Pope Denounces ‘Fear’ of Islam

Pope Leo XIV is turning out to be a worthy successor of the late Pope Francis, whose admiration for Islam seemed limitless. As he was returning to Rome after his recent trip to Lebanon, Pope Leo called upon Christians to stop regarding Islam as a threat, and to make friends with Muslims. And really, what could possibly go wrong?

The French-language Le Parisien reported Tuesday that Leo said that Christians should be “less afraid” of Islam, and called upon Christians and Muslims to work on “living together” and establish “friendship.” He invoked Lebanon, where the Christian population has been steadily diminishing for decades in the face of sparsely reported persecution from Muslims, as an example of how Christians and Muslims “in Europe or North America” could live together in peace.

“Perhaps,” the pontiff continued, “we should be a little less fearful and look for ways to promote authentic dialogue and respect. I know that, in practice, this has not always been the case. I know that fears persist in Europe.” He was speaking of European Christians fearing Muslims, while saying nothing about the sharp rise in rape and other crimes, as well as jihad activity, that has accompanied the Muslim migrant influx into Europe.

As far as Pope Leo was concerned, the only problem worth noting in Europe was the native populations’ xenophobia. The fears, he said, were “often fueled by people opposed to immigration who seek to exclude those who come from another country, another religion, or another ethnic background.”  He said that Christians should be “working together” with Muslims to make “dialogue and friendship” a reality, and added: “I think that one of the great lessons that Lebanon can offer the world is to show a country where Islam and Christianity are present and respected, and where it is possible to live together, to be friends.”

The pope was no doubt unaware of the fact, but two weeks before he issued this call, an Islamic scholar in the pontiff’s home city of Chicago offered a radically different view. On Nov. 14, Mohammad Nusairat said: “Unfortunately, these days we don’t repeat this enough, or we don’t have this doctrinal concept firm in our minds – that Islam did not come to coexist.” He quoted Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, saying: “Islam is always superior and should never be surpassed.” Nusairat added: “Islam is raised high, and nothing is raised above Islam.”

To those who would call for Christians and Muslims “to live together, to be friends,” Nusairat declared: “We can’t think of Islam that it came to live with these other religions in the sense that Islam is a religion amongst those religions, and they have a share with the truth, and they have a share of justice, and they have a share of the correct worship Allah. Islam came to correct all of that. Islam came to remove the oppression of all those religions, and it is the only truth, and it is the only way to justice.”

How might Pope Leo respond to Mohammad Nusairat? We will likely never know, as neither the current Bishop of Rome nor his equally irenic predecessor, the late Pope Francis, ever acknowledged even the existence of people such as Mohammad Nusairat or the point of view they represent. Both Francis and Leo have repeatedly spoken as if the obstacles to dialogue and friendship between Muslims and Christians are all on the Christian side, and that if Christians would only discard their “Islamophobia,” all would be well.

Yet even if some Christians heeded Pope Leo’s advice and embraced the mass, unvetted migration of Muslims into Europe and North America, they would be in for an unpleasant surprise. Some, and likely not an inconsiderable number, of the Muslims they so wholeheartedly welcomed would not have any interest whatsoever in reciprocating their good will. Instead, they would behave as if Muslims had come to “remove the oppression of all those religions,” and particularly Christianity. They would behave as if “Islam is always superior and should never be surpassed.”

Even though that is already happening all over Europe and has been for years now, Pope Leo has remained resolutely silent about it, and appears to be unaware that it is even happening, or determined to ignore it. He is sure we can all get along. He wants you to be sure, too. About the Muslims who view the world, and the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims, in much the same way that Mohammad Nusairat views it, he has nothing to say.