Whatever Happened to Papal Infallibility?

In the most extraordinary initiative of his papacy to date, Benedict XVI recently called twenty-two ambassadors from Islamic countries to the Vatican and made yet another apology for his quote of a Byzantine emperor who once described Islam as evil and inhuman, and the Prophet Mohamed as favoring conversion by force.

It was the fourth occasion on which Pope Benedict has attempted to eat his words since his fateful address to professors and students of Regensburg University in Germany a fortnight ago. Those words have become so notorious that he did not even spell out why he and forty Muslim delegates - eighteen represented Islamic organizations in Italy - were gathered together in the hall of the Swiss Guards at his summer palace in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

There was mixed reaction to his speech. Vatican sources conceded that the earthquake caused by those slighting references had undoubtedly done damage to the Pope's image and his credibility in some parts of the Muslim world, but felt his latest apology will repair the damage and begin healing the wounds.

However, in the eyes of many, the Pope only made matters worse when he started apologizing. Popes do not apologize; according to Church doctrine they are supposed to be infallible.

Grave damage to the papal image within the Church was foreseen when his apologies began.

I personally was stunned, shocked, literally blown away by the amount of ointment the Pope put on the supposed Muslim wounds: I quote from the Vatican's Catholic News Service English-language text of Pope Benedict XVI's remarks to Vatican and Muslim leaders at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo on September 25, 2006.

"The circumstances which have given rise to our gathering are well known. I have already had occasion to dwell upon them in the course of the past week. In this particular context, I should like to reiterate today all the esteem and the profound respect that I have for Muslim believers, calling to mind the words of the Second Vatican Council which for the Catholic Church are the Magna Carta of Muslim-Christian dialogue: 'The church looks upon Muslims with respect. They worship the one God living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to humanity and to whose decrees, even the hidden ones, they seek to submit themselves wholeheartedly, just as Abraham, to whom the Islamic faith readily relates itself, submitted to God'" (Nostra Aetate, 3).

The infallible Pope is saying the Catholic Church now (since 1965) recognizes Allah as being the same as:

• The God who promised Abraham that the fruit from his loins would be as numerous as the stars of heaven, the sand by the seashore and the dust of the earth. He also promised that He would give Abraham’s heirs a land, and that He would be a personal God to them (Gen 15; 17:7-9).
• The God who said the promises He made to Abraham would be fulfilled through the descendants of Isaac and Jacob, and not through Ishmael!(Gen 17:19).
• The God who spoke to Moses at the burning bush saying, "I am the God of Abraham, I Am the God of Isaac, I Am the God of Jacob" (Mark 12:26),
• The God who gave Moses the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai (Exodus 31:10).
• The God who said the people of Israel were His portion of the peoples (Deu 32:9).
• The God who promised David an everlasting kingdom (Ezek 37:25).
• The God whose heavenly Jerusalem has twelve gates named after the twelve tribes of Israel (Rev 21;12).
• The God whose Son died in the place of those who would accept Him as their Savior (John 8:22-24).
• The God whose Son will return and make the kingdoms of this world His Kingdom, and who will rule from Mount Zion and not from Mecca (Heb 12:22).

The doctrine of Papal infallibility is a fairly recent doctrine having been established in 1870, during the First Vatican Council. The Pope's remarks and the Second Vatican council in 1965 outlined the Church's position on "one god" (as outline above). This errant conclusion only strengthens the Muslim position that Jews and Christians supposedly blew their opportunity to save the world. And according to Islam the "god of the Jews and Christians" was now to be known as "Allah." The one who raised up Muhammad as his prophet and gave him a new book, the Koran, to replace the Jewish and Christian Bibles.

Despite the edict of Vatican Two, I am sure that the majority of Christians and Jews do not see the Holy One of Israel and Allah as being the same. But the Muslims do! The Muslim position is given by Sheik Abu Saqer, a prominent Muslim cleric, and the leader of Gaza's Jihadia Salafiya Islamic outreach movement. Abu Saqer, said he rejected the Pope's apologies. "For, the only Christian-Muslim dialogue that is acceptable is one in which 'all religions agree to convert to Islam.'"

The Gaza Imam goes on to say, "The day will soon come when the green flag of La Illah Illah Allah (There is no god but Allah) and Muhammad Rasul Allah (Muhammad is the prophet of Allah) will be raised upon the Vatican and all around the world and on the fortresses of those who want to destroy Islam, because they know that this religion obliges them to face the truth that Islam is Allah's favorite religion. And until they join Islam, hell is their last station."

Abu Saqer said. "The Pope and the Christian world are 'panicking' because they realize 'who is winning.' Saqer points out that Islam is progressing and gaining more and more members, while the moral crisis of free sex, drugs, and humanism, is destroying the West. Further, Saqer believes all can see the support of Islam in the Arab and Muslim world, and how Islam is gaining more and more adherents in Europe and even in the United States. According to Saqer, Islam is the future and the dwarf Catholic Pope was wrong. Abu Saqer concludes his remarks saying, "I can sympathize with the Pope. He is frustrated because he understands where things are heading."

It is difficult for a believing Christian or Jew to conceive of a god who would make Islam his favorite religion, and who wants everybody killed who will not covert to Islam. He also wants those who would try to convert from Islam to be killed. But, in the natural, Abu Saqer is right when he says Islam is winning the numbers game. We are losing the battle of the womb. The percentage of Christians in the world peaked at about 30% in the 1980s, then leveled off, and is now declining. Christians will comprise about 25% of the world's population by 2025. The proportion of Muslims in the world continues to increase dramatically. They were 20 percent of the world's population in 2000, and it is estimated that they will surpass the number of Christians and comprise 30 percent of the world's population by 2025.

Even worse than numbers is the claim of many Muslims and non-Muslim observers who contend that today there are more practicing Muslims than practicing Christians in the world.

Conversions to Islam are a growing problem. Imagine the reactions of many lukewarm Christians and Jews when faced with the choice of death or conversion. Especially, when the choice is, as the Pope so aptly seems to put it, it is not really a matter of "conversion," but a matter of recognizing the same god with a different name and rule book.

Unfortunately, conversions to Islam are not the only problem for Judeao/Christianity. In addition, they are also faced with the heavy inroads of secular humanism which has in the past, and continues to cause in our day significant declines in Church and Synagogue membership.

Judeao/Christianity needs to recognize that we are engaged in a Global Religious War. Even UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recognizes this fact. In his final address to the United Nations General Assembly (before he retires at the end of the year) he warned of global war over religion. Annan's remarks came on the heels of the media-generated controversy regarding Pope Benedict XVI's quote of a text on Islam. Annan said, "Insensitivity towards other people's beliefs or sacred symbols - intentional or otherwise - is seized upon by those who seem eager to foment a new war of religion on a global scale. Moreover, this climate of fear and suspicion is constantly refueled by the violence in the Middle East." He also said, "We might like to think of the Arab-Israeli conflict as just one regional conflict amongst many. But it is not. No other conflict carries such a powerful symbolic and emotional charge among people far removed from the battlefield."

Annan sees the United Nations as the only solution to the world's woes. "Yes, I remain convinced that the only answer to this divided world must be a truly United Nations." he said.

Annan is quite right that we are engaged in a Global Religious War. But the solution is not a One World Government of man. The answer is found in the return of the Greater Son of David and the establishment of His Kingdom here on earth.

We of Judeao/Christianity must recognize that we are at war, and that one of our first steps is to raise a banner or standard under which the Holy One of Israel can gather His people from the 34,000 separate Christian denominations, ministries, groups, independent churches, etc., which currently exist (Re: World Christen Encyclopedia).

We all have different rows to plow in our earthly field, but that should not keep us from plowing in the same direction, with our eyes on the same goal, which is the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel.

We must cease fighting one another over non-Salvation issues. It is imperative that we awake to, the reality that we have a vicious enemy that is literally working day and night to destroy the people of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

United we can stand against this enemy - divided he can pick us off one by one.

It's time for us to grow up and learn how to fight the battle that is now upon us.

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