LA
NUOVA BUSSOLA QUOTIDIANA
23
August 2025
Lorenza
Formicola interviews Monsignor Athanasius Schneider.
Politicians and international organizations have
orchestrated "a sort of resettlement of Muslim-majority citizens in
Christian European countries," with the aim of changing their identity.
The term "refugee" is being abused. And many in the Church, rather
than proclaiming Christ, use the Bible to justify mass immigration.
Monsignor Athanasius Schneider, titular bishop of
Celerina and auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Maria Santissima in Astana, is one
of the most authoritative voices in contemporary Catholicism. A distinguished
essayist, he has just published Fuggite le eresies: A Catholic Guide
to Ancient and Modern Errors, in bookstores at the end of the summer.
Born in Kyrgyzstan, he spent his youth in the Soviet
underground Church. With the fall of the USSR, he went in Rome to complete his
studies, earning a doctorate in Patrology from the Augustinianum Institute.
Since 1999, he has taught at the Karaganda Seminary, where he is also the Spiritual
Director and Director of Studies. He is President of the Liturgical Commission
and General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Kazakhstan. An
excerpt from one of his old lectures on immigration has recently been
circulating again. La Nuova Bussola
interviews him.
Your Excellency, in a 2018 conference you stated: "The phenomenon of so-called 'immigration' represents an orchestrated plan, projected by international powers to change radically the Christian identity of European populations. These world-powers are using the enormous moral potential of the Church and its structures to achieve more efficiently their anti-Christian and anti-European goals. To this end, they are abusing the very concept of humanism and even the Christian commandment of charity." And again: "It is the invasion of mass Islamization of Europe." Seven years have passed since then; how do you see the situation today?
We simply need to open our eyes and face reality. Over
the past decade, some Western European countries, particularly Germany and the
United Kingdom, have favoured a disproportionate inflow of people from
Muslim-majority countries, primarily classified as refugees. This process can
be described as a sort of resettlement of Muslim-majority citizens in Christian
European countries, a process orchestrated by senior European political
authorities in collaboration with several international and supranational
organizations. Indeed, EU central authorities have publicly admonished
those European countries (such as Hungary and Poland) which have enforced
restrictions on the admission of immigrants from Muslim-majority countries.
Do you thus believe the current migration phenomenon
is the result of a larger plan by a political elite with a global agenda?
This is confirmed by concrete political facts. Under
the guise of integration, Islamic religious practices are being introduced into
schools and public life, such as halal food, public dinners to break the fast
during the month of Ramadan and advertising and festive Ramadan lights in
Christian-majority cities. For example, last year, prominent German politicians
expressed their greetings for the start of Ramadan in the mainstream media, whereas,
with the start of Lent, the Catholic majority received no such public message.
In many community kindergartens and elementary schools across Europe, teachers
in several European countries have taken children on guided tours of mosques
and have shown them Muslim prayer gestures.
If these same children had been taken to Catholic churches to pray, an
unprecedented storm of protests would have undoubtedly erupted.
Can you explain the concept of a "global
instrument" of immigration?
In many traditionally Christian countries, the Islamic
factor is destined, very soon, to prevail numerically Muslim
families, on average more prolific than their European counterparts and
characterized by polygamy (permitted by their religion), foster rapid and continual
population growth. Not to mention that in several Christian-majority nations,
Muslim figures have already occupied significant political positions.
When entire regions of Africa and the Middle East are
being deprived of resources, energy, and young talent, can promoting
immigration really be a solution?
It is simply a huge mistake. European governments ought
to invest in humanitarian and economic projects that would allow refugees and
immigrants to remain in their countries, by improving their living conditions
and thus contributing to the prosperity and progress of their homeland. The
current immigration, driven by ideological and political ends, uproots people, deprives
nations of their strength, and pushes them towards impoverishment and underdevelopment
Is it “false exegesis" to use the Word of God to justify
mass immigration in Europe? For example,
the Bible is often quoted saying that Jesus emigrated to Egypt. Yet Jesus
emigrated because he was threatened by Herod, but then He returned home. The
Jewish people were exiled in Mesopotamia several times, but they always returned.
The people of Israel were forcibly taken to Babylon
and held there in a form of slavery. Immigrants in Europe today are not brought
there by force, and they certainly do not live in Europe as slaves. On the
contrary, they receive many social benefits as well as subsidies from European
governments. The Holy Family had to flee to Egypt because they wanted to save
the life of the Baby Jesus. God's words in the Old Testament speak of a
generous welcome for refugees and foreigners. However, the same word of God
states that the foreigner must also observe the religious commandments of the
people of Israel and in no account spread their own idolatrous religion. Today,
selective exegesis is implemented purely for political and ideological
purposes.
Despite the martyrs of yesterday and today, from
Father Jacques Hamel to the faithful of Nice who were victims of the 2020
attack, why does the Church in the West appear so cautious in denouncing the
Islamist threat?
I believe that many representatives of the Church
today are motivated by political correctness. Interreligious dialogue is an
ambiguous procedure. It calls for a harmony linking religions that does not
exist in their doctrines and morality, and frequently not even in their practice.
Moreover, the assertions of the Quran and Sharia, which clearly discriminate
against non-Muslims, are never referred to. This type of dialogue lacks
sincerity: the problem of politicized Islam and the growing persecution of
Christians, especially in Islamic countries or by Islamic extremist groups, is
usually not challenged.
Why does Catholicism remain the most persecuted
religion?
The reason is simple: it is the only true religion,
the one willed by God here on earth. It is the only religion that possesses the
fullness of Truth and the fullness of all the means of Divine Grace and
salvation. Catholicism has always been the target of attacks by the political
and ideological forces which reject Jesus Christ as the Truth, the Way, and the
true Life—that is, as the only Savior and Teacher of humanity. The reason lies
in the fact that people prefer to institute their own truth so they can do as
they want. The persecution of the Catholic religion in the end, boils down to
the motto: "We do not want Christ to reign over us." However, one thing is sure: there is no way nor
life without Christ.
If we think of Asia as a "bridge" continent
between cultures and faiths, what responsibilities arise today—compared to ten
years ago—for the Church and Her shepherds in the face of the challenges with
immigration?
Faced with the mass immigration of non-Christians, the
shepherds of the Church, once more, have the opportunity and the sacred duty of carrying out - with no sense of an inferiority complex but with zeal - Christ's Divine commandment, which consists in
making all peoples His disciples through
the True Faith and Baptism and teaching them to live according to God's
revealed commandments. Precisely
according to the Gospel. The entire Church should once again make the words of
the holy Apostle Paul its own and say: "I am not ashamed of the
Gospel" (Rom 1:16), and: "Woe to me if I do not preach
the Gospel!" (1 Cor 9:16). Indeed, failing to preach Christ to
non-Christians is a grave omission in loving one’s neighbour, because it
deprives them of the greatest happiness here on earth: knowing and loving
Christ as their Teacher, Lord, and Savior.
What is to be done then?
True interreligious dialogue occurs in everyday life. It involves neighbours and families, and is
open to those in the Islamic faith, who sincerely seek the truth. To them, the
message of Christ, the only Savior and Teacher of humanity, must be proposed,
with love and without imposition. This is the essential mission of the Church:
to bring Christ to all men.
H/T: Il Nuovo Arengario 23/8/2025
Translator's note: minor modificationa were made to the text for greater coherency in English: e.g. 'Your Excellency' is not in the Italian.
