Gaza Strip is a concentration camp, says Vatican

The Australian ^ | From correspondents in Rome

[Nachum]

THE Gaza Strip has been turned into a "concentration camp" by two weeks of Israeli bombardments, said a senior Vatican official. Cardinal Renato Martino, the Vatican's justice and peace minister, was quoted by the online Italian daily Il Sussidiario. "Let's look at the conditions in Gaza: these increasingly resemble a big concentration camp," said Cardinal Martino.

[Glenn]

Israel is using the only hammer they have.

There will never be peace. Sometime this century, the bombs will fly and millions upon millions will die. When the land is so poisoned that no one wants it, then there will be no more fight about that land. That is not the same as peace.

[Petronski]

Gaza Strip is a concentration camp, says Vatican

The headline is false. The claim was by one "senior Vatican official," not the Vatican.

[rmlew]

Not one comment on here about the cardinal’s words has addressed their truth or falsity.
Maybe because the comment was assinine. If a mall territory makes it a concentration camp, then Monaco, to say nothing of the Vatican are concentration camps. If the issue is its closure and the violence, then the fact is taht Israel handed teh territory over the PLO and Hama took over and used it to attack Israel. There is not comparison with a concentration camp.

I truly wonder if some of you will ever figure out why the Arabs hate us, and no, it isn’t because of we have a “democracy”, or because of religion, or the crusades, or our wealth.
And Muslims have problems with every people on their borders for 1400 years, but it has nothing to do with religion. It is all Israel. It was Israel's fault that the the Muslims destroyed the Persian Empire. Likewise it was Israel's fault that they then turned on Byzantium, swept into North Africa and then into the Iberian penninsula. In fact, it was Israel that caused teh Muslims to destroy the Gok Turkut and fight a war with China. Likewise it was Israel that forced the Muslims to invade Tran Oxiana and the Caucuses sparking 97 years of Khaza Arab wars. Similarly, it must have been Cochin Jews abusing Muslims taht forced the genocidal invasion of India in the 9th century.
I could continue, but you look like an ignoramus and I havene't even reached the last millenium.

[Scotswife]

I wouldn’t say the Vatican is anti-semitic.
I would say that possibly Cardinal Martino may be - or maybe he’s just plain dumb.

Let’s see if Benedict has anything to say about this over the next few days.

[lonestar67]

I think I have missed a good point about one Cardinal does not the Vatican make.

I had not thought that point through when I posted.

I agree with everyone defending general Catholocism.

I still think the remarks of the Cardinal are arguably anti semitic but I would no longer pin that on the entire Vatican.

I do think the Vatican should clarify this but I recognize that the media is as eager to be anti Catholic as it is to be anti semitic.

[Petronski]

...real Christianity...

Bigot.

[rmlew]

The Vatican officials say what they do because there are millions of hostages/dhimmi living in Muslim lands. Those suffering from a Stockholm Syndrom from liberalism and the need to appease Islamists should be pitied.

[lonestar67]

Your point is well taken.

I agree with you.

I should have been more measured in my criticism.

It is the Cardinal who is in error here.

[Finalapproach29er]

Does he have missiles landing on the roof of his home?

[Tex Pete]

“Who is this “everyone?”

I mean Jews feel offended by this article because the Cardinal is, essentially, attacking Jewish people in offensive terms. I also mean that Catholics are offended by people assuming this is the church’s stance on the issue.

Attacking a person’s religion is a quick way to make an enemy. That’s all I am saying.

[kingpins9]

The Pope isn’t holy. Only the Trinity is Holy. The pope is a man and a sinner, just like everyone else.

[Congressman Billybob]

Yes, the Gaza Strip is a “concentration camp.” It's been that way for decades. It is run by subhumans who spend hundreds of millions of dollars teaching children to WANT to be murderers.

They are pure evil and deal in death and destruction. That is the cause. The Vatican ought to have some understanding of the concept of pure evil.

John / Billybob

[okie01]

I truly wonder if some of you will ever figure out why the Arabs hate us, and no, it isn’t because of we have a “democracy”, or because of religion, or the crusades, or our wealth.

Okay, I'll bite. In your opinion, why do the Arabs hate us?

[rmlew]

This was a liberal cardinal, not the Pope.

[Scotswife]

It wouldn’t be the first time a lib cardinal has spouted off.

The lib vs conservative war is occurring within the Church as well.

[muawiyah]

As an aside on that, I've been researching for many years why it is some of my ancestors got involved in the Spanish missions ~ in fact, when they passed on in old age they were buried at the mission grounds, mostly at San Luis Rey (where there stones have been set aside while work continues on shoring up the foundations).

None of them happened to be Catholic, and as far as I ever knew they probably were simply fur trappers or traders.

I finally found the answer last year digging up how the Russian colony on San Fran Bay survived, and why they were there.

Turned out the early Russian settlers and fur traders in Alaska discovered they had no source of vegetables and they were suffering on the fish/seal diet of the Aleutians. So, they decided to set up a farming colony in the South which would raise vegetables and ship them back up to Alaska.

Unfortunately they simply couldn't get things going fast enough so they sought the permission of the Spanish governor or commandante of California to buy them locally.

Turned out he couldn't do that because the Russian Orthodox church was, at that time, engaging in a campaign of retromangancy with the Roman Catholic church, so they were all technically at war with each other ~ another arrangement would be needed (besides the marriage between the commandante's daughter and the leader of the Russian colony in Alaska).

Both sides quietly agreed to hire a couple of Protestant American fur trader/trappers to transport vegetables from the Spanish missions to the Russian colony (Fort Ross), where they were then shipped to Alaska. At that time neither Orthodoxy nor Roman Catholicism was in conflict with American Protestants.

It's a rather romantic store showing how supposed beligerants can join together under dreadful conditions to survive.

BTW, this also explained why you will encounter Russian Orthodox crosses in pioneer graveyards in Southern Indiana ~ many of the Russians in Alaska, the Aleutians and Fort Ross migrated East from California to settle in Indiana right where the American furtrappers happened to live.

Due to the lack of interest on the part of Orthodoxy to build missions in the lower Midwest, they lost those members.

[Revolting cat!]

Cardinal Mistake!

[Scotswife]

“The Pope isn’t holy. Only the Trinity is Holy. The pope is a man and a sinner, just like everyone else.”

I guess it depends on how you use the word “holy.”

Some people only use it in reference to God.
Some people use it when they recognize good christians who lead exemplary lives.

I’ve heard non-catholics refer to this or that minister or layperson as “holy”. Not as an attempt to deify them, but as a description of their faith and character.

So, in the context, I would say the pope is a man and a sinner (which is why he has a confessor).There have been some very bad popes, and some very good popes.
And there have been saintly popes too - “holy” men.

[Oztrich Boy]

At least he didn’t call it “a ghetto”

[Steelfish]

Cardinal Martino is the liberal Catholic cardinal from Milan and no one who knows the Curia takes him seriously. His remarks should not be construed as those shared with BXVI. In all probability, he will be taken to task by the Vatican’s Foreign Sec.