"The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.
Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom."
And that footnote in Nostra Aetate. THAT is a source for a novel and radical Doctrinal declaration. Really? A line lifted out of a letter...
"Cf St. Gregory VII, letter XXI to Anzir (Nacir), King of Mauritania (Pl. 148, col. 450f.)" *
Hmm, ABS seems to recall recently reading a thing or two about Pope St. Gregory VII. Oh yeah, it was in Dom Gueranger's, “The Liturgical Year.” Here it is;
“And yet, Gregory was that Father of the Christian world who, from the very commencement of his pontificate, was full of the thought of driving the Mahometans out of Europe, and of delivering the Christians from the yoke of the Saracens. It was the inspiration taken up by his successors, and carried out under the name of the Crusades. In a letter addressed to all the faithful, our Saint thus speaks of the enemy of the Christian name, whom he describes as being at the very gates of Constantinople, committing every kind of outrage and cruelty....(writing to King Henry, the Great Pope continues in this vein)...At this moment fifty thousand men are preparing; and, if they can have me to head the expedition as leader and Pontiff, they are willing to march to battle agasint the enemies of God, and, with divine assistance, to go even to ouur Lord's sepulchre.”
Gee, ABS can't imagine why 1962-1965 BCE did not quote the very same Saint in a much more forceful and informative manner than the vague putative doctrinal quote in the happy-clappy claims of N.A.
Gosh. That elderly, Pope Saint was unloving and not respectful of the dignity of others. He seems so unlike our ecumenical Popes since the beginning of BCE. He hardly sounds of the character who would think he might have someday been the source of the quite questionable doctrine that the Mahometans worship the same God as we do.
Who knows? Maybe there was a very good reason we were counseled by BCE to forget the past.
In any event, y'all know that the Mahometans teach that they worship the same God as we Catholics worship, right?
And so, wait...hold on, just a second. Nope. Nope. I must have been thinking about some other Faith because the false Faith of Mahomet has the putative Holy Book, the Koran, where Allah tells the Mahometans they do not worship the same God we do, so, maybe we Catholics might wanna rethink that whole we-worship-the-same-God thingy.
* Pope Saint Gregory the Great To
ANAZIR, KING OF MAURETANIA, ON THE MAINTENANCE OF FRIENDLY RELATIONS
Book III, 21, p. 287. No date.
Book III, 21, p. 287. No date.
Gregory . . . to Anazir, king of the province of Mauretania Sitifensis in Africa. [No greeting.]
Your Highness sent to us within a year a request that we would ordain the priest Servandus as bishop according to the Christian order. This we have taken pains to do, as your request seemed proper and of good promise. You also sent gifts to us, released some Christian captives out of regard for St. Peter, chief of the Apostles, and affection for us, and promised to release others. This good action was inspired in your heart by God, the creator of all things, without whom we can neither do nor think any good thing. He who lighteth every man that cometh into the world enlightened your mind in this purpose. For Almighty God, who desires that all men shall be saved and that none shall perish, approves nothing more highly in us than this: that a man love his fellow man next to his God and do nothing to him which he would not that others should do to himself.
This affection we and you owe to each other in a more peculiar way than to people of other races because we worship and confess the same God though in diverse forms and daily praise and adore him as the creator and ruler of this world. For, in the words of the Apostle, "He is our peace who hath made both one."
This grace granted to you by God is admired and praised by many of the Roman nobility who have learned from us of your benevolence and high qualities. Two of these, Alberic and Cencius, intimate friends of ours brought up with us from early youth at the Roman court, earnestly desiring to enjoy your friendship and to serve your interests here, are sending their messengers to you to let you know how highly they regard your prudence and high character and how greatly they desire and are able to be of service to you.
In recommending these messengers to Your Highness, we beg you to show them, out of regard for us and in return for the loyalty of the men aforesaid, the same respect which we desire always to show toward you and all who belong to you. For God knows our true regard for you to his glory and how truly we desire your prosperity and honor, both in this life and in the life to come, and how earnestly we pray both with our lips and with our heart that God himself, after the long journey of this life, may lead you into the bosom of the most holy patriarch Abraham.
Well, color me cynical, but Ecumenism has taken what seems to be a flattering diplomatic discourse and treated it as a doctrinal treatise when there is no indication that was the will or intent of Pope Saint Gregory the Great whom, we see from "The Liturgical Year," was not too keen on Mahometans in Europe and was willing to lead the military in a war against them.
Nostra Aetate talks of mutual understanding and then its aggressive acolytes wars against its own children when they try to arrive at a correct understanding of Mahometanism, the ancient and permanent enemy of the One True Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Modernists are riven with fear and they can not and will not engage in a fair fight because they know they will lose.
Modernists are riven with fear and they can not and will not engage in a fair fight because they know they will lose.