated as encyclical? After all, the latter issue already gets lots of attention in the media, etc., whereas Christian persecution does not.
I added in my P.S. above, this “progressive” pope is way off track here. Maybe he wants to be ‘au courant’ with the media. He’s starting to sound like POTUS. In any event, he has been criticized for this controversial “encyclical,” so perhaps he will take heed. Even the pope has to “live and learn.”
Like you state, he must re-emphasize the real problem: Christian persecution, as well as name the muslim perpetrators, and send an encyclical to his hierarchal chain of bishops and priests.
P.S. The progressive pope’s “global warming” encyclical is ridiculous, irrevelent, and not within the pope’s purview.
An encyclica on the persecution of Christians in the Islam-dominated world and in the communism-influenced world would be very important. Maybe that will come soon? Let’s pray for that.
But the majority of the persecuted in the islam-dominated countries Christians are (I would have thought) Orthodox Christians and members of the Eastern churches, so I think such an encyclica ought to be complemented or “matched” with official letters on the persecution of Christians from the Orthodox Patriarchs and the Coptic Pope.
And let us not forget the persecution of Christians in North Korea, China and e.g. Vietnam and tendencies to persecution in the West too, which is something for the leaders of also other Christian communities (Lutherans, Anglican, Evangelical etc) to focus on.
There’s not a great deal of point in the Pope issuing an encyclical on the persecution of Christians by Muslims unless he is prepared to declare Muslims to be enemies of Christ and the Church who ought to be persecuted and suppressed by the criminal law.
True. One would wish he were prepared to do that but so far he isn’t, . .
The Vatican just published its treaty (concordat?) with the non-existent State of Palestine. Its purpose, I suppose, is premised on the naive belief that it will provide the Vatican with a mechanism by which the beleaguered Christian population under PA and Hamas “governance” may be safeguarded and its interests better protected.
Still, it would have been helpful had Pope Francis demanded that Abbas publicly confirm that the Jewish Temple from which Jesus expelled the moneylenders was in Jerusalem and nowhere else. Thanks to Arafat, the doctrine of Temple Denial, meant to convince a gullible population that the Jewish People have no historical connection to Jerusalem has gained traction throughout the Palestinian Arab population.
I would have thought that such an outright attack on the Gospels would have elicited some response from Christian leaders. Maybe this treaty will provide a platform, but somehow I doubt it. Standing up for Christian beliefs under Muslim rule was never a recipe for “peace” and “harmony.” There’s a reason the Peoples of the Book were held to dhimmi status. The Jews regained their sovereignty, and the Muslims despise them for their strength. The Christians continue to live in subjection, and the Muslims despise them for their weakness.
2 pops. One of the should be beheaded and then the other-one –maybe– could learn from it… Just maybe.
I would say five!
i didn’t know that! 5 pops… OK 5. I let you have it your way.
But how many million of muslim “pops” are, when every imama is pop-like.
An Argentinian populist that believes that prosperity is a sign of inequality. A child of Vatican II that believes that if the original compromise with modernity wasn’t sufficient, the Church should double down and compromise again. And a Jesuit Liberation Theologist that believes, above all, that the Church should create social justice before preaching the gospel. Environmentalism is the latest tactic in achieving these goals.
Roman Catholicism is fast becoming another pro-islam, pro-gay failed liberal church. No good thing will come out of Roman Catholicism and their Popes.
While the Pope, Obama, and other highly placed officials ignore the issue or, at the very least, refuse to acknowledge the Muslim angle to this, thousands of Christians are persecuted and slaughtered and made to flee their ancestral homes. It’s also true that we are seeing signs of this in the West, especially in London, where Muslims demand special rights, set up “no-go zones” where cops are not allowed, and assert their sharia law on communities. In America, Muslim Brotherhood front organizations, such as CAIR, the Muslims Student Association (MSA) and others, are gaining ground in passing so-called hate crime legislation, which will make it illegal to criticize any aspect of Islam. What’s most concerning is their influence in our universities, where they are working hard to turn generations of students away from our traditional religious values and toward a middle-east pagan religion from the 6th century.
So true Ranchman.
When Hussein Obambi said he was a big fan of Dope Francis that said it all…
Seems as if people around the world just don’t give a damn about the 10s of thousands of Christians being killed by Islamist in today’s times. It’s not even acknowledged by our Christian Churches!! Sad and a shame!!
Raymond: This pope compromised himself on the topic of Islam in his first encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium 253, “… authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.” I don’t know if he lied when writing this, or if he really believed it, but now he has a problem.
As I see it, he has three choices for an approach to a new encyclical on persecution:
1. He can keep the same indefensible viewpoint, pretend to be an Islamic scholar, write an encyclical praising the “authentic Islam,” and condemn the violence of those who pervert it.
2. He can now criticize Islam for its inherent violence, thereby contradicting his earlier pronouncement.
3. He can decry the persecution of Christians without mentioning Islam at all, politely ignoring the elephant in the living room.
Any of these options will further harm his personal credibility and the credibility of his office. Option 2 is the most honest approach, but it would have some blowback. At the very least it would be a repeat of Pope Benedict’s critique in his Regensburg address, which led to some deaths by violence (this address, incidentally, was strongly criticized by then Cardinal Bergoglio, the present Pope Francis, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/9931030/Pope-Francis-run-in-with-Benedict-XVI-over-the-Prophet-Mohammed.html ).
A good encyclical would 1) cite Islam as the main cause of persecution, 2) ask people to pray for persecuted Christians, 3) ask them to pray for all persecuted peoples, and 4) ask them to pray for the conversion of all Moslems to Christianity.
Since papal criticism of Islam leads to killings in any case, he might as well do it right and go the full length. Prayer is crucial in any response to persecution, and praying for Moslems to convert would undermine Islam’s legitimacy as a religion. It sends a message that something is seriously wrong with it. Of course I am fantasizing this from a safe distance. My family would not suffer for such an encyclical.
We cannot expect much from the pope or other bishops in this respect. The laity, however, can do something. I lead a small prayer group that meets once a week, and we pray for persecuted Christians and for the conversion of the Moslem world. I suspect that there are a lot of such groups around the world, and they are hopefully increasing in number.
Until Paul VI decided he preferred Communists to Catholics – or anyone to Catholics, come to that – the CC used to pray for the “Church of Silence”. Paul VI decided that it was more important to appease the enemies of Christ and His Church, so out went prayer for the Church of Silence, and in came his useless, counter-productive, and ruinous Ostpolitik. Francis, like every Pope since Paul VI, is merely following in his predecessor’s footsteps.
The victory of diplomacy over faith at the Vatican means that the kowtowing to Mahometanism called for by Vatican 2 in its Declaration “Nostra Aetate” is going to continue for the foreseeable future. The Pope cannot condemn the crimes of the death-cult, without going against the lying rubbish talked about it in “Nostra Aetate”.