Posted on 04/30/2004 8:42:39 PM PDT by 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.
Say....while we're on the subject of what belongs to whom...what's that building on the Temple Mount...................?
No, islam can not change. If it were to follow the Christian Reformation pattern it would adhere to a stricter reading of the koran not liberalize what the koran says. For islam to change it needs to back away from following what is written in the koran not follow it closer as the Christians did with the Bible in their Reformation.
Really? When was the stone used to worship Mary? Thanks.
And that day is never.
Bump!
| Fool Me Once, Shame On You. Fool Me Twice, SHAME ON ME! http://www.spaintour.com/heritage.htm#mosque HISTORIC CENTRE OF CORDOBA "The city of Cordoba lies on the right-hand bank of the Guadalquivir. It is the former capital of El Andalus, of the emirate and caliphate of the same name and has preserved many architectural sights of its past, especially its Mosque which became a part of the World Heritage List in 1984. The beautiful Parador of La Arruzafa overlooks the second most important city in the Guadalquivir Valley. Where the Mosque stands today, there used to be a basilica consecrated to San Vicente in Visigothic times. When the Arabs conquered Cordoba in 711, the building was shared and divided into two equal parts for Muslims and Christians. This odd arrangement lasted until 784 when Abd al-Rahman I decided to build a new mosque at the site, a mosque which was finished by his son Hisham I in 790." (excerpted> =========== It could have been located elsewhere. Obviously this was a typical example of the Muslim practice of taking over others' holy places for their own. |
You hear that J F'n Kerry? Forgittaboutit!!
OK, but only if Christians, Catholics and Orthodox, can worship in every former church converted to a mosque.
Lets not forget the Israelites now. Don't they have a religeous structure that's now a mosque??? ;-)
Too bad. It's not a mosque anymore.
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