Persecution of Christians

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/topics/40/persecution-of-christians


(Writings by Topic)

  • Pope Francis might review the decisions of former pontiffs who once organized resistance against existential threats to Judeo-Christian Civilization. Several of his predecessors seized the initiative whenever a weak or divided Europe appeared incapable of defending itself.

  • Pope Francis also could author an encyclical condemning radical Islam. This would be wholly within the purview and tradition of the Papacy. Such an encyclical would mirror in significance Pope Pius XI's "Mit Brennender Sorge" (With Burning Anxiety) which condemned the racist supremacy doctrine of the Nazis.

  • Some of the passages in Pius XI's "Divini Redemptoris" (The Divine Redeemer) could also serve as appropriate criticism of various tenets of extremist Islam. One example: "Communism aims at upsetting the social order and undermining the very foundation of Christian civilization." Another: "Entire peoples find themselves in danger of falling back into a barbarism worse than which oppressed the greater part of the world at the coming of the Redeemer (Roman Empire)."