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.

[wimpycat]

Hey, you found the same link I was getting ready to post! Thanks for saving me the trouble.

[VOA]

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

from the English section of the webpage linked below:
"In 780 AD, begin the construction of the biggest mosque the world had ever known over
the structure of what it was known as the visgothic church of Saint Vincent."
http://www.cyberspain.com/ciudades-patrimonio/fotos/cormez.htm

The Islamics have a very selective memory about how their mosque got in Cordoba.
Or how 30,000 Christian churches/shrines in the Holy Land were either destroyed or
appropriated during the Muslim Crusade (Jihad) of the mid 7th Century.

I'm not Catholic, but I'd heartily applaud the Pope if he said that "limited time
engagements" might be arranged...once the "peaceful" Muslims started handing
over Osama bin Laden, etc. to responsible legal authorities (like John Ashcroft).

[MegaSilver]

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

It isn't just that. It's the fact that violence and submission are deeply ingrained in the religion itself. As long as Islam exists, there will always be significant strains that feel it is their duty to rule the world.

[wimpycat]

To any Janus devotees out there who might have ideas, you can just forget about it! LOL!

[VOA]

Built on a Visigothic site, which was probably the site of an earlier Roman temple,...

Darn it, you beat me by a whole six minutes (post 22).

The only reason I went searching to see what proceeded the mosque is thinking of
the history of the Dome of The Rock in Jerusalem.

Too many people in the West still just don't get it: The Muslims want all their stuff
AND all our stuff.
They are just the new Nazis/Communists.

[VOA]

World war III will come, just like the last two World Wars.

It's probably already here.
I can't recall his name, but when the head of the Mossad retired
(a year or two ago?) he said that we are already in WWIII.

[VOA]

"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."

Wonder if the bishop got a call late on March 11 (a hour or two after the
railway bombings), that being translated into
wise-guy Italian-English would sound a bit like this:

"Nice cathedral you have there in Cordoba.
It would be a shame if something bad would happen to it..."

[lightman]

It began in Tehran in 1979

[VOA]

It began in Tehran in 1979

Good point.
Although I was a teenager at the time, I did keep up with the news...
and over the years, I've gotten the feeling that the US "news media" has conveniently
reported that time period in terms most favorable to Jimmy Carter.

The Shah was no saint...but he wasn't on the fast track to "Axis of Evil" status
like the Ayatollah and all the mullahs/imams/etc.

[Blue Scourge]

Good move by the Catholic Church......congrats for standing strong.

[lightman]

Tehran was the first overt attack by radical Islamists against the US, and it was met with nothing but handwringing and yellow ribbons, and, yes, a very poorly executed attempt at rescuing the hostages. That set the pattern of our do-nothing response for the next 22 years.

Any wonder they prefer a donkey boy in the White House?

[Dialup Llama]

>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.

There is a mosque on a Hill in Jerusalem. Before it was a mosque it was a Temple. I think in a show of comity and interfaith cooperation, Temple services should be permitted on that site using the islamic principle of original ownership.

[Dialup Llama]

>Good move by the Catholic Church......congrats for standing strong.

The Pope has been making many statements about the historical Christian foundations of Europe with regard to Europe's current passivity concerning Muslims.

[Tropicalwatcher]

we are starting to stand up!

[Dialup Llama]

> It's the fact that violence and submission are deeply ingrained in the religion itself. As long as Islam exists, there will always be significant strains that feel it is their duty to rule the world.

Human sacrifice and total obedience to the holy man are the two feaures of most ancient religions- the oldest ones, the ones that practiced human sacrifice. Islam inverted the ancient formula slightly and called for the death (blood sacrifice) of non-muslims. Islam is not an Abrahamic religion: it is pre-Abrahamic.

[WOSG]

"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."

And it goes both ways, that wonderful Hagia Sofia (sp?) in Constantinople, and there is certain Mosque in Jerusalem that used to be the holiest temple in Judaism... Not to mention that a certain stone structure in Mecca used to be used to worship the moon Gods and Mary mother of Jesus!!!! :-)

[Judith Anne]

I heard O'Reilly call it WWIII on his show tonight. He said it in a matter-of-fact manner, completely unremarkable...he's the first news commentator I've heard do that, though several of us here have been calling "it" that (WOT).

[WOSG]

Too many people in the West still just don't get it: The Muslims want all their stuff AND all our stuff. They are just the new Nazis/Communists.

hmmm, the Islamicists beat the Nazis/Communists by about 1300 years, no?

[WOSG]

but it's WW IV. WWIII was the Cold War.

[VOA]

hmmm, the Islamicists beat the Nazis/Communists by about 1300 years, no?

OK, you nailed me but good!
Well done!