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Face up to Islam
Archbishop Bernardini
His Excellency Bernardini,
Archbishop of Smyrna (Izmir) in Turkey, presented his experience of Islam
to the Synod of bishops held at Rome in October of 1999. We believe it
useful to recall here some of his remarks, which appeared in L’Osservatore
Romano of November 17, 1999.
I have been living
in Turkey for the past 42 years, a country that is 99.9% Muslim, and I
have been the Archbishop of Izmir – Asia Minor – for the past 16 years.
The theme of my intervention is therefore obvious: the problem of Islam
in Europe today and in the future. I thank Bishop Pelatre, who already
spoke about this theme in this prestigious assembly, dispensing me therefore
of a long examination and relative interpretations.
My intervention is
to present a humble petition to the Holy Father above all. In order to
be brief and clear, I will first make reference to three cases which,
due to their provenance, I believe to be true:
Three
examples:
1 – During an official meeting
on Islamic-Christian dialogue, an authoritative Muslim person, speaking
to the Christians participating, at one point said very calmly and assuredly:
“Thanks to your democratic laws we will invade you; thanks to our religious
laws we will dominate you.”
This is to be believed because
the “domination” has already begun with the “petro-dollars” used not
to create work in the poor North African or Middle Eastern countries,
but to build mosques and cultural centers in Christian countries with
Islamic immigrants, including Rome, the center of Christianity. How
can we fail to see in all this a clear programme of expansion and reconquest?
2 – During another Islamic-Christian
meeting, always organized by Christians, a Christian participant publicly
asked the Muslims present why they did not organize at least one meeting
of this kind. The Muslim authority present answered in the following
words: “Why should we? You have nothing to teach us and we have nothing
to learn.”
A dialogue between deaf persons?
It is a fact that terms such as “dialogue”, “justice”, “reciprocity”,
or concepts such as “rights of man” and “democracy” have a completely
different meaning for Muslims than for us.
But I believe that by now this
is recongnized and admitted by all.
3 – In a Catholic monastery in
Jerusalem there was – and perhaps still is – a Muslim Arab servant.
A kind and honest person, he was respected greatly by the religious,
who in turn were respected by him. One day, he sadly told them: “Our
leaders have met and have decided that all the ‘infidels’ must be killed,
but do not be afraid because I will kill you without making you suffer.”
We are all aware that
we must distinguish the fanatic and violent minority from the tranquil
and honest majority, but the latter, at an order given in the name of
Allah or the Koran, will always march in unity and without hesitation.
Anyway, history teaches us that determined minorities always manage to
impose themselves on reluctant and silent majorities.
The
lesson to be taken
It would be naive
to underestimate or, worse yet, to smile at these three examples that
I have given. It seems to me that we must seriously consider their dramatic
teaching.
My attitude is not
pessimistic, in spite of how it may appear. The Christian cannot be pessimitic,
because Christ is risen and alive; He is God, unlike any other prophet,
or one claiming to be such. The final victory will be Christ’s, but the
times of God may be long, and often they are. He is patient and He waits
for the conversion of sinners. In the meantime, however, He invites the
Church to organize herself and to work to hasten the coming of His kingdom.
(...)
I conclude with an
exhortation suggested to me by experience: do not allow Muslims ever to
use a Catholic church for their worship because this would be for them
the most certain proof of our apostasy.
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