“For all the gods of the Gentiles are devils: but the Lord made the heavens.” (Psalm 95:5)
In speech at ‘Day of Harmony’ in Abu Dhabi… Bishop Says Catholic Church Rejoices at Inauguration of Hindu Temple
The following news item is almost a year old, but it really doesn’t matter when this absurdity took place, whether last year or last week — the evil and the scandal are the same. This story did not receive a lot of coverage when it came out, so it’s time we exposed it.
‘Bishop’ Paolo Martinelli, O.F.M. Cap. (b. 1958), is the Vicar Apostolic of Southern Arabia. He resides in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). A vicar apostolic is a prelate overseeing an apostolic vicariate, a type of provisional territory in which there is no diocese yet. The Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia encompasses the UAE, Oman, and Yemen.
On Feb. 15, 2024, ‘Bp.’ Martinelli participated in the festivities for the opening of a new Hindu temple, the first of its kind in Abu Dhabi. He did this by delivering a speech at the interreligious assembly hosted by the Hindu BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha organization for the occasion, known as the ‘Day of Harmony’.
Surprisingly, Martinelli’s address didn’t start out too badly. First he set forth the Catholic teaching on creation, the fall, and redemption; and he did so fairly accurately, at least for Novus Ordo standards. Then, however, he shifted into Vatican II ecumenical-interreligious mode, and instead of urging these hapless heathens to conversion to Jesus Christ and His holy religion, as St. Paul did with the pagans in Athens (see Acts 17), the so-called Vicar Apostolic congratulated them for their impressive site of idolatrous worship, going so far as to claim that the Catholic Church rejoices that Hindus in Abu Dhabi now have a spiritual home:
I conclude by expressing the joy of the Catholic Church at the inauguration of this new temple in Abu Dhabi. It represents a contribution to harmony based on the relationship with God. Every place of worship reminds people that without God, human beings are lost. With God, humanity can be born again. This new temple is a place for my Hindu brothers and sisters to pray and strengthen the harmony with God. The [2019] document on Human Fraternity states, religious freedom constitutes a fundamental pillar of civil coexistence. The inauguration of the new Hindu temple also expresses the freedom of worship in the United Arab Emirates, where tolerance and coexistence are considered as fundamental values, encouraging believers of various faiths to dialogue and commit to building a more fraternal world in peace and harmony. Harmony with God leads to harmony with all people and all of creation.(Most Rev. Paolo Martinelli, Speech at Hindu Temple Inauguration on Feb. 15, 2024, Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia, Feb. 19, 2024)
These shocking words are a clear endorsement of Hinduism* — not in the sense that Martinelli himself believes in the religion but in the sense that Hinduism is being accepted as a religion that is good, pleasing to God, and giving access to Him; a religion at least good enough for salvation, for being reconciled to God. This contradicts the Gospel to the core: “Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me” (Jn 14:6); “For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: who gave himself a redemption for all, a testimony in due times” (1 Tim 2:5-6).
Martinelli’s interreligious approach rests on a grave error denounced by Pope Pius XI, namely, “that false opinion which considers all religions to be more or less good and praiseworthy, since they all in different ways manifest and signify that sense which is inborn in us all, and by which we are led to God and to the obedient acknowledgment of His rule”; warning that such a view is radically incompatible with the Roman Catholic religion: “Not only are those who hold this opinion in error and deceived, but also in distorting the idea of true religion they reject it, and little by little, turn aside to naturalism and atheism, as it is called; from which it clearly follows that one who supports those who hold these theories and attempt to realize them, is altogether abandoning the divinely revealed religion” (Encyclical Mortalium Animos, n. 2).
*Hinduism is a classic example of polytheistic idolatry. It is the very worship of false gods from which Jesus Christ came to deliver mankind: “And I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols” (Ez 36:25); “God is a spirit; and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth” (Jn 4:24).
https://novusordowatch.org/2025/02/bp-martinelli-church-rejoices-at-hindu-temple/