Ho hum, ISIS beheads 21 Christians for their faith and says that they are going to conquer Rome. The response of the West? You guessed it! Words! Ed Morrissey of Hot Air brings us the details:
Call this a contrast of leadership. In a meeting today with a delegation from the Church of Scotland, who traveled to the Vatican on an ecumenical visit, Pope Francis decried the slaughter of 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt by Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Speaking in his native Spanish, the pontiff used the ecumenical audience of Presbyterians to declare that the Copts were martyred for their faith — the faith of all Christians. They died “only because they confessed Christ,” Pope Francis emphasized, and their “testimony cries out to be heard”:
I would now like to turn to my native tongue to express feelings of profound sorrow. Today I read about the execution of those twenty-one or twenty-two Coptic Christians. Their only words were: “Jesus, help me!”. They were killed simply for the fact that they were Christians. You, my brother, in your words referred to what is happening in the land of Jesus. The blood of our Christian brothers and sisters is a testimony which cries out to be heard. It makes no difference whether they be Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants. They are Christians! Their blood is one and the same. Their blood confesses Christ. As we recall these brothers and sisters who died only because they confessed Christ, I ask that we encourage each another to go forward with this ecumenism which is giving us strength, the ecumenism of blood. The martyrs belong to all Christians.
Now, the point that the 21 men were beheaded for their faith isn’t exactly a subtlety in the ISIS propaganda video. The video title calls it “A Message Signed with Blood to the Nation of the Cross.” After beheading the Coptic Christian hostages, the Islamist terror leader threatens to “conquer Rome”:
After the ISIS leader finishes speaking, his fellow terrorists then commence the beheading of the 21 Egyptian Christians. “And we will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission, the promise of our Prophet, peace be upon him,” The militant leader says after his comrades slaughter the Christian hostages.
Get the point? Most did, but not so much the White House. In the statement released yesterday after the video emerged, the Obama administration declared its outrage over the murder of … “Egyptian citizens” (via Charlie Spiering and Jeryl Bier, emphases mine):
Go here to read the rest. Christians are being murdered around the globe and our useless and feckless President could care less. The Church, still in a haze of the post World War II de facto pacifism that ensures that murderers around the world assume that Christians are a soft target, can only prepare for a wave of new martyrs, no doubt soon among places where we live. Idiot Catholic bloggers decry drone strikes and any other effective military options against the murderers, having long ago forgotten, if they ever knew, that the cross of Christianity has ever to be protected by the sword of Christians. During this Lent we should pray for forgiveness of our sins. We should also pray for better leadership than those currently at our helm who stand by helplessly as Christians are butchered around the world and do not lift a finger in their defense.
Glad to see my “coexist” bumper sticker is working.
Something tells me that when ISIS is literally at the door to the Vatican, we will no longer hear that “violence never conquers violence.” Obama is no different. It’s only when his ox gets gored that he will act.
Walid Shobat, the former PLO terrorist, has been saying for years that the ultimate target of the jihadist’s was Rome and the Catholic Church. We have better rouse ourselves and make Islam our main target for evangelization and warfare!
Father,
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What is Obama’s “ox” of which you post? It is not our country and way of life both of which he hates.
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Ken,
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is the “coexist” bumper sticker to the right or to the left of the “9/11 was an inside job!” bumper sticker?
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ISIS et al will win. They have powerful allies in latter day quislings: Hillary, Eliz. Warren, Obama, the MSM, and the democrat party.
Cal Thomas nails it:
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/thomas021715
Christianity only matters to Obama when it’s useful. Admitting that folks have been martyred is no more useful than admitting knowledge that the Crusades were defensive.
(Steve Martin– your link wasn’t working; edited it so the page would load. Apologies if this steps on toes.)
Mr. Thomas’ article says pretty much what I’m worried about, although without my focus on “this is what the US not being involved in foreign situations looks like.”
“….and we conquer Rome by Allah’s permission…”
Haaaahaa hooheehaa hawhooo.
Please stop by New York and San Francisco first. You have Allah’s permission. I just stepped over a pile of him in the park…dirty dogs.
A cogent assessment of our situation came a few months back from an odd source, Peggy Noonan.
Seven years ago I was talking to a longtime Democratic operative on Capitol Hill about a politician who was in trouble. The pol was likely finished, he said. I was surprised. Can’t he change things and dig himself out? No. “People do what they know how to do.” Politicians don’t have a vast repertoire. When they get in a jam they just do what they’ve always done, even if it’s not working anymore.
And thar ya have it. Both Obama and Francis are mediocre men who sit atop an apparatus animated by the injelitance of the man at the top. What they know how to do is run their mouths in an undisciplined manner, act as conduits for the default worldview of one or two subcultures, and engage in displays of misdirection in a signature style. Our political institutions and the Catholic Church should have antibodies which consign characters like this to loci where their vapidity cannot do any harm. The question is whether we can collectively straighten up and fly right before ISIS is able to do real damage outside of a restricted area.
Sisi appears to have responded to the beheading of 21 of Egypt’s citizens as a personal challenge, with imediate air strikes on ISIS positionsin Libya.
ISIS are not only a threat on his Western border, but could be a source of subversion among the disaffected supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.
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Too late… It was already conquered by The Freemasonic, enlightened, pluralistic, indifferentism forces in the 60s and 70s…
Sorry, Holy Father, but I’m sure you’ve read the infallible text of the Council of Florence. There is no mention of “ecumenism of blood.”
Ecumenism?
The Pope should be calling for a new Holy League to defeat this plague like we did at Lepanto in 1571. In the past, this was the kind of conduct that caused Popes to call a Crusade to liberate and protect our fellow Christians. Seriously.
If the hierarchy proceeds with the synod and gives Our Lord’s body to desecration in the Blessed Sacrament, then Rome deserves to be attacked by Muslims. In fact, it is often God’s plan to use outsiders to chastise. Witness the ancient Israelites. Punishment is often the only means God has to call back His stiffnecked and wayward children. Our Lady told the children of Fatima many times that Russia would be used by God to scourge the world. I will not be surprised in the least to see a revolution, with bloodshed, in Rome.
Why does anyone expect more from the Roman Pontiff than that which we have already seen? Trads are bad. The FFI has been suppressed because the Roman Pontiff doesn’t like them. +Kasper goes anywhere he wants and says what he wants and it’s all okay with the Roman Pontiff. The Roman Pontiff has words for those who pray Rosaries for him and for a lady with seven children but not for Muslim terrorists who attack members of his own Church.
Obumbler and the people who supported him and put him where he is are syncophants, addicted to a failed worldview that they cannot let go of because their lies are more comforting to them than the truth. The Roman Pontiff has succeeded in making much of the Western media like him but he has proven himself not up to the job of being the Vicar of Rome.
I dare anyone at Patheos, Shea, Voris or any other professional papal apologist to make an excuse for what Fr. Volpi did.
The College of Cardinals made a massive mistake and it should not be repeated.
I don’t see what’s wrong with what the Holy Father said. I also don’t see why the President has a greater obligation to defend Christians. The White House statement was pretty miserable, though. It’s part of this ongoing effort to discredit ISIS as non-Muslim. It’s doomed to fail. There’s an article in The Atlantic that everyone’s talking about, and if you haven’t read it yet, I strongly recommend it:
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/
Oh, one other thing. ISIS may be thinking that they can almost walk into Rome.
There is still one nation in Europe, one Catholic nation, that has fought against tsars, kaisers, Teutonic Knights, kings, emperors, Nazis, Communists….and kicked the living $%&# out of invading Muslims.
Penguins Fan is a Pole?
Ken on Tuesday, February 17, A.D. 2015 at 5:33pm
Penguins Fan is a Pole?
And he likes contact sports and knows one needs to fight. Good man.
. Keep perspective. ISIS burned one Jordanian pilot and Jordan bombed Raqqa, their headquarters for two days…killing probably over a hundred militants…if not three times that. The Libyan branch beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians and Egypt bombed them with a Libyan insider saying 40 militants were killed. Isis does bad math because they love the media limelight. Oddest choice I know of. ISIS executed 100 ISIS people in Raqqa who wanted to leave their ranks. ISIS is suicidal and you simply can’t win long term with their math of killing one…broadcasting it on video and then losing a hundred of your own in retaliation the next day. Their literature also uses the word “Rome” iconically for Europe and America. They have trained Baathist soldiers but also thousands of unemployed, Muslim alienated youth from many countries who they probably dumped into the fish barrel that was Kobani for months….knowing they’d get bombed by us certainly. The Shiites have kicked their ass in Diyala province. They will be contained and its best if they are contained by locals if possible in this stage. Obama was elected to get our men out of there. His bombing campaign with Arabs no less helping is a good direction for now. War is like welfare. If we do it for them, the Shiite militia will go back to sleep. They’re very awake now and fighting well. Thete are problems though with some of them.
Long term Bill ISIS is probably not a major threat, at least to those of us lucky enough to live in the West and to not be victims of the atrocities their hangers on in our countries decide to undertake. However, the maladies that afflict the West will not end with ISIS. ISIS is a symptom of our weakness, and that weakness will remain long after ISIS is gone. One fine day a group like ISIS will acquire nuclear weapons and then we will see what happens.
ps….You’ll notice mideast speakers exaggerate their potential constantly. Hussein warned us ithat the Kuwait/ Gulf war would be the mother of all wars…it was nothing and Iraqis surrendered in droves. Hamas warned Israel that they were opening up the gates of hell…yeah for the idiots who voted Hamas in since 2000 of them were killed. Even Jordan used the “hell” simile last week in warning ISIS. It’s a theatrical zone over there.
Donald,
Yes….nuclear is the real problem of the future.
Bill, you make good points, but I remember our own media warning us about the potent Iraqi military after the invasion of Kuwait.
Ken, I remember the news media predicting 10,000 American deaths during the first Gulf War. I was an infantry medic, and was sent to the Army’s medical NCO school. By the time I got out it was over. I think that any organization that needs to kill its members to keep them in line has serious problems to its continued existence, but not in the short term. Soviet Russia did similar things to its troops in World War 2. They beat back the Germans, but imploded a little over thirty years later. Yet they were not able to conquer the Finns. I don’t think ISIS is an existential threat to the West, but they are certainly creating human misery in their sphere of control. That in itself will destroy them and it will be hastened if other countries in the area decide they’ve had enough.
Personally, I’d say if we could convince them to go along with it, it would be worth it to consider offering turkey, jordan, and the attempting-to-repair itself Iraq US ground troops to carve up daesh (isis hates the term) territory.
Yesterday, I was laughing about the delusions of the kids that make up daesh that they could conquer the USA. Today, I ended up reading an interesting article that argued that in fact some of them WANT US ground forces there because they expect to get smashed, then Jesus will come back to help them when all seems lost. So…..they think they are provoking Armageddon.
JS Person, I was reading similar things about their apocalyptic vision. They think they’ll battle the West near a town in Syria. If we never give them that battle, it will be rather awkward for them, sort of like all the sects in the US predicting the end of the world in 1840’s, then revising, and re-revising their predictions. Perhaps Obama’s grand strategy is to surrender without fighting just to prove their predictions wrong. : )
JS-
I just posted a link to a very good summary of, if not that article, then a similar one.
We can’t treat ISIS the same as other problems we’ve had in the area, because they’ve got different considerations. We might be able to use the division between the ISIS faction and the other two that they already want to kill for being the wrong flavor of Muslim, but it’s hard to figure.
They’re going to get more brutal, though.
Ken: “Penguins Fan is a Pole?”
Poland gave us Michael Copernicus, Madame Curie, Frederic Chopin, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, Casimir Pulaski, John Sobieski, John Paul II and Penguins Fan….
Bill Bannon wrote, “nuclear is the real problem of the future”
It is, indeed, and Iran with its nuclear ambitions is the real enemy. Only Iran poses an existential threat to Israel and so to the West.
Now, the Assad regime in Syria is an Iranian alley, so was the Shiite dominated government in Baghdad. Hezbollah in Lebanon is an Iranian proxy and so are the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
We should be imitating Richelieu in the Thirty Years War, who supported and funded Gustavus Adolphus, , the Protestant Princes of Germany and even the Turks: anyone, in short, who would fight the Habsburg power that was encircling the Pré Carré.
Mary,
You forgot to include my name on that list.
MP-S’ analysis seems to be pertinent. In view of the centuries-old blood feud between the Shia and Sunni elements of Murder Incarnate, likely ISIS, AQ, Saudi, et al have as much to fear (Iran nuclear) as the USA and Israel. Only thing, you insult Richelieu by mentioning him in a post along with today’s idiots-in-charge, with far too much power.
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And, what sense does it make to ally the forces of truth and justice with the Sunni/Wahabbi allies and financiers of the terrorists?
Is it too much to ask the Muslim world to rise as one against the monstrous ISIS? Perhaps the outside world thought something similar in the 1930’s about NAZI Germany, that the Germans themselves would not acquiesce in such a barbarous regime.
Come to think of it, have we not seen, here, in the USA, at least some protest against the Culture of Death and the totalitarian “democracy” that has given us Roe v. Wade?
Even so, any nation that elects a barbarian who publicly supports the killing of babies who accidentally survive abortion is a nation soon “gone under,” to borrow another President’s phrase.
Where does it end?
The private revelations of Akita, and of Fatima, come to mind.
Bishop Sheen said that the conversion of the Muslims might come about through Mary.
If we are to head off to war, we should “grab a weapon” that is foremost in efficacy: the Holy Rosary.
“If we are to head off to war, we should “grab a weapon” that is foremost in efficacy: the Holy Rosary.”
Indeed as at Lepanto grab the Holy Rosary and pray it. But also like at Lepanto make sure your leadership is good and courageous, your men are brave and skilled and your technology is superior.
Is it too much to ask the Muslim world to rise as one against the monstrous ISIS?
Sadly, yes. The best we can hope for is that the factions against them will be joined by the saner part of the group ISIS claims to lead.
***
Democracy didn’t give us Roe v. Wade, lies and lawfare did, and given how many lies and how much misleading went into Obama’s election, I can’t agree that his support of infanticide bodes anything for the country, especially given that infanticide is a rather historically common problem. (One which Christianity grew strong in party by defying– early Christians rescued the abandoned children, and raised them. This resulted in a lot of people, when they went looking for wives, finding only Christian wives, and mothers are the first teachers.)
Yes, this has been their intent since the beginning! Please note it matches the visions of pope pius(sorry, I have read it often but forget his number…there have so many with that name) and it matches the 3rd fatima vision. Websearch pope pius vision of the end time and also the secret vision of fatima. I assure you pope francis is aware of these. Daesh (Isis) announced this intent to take the vatican (not just Rome) in june 2014! Possibly earlier but I have seen media articles stating this as far back as that date. They wish to capture and murder the pope. They are close…as libia is only some miles from Italy. They also announced they will conquer Jerusalem and spain, then the world. This is daemon run and satan is their leader and god. Jesus said satan is a liar and the father of lies, ie all liars are children of satan. ISIS has lied from the beginning and are in fact famous for that fact. Example trying to trade the dead jordanian pilot… they kill people then release the murder at a politically convenient time. A typical lie for them. They are instructed to lie by muhaamad in both the Koran and the Hadiths! Please pardon my typos as I am texting and do not have a real keyboard. One of many sites on the third secret of fatima http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2010/03/third-secret-of-fatima-explained.html and
http://j.l.navarro.tripod.com/jlnavarro/id18.html
“… Pope Pius X (1903-14): This Pope had a number of prophetic visions. In 1909, in the midst of an audience with members of the Franciscan order, he seemed to fall into a trance. Moments passed, then his eyes sprung open and he jumped to his feet. “What I have seen is terrifying!” he cried out. “Will I be the one, or will it be a successor? What is certain is that the Pope will leave Rome and, in leaving the Vatican, he will have to pass over the dead bodies of his priests!” It’s uncertain what this vision alluded to, but it is similar in many respects to the reported third prophecy of Fatima. Later, shortly before his death, another vision came to him: “I have seen one of my successors, of the same name, who was fleeing over the bodies of his brethren. He will take refuge in some hiding place; but after a brief respite, he will die a cruel death. Respect for God has disappeared from human hearts. They wish to efface even God’s memory. This perversity is nothing less than the beginning of the last days of the world.”
There is: “A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace.”
However, “if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” These two observations are troubling enough but a third, even more. “Yet when the Son of Man comes, will He find, do you think, faith upon the earth?”
Ken: “Mary,
You forgot to include my name on that list.”
.
For sure: Ken and Mary,too.
.
Ishmael and Isaac are still fighting. God has promised that Isaac shall prevail.
Curious.
On December 16th 2009 over the domes of the Coptic Church in Egypt thousands of people flooded the streets to see an apparition of The Blessed Virgin Mary.
At one point the priest finally came out to view her for himself.
A similar apparition occurred at the Coptic church beginning on April 2nd 1968. Over a million people we’re able to see her during her visits.
I’m reminded that grace conquers sin and our newly martyred saints may just be the seeds that will help conversions to flourish. I hope Archbishop Fulton Sheen is correct. Muslim conversions on the horizon.
Mary, Queen of Heaven, see to this. You love all your children. Bring them into your Holy Sons embrace.
IIRC that is a usage among Middle Eastern Mohammedans that goes back a long time. The Byzantines identified themselves as Romans and over time Mohammedans extended the term to mean all Europeans.
Mohammedans have sacked Rome before, in 846 AD.
Micha Elyi
In the Ottoman Empire, the Christian community was known as the Rum Millet, from Ρωμιοί (meaning “Romans”)
A couple of Iranian clerics a few years back said that Rome ought to be the first thing they nuke. Just so y’all know…
5:00 news brief:
UMass, after State Dept. lift of some sanction, will now allow Iranian students to enter science and engineering programs. There must be diplomatic activity. ?
Well, my birth certificate reads City of Greensburg, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (or the common-broke of Pennsylvania), not Rzeczpospolita Polska, so that makes me a yunzer and a ‘murrican. My polish vocabulary is limited to dupa, puppu, zhimno, spać, pierogi, kielbasa, and dziękuję, and maybe a few others.
Being an accountant, I am not in league with those extraordinary Poles mentioned. The Internet has its good uses and it is worth noting that Polish history, usually ignored in the West, is extraordinary by any measure and Poland has distinguished itself by fighting against some of the nastiest regimes in history and, when battling one on one, usually was the victor.
ISIS should remember that the Poles have turned forces far superior to theirs into a gigantic red spot on the ground. So should Putin remember that as well.
some thoughts: What are the Muslims going to do with the souls of their victims in heaven? The Muslims cannot kill the Christians a second time. The Christians are pure spirits now. The Muslims cannot make slaves of them because there is no harm that can be done to an immortal soul in heaven. The Muslims cannot tax the Christians to death because the Christians have no money in heaven. It appears that if the Muslims set the Christians free of their earthly coil, the Muslims have lost all power over them. If Allah does not like Christians or the Christians keep getting in the way of the 72 virgins promised, there may be a greater problem for the Muslims in heaven then on earth.