VATICAN REJECTS ISLAMIC USE OF SPANISH CATHEDRAL

Catholic World News Brief ^ | 30-April-2004 | (CWNews.com)

[M007]

Vatican, Apr. 30 (CWNews.com) - A Vatican official has rejected the bid by Muslim groups to share the use of a Spanish cathedral which was once an Islamic mosque.

Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, the president of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, told the AsiaNews service that the Catholic Church could not agree to a demand advanced by Islamic leaders in Cordoba, who sought to use the city's cathedral for Muslim prayer services.

The prelate remarked that a cathedral cannot be regarded in the same way as an inter-denominational airport chapel. While recognizing that the building was first constructed as a mosque, the archbishop urged Muslims to "accept history" rather than trying to "take revenge" for the Christian conquest of Corboba. Archbishop Fitzgerald pointed out that during his visit to Damascus in 2001, Pope John Paul II visited the historic Omayyad mosque-- a building which had originally been a Byzantine church. The Pontiff, he observed, recognized the historic change in the building's ownership, and "did not ask to celebrate Mass" in the former basilica.

At the time of his interview with AsiaNews, the archbishop said that no Islamic leader had formally requested the use of the Cordoba cathedral. But on April 29-- the day that the interview appeared-- the secretary-general of the Spanish Islamic Council announced that he had made such a request-- to both the Holy See and Cordoba's Bishop Asenjo Pelegrino. The Islamic leader, Mansur Escudero, said that the cathedral could become the first place in the world where Christians and Muslims prayed side by side. Discussion about Muslim use of the cathedral in Cordoba has simmered for years, but became more pointed in March, when Islamic officials attending an international inter-religious conference raised the issue. At the time, Archbishop Fitzgerald had remarked that the use of a cathedral was the responsibility of the local bishop. Bishop Pelegrino has not made any public comment on the question.

The controversy took on new importance after the terrorist bombings in Madrid on March 11, as Islamic militants in Spain recalled the Islamic heritage of the country, and the Reconquista that drove Muslims back from their Iberian strongholds. To avoid incidents, the cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption-- once known as the greatest mosque in the Islamic world outside Mecca-- has been closely guarded in recent weeks.

[M007]

YES!!!! The religion of pieces did not get their way. Way to Pope John Paul II!

[M007]

This is the best news I have heard in a long time. Yahoo!

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

They get a foot in the door, than they go for the jugular!

[Mears]

It was a mosque long before it was a cathedral,in fact the cathedral is built inside the mosque.

A very sticky situation about a very beautiful building.

[TheConservator]

The problem with the Muslim's appeal to the historical use of the Cathedral as a mosque is that it has no logical stopping point. Spain, North Africa, and much of the middle east were Christian for seven centuries before they became Muslim. As the Pope correctly pointed out, under the Muslim's logic, he would be entitled to assert rights in virtually every significant or historic mosque in these areas.

The only reasonable approach is based on the principle that, once the status quo has reached a point where it is generally accepted as such (100 years?), it controls.

And in any event, there is never a bad time to tell those moon god worshipping, barbaric sand monkeys to stick it in their ears.

[MegaSilver]

And in any event, there is never a bad time to tell those moon god worshipping, barbaric sand monkeys to stick it in their ears.

Most of them can probably be helped. It is the leaders, the radical upper and middle classmen, who probably cannot.

[McGavin999]

Expect it to be blown to smithereens in the very near future.

[Guillermo]

Just wait till they get a more liberal Pope...

[wimpycat]

Do they allow Christian services in the Hagia Sofia?

This cathedral may have been a mosque a long time ago, but it isn't ANY MORE.

It's not a sticky situation. They want to take back what they lost, like...Spain itself.

I'm glad the Pope nipped this in the bud.

[FITZ]

They'll be back --- muslims intend to "take back" Spain and the Spaniards cowardice will encourage them.

[lightman]

.....wait until they get a more liberal Pope?

It may be a cold day in h***, but even then its gates shall not prevail against the heir of Peter!

[VOA]

They get a foot in the door, than they go for the jugular!

"The Hun is either at your feet or at your throat."
--Winston Churchill

If we don't learn from history, we WILL have a full-fledged World War III with these thugs who worship Allah and Hitler.

[Guillermo]

Why is it sticky? To Hell with those Mohammedans, who are trying to take over the world in the name of Mohammedanism.

And, I'm sure it was a Cathedral before it was a Mosque, just like the Alhambra in Granada.

And, a lot of the Mosques in Arabia and Egypt were Churches before they were Mosques.

So if you want to start getting into original ownership, you're on shaky ground.

[wimpycat]

My husband tells me this cathedral was a mosque, but before it was a mosque, it was--a CHURCH! Or it was built on the site of a church, that had been destroyed.

[TheConservator]

I don't think so. The problem with Islam is that the values it inculcates are fundamentally inconsistent with the values that underly western society and culture.

Islam could change. If it were to follow the Christian pattern, it would need to undergo a reformation, followed by two or three hundred years of intra-Muslim religious warfare, at the end of which the Islamic elite would conclude that wars of and over religion are pointless, and generally adopt the enlightenment policy of freedom of religious conscience.

However, that simply isn't going to happen given the availability of modern, sophisticated chemical /biological /nuclear weapons.

Unfortunately, what I predict will happen is that the Muslim fundamentalists will get around to nuking (or launching just as destructive bio or chem attacks on) several American/Western cities. After about the third attack, the west will finally realize that the only effective response is to completely and utterly destroy Muslim religion and culture. Which is what will then happen.

[Ready4Freddy]

The Great Mosque of Cordoba was considered a wonder of the medieval world by both Muslims and Christians. Built on a Visigothic site, which was probably the site of an earlier Roman temple, the Great Mosque of Cordoba was begun between 784 and 786 during the reign of 'Abd al-Rahman I, who escaped from Syria to the Iberian Peninsula after his family was massacred by a rival political dynasty.

[TheSamBar]

Yes, La Mezquita was built on the site of the Visigoth Church San Vicente.

It has been a cathedral for at least 750 years, it was mosque for less than 500.

They can't have it!

[Bismarck]

The Mohammedan heretics want to worship in a former mosque? OK, but only if Christians, Catholics and Orthodox, can worship in every former church converted to a mosque. Since the Mohammedan won't accept that, then it is OK for the Christians to tell these heretics to get bent.

[Ready4Freddy]

Previously the site had been occupied by a Christian church dedicated to Saint Vincent that had been built by the Visigoths around 500 CE. Before that, when Córdoba was a provincial capital in the Roman Empire, the site was occupied by a temple dedicated to Janus, the double-headed god of doorways and gates.

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

World war III will come, just like the last two World Wars. It will come for the same reason as the others: APPEASMENT, and the inability of governments to get involved. Only this time, the devastation will be exponentially greater.

I also believe that, if the big one comes, you Americans will survive, you have to, and you will rise again. This is why your government cannot relent in it's pursue of terrorism, and if you change your President ( to 'Hanoi John' Kerry) it could be devastating.