The Mystery of ISIS

The Great Powers that can destroy a nation in days apparently have not ended their strange experiment of letting the "Islamic State" do whatever they want in most of Syria and half of Iraq.

After the genocide of Christians from the lands occupied by ISIS, they will not stop until every sign of Christian heritage is wiped out. Why, why do the Great of this world allow this?

"The mystery of iniquity already worketh; only that he who now holdeth, do hold, until he be taken out of the way."... (II Thess.)

"There's No Such Thing as Moderate Islam": An Iraqi Priest Describes the Christian Genocide

"THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS MODERATE ISLAM"

Padre Douglas al Bazi recounts the Christian Genocide in Iraq

Matteo Matzuzzi

IL FOGLIO

August 26th 2015

“Wake up! The cancer is at your door. They will destroy you. We, the Christians of the Middle East are the only group that has seen the face of evil: Islam”.

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Rome. “Please, if there’s anyone who still thinks ISIS doesn’t represent Islam, know that they are wrong. ISIS represents Islam one hundred percent.” Father Douglas al Bazi, an Iraqi Catholic parish priest in Erbil, raised his voice during an intervention at the Meeting in Rimini, with a choice of words – in a provocative way and in hard tones –  that few had ventured use so far.

He carries on his own body the scars of the torture he underwent nine years ago, when a band of Jihadists kidnapped him for nine days, keeping him in chains and blindfolds along with a broken nose from being kneed: “For the first four days they didn’t even give me anything to drink. They would walk past me saying ‘Father, do you want some water?’ All day long they would listen to the reading of the Koran to let the neighbours hear what good believers they were.”

Soft diplomatic language and fashionable respectability which is used to avoid clashing with various sensibilities, are not for Father Douglas. No room in his words either, for the debates on the more or less high level of moderation inherent in religions. The same goes for appeals to dialogue at all costs with the decapitators and hangmen of old, retired scholars and - even with the caliph himself. Father Douglas’s intervention is not very much in line with some western social and cultural debaters and ‘preachers’ but more along the lines of the local Bishops, such as the Patriarch of Baghdad, mar Louis Raphaël I Sako, who, in his book “Stronger than Terror” (Emi) accused the Ayatollah al Sistani, the highest authority of the Iraqi Shiites, of having remained silent regarding the Jihadists’ persecutions against minorities because “they won’t listen to me anyway”.

Ninety dioceses to ring church bells to show support for Middle East's Christians

Today, Feast of the Assumption, in at least 66 French dioceses and 24 dioceses in other countries (including the Archdioceses of Madrid, Monaco, Cologne and Vienna and all the Dioceses of Belgium) church bells will be rung to show support for the persecuted Christians of the Middle East. In addition, prayers for our persecuted brethren will also be said in many of these dioceses. 

This initiative came from Bishops Dominique Rey of Frejus-Toulon and Marc Aillet of Bayonne, who also happen to be the most Traditionalist-friendly diocesan bishops of France. The initiative initially met with indifference and was off to a slow start: as late as August 10 only 8 French dioceses had joined the initiative. The persistent attention and support from mostly Francophone Catholic blogs and websites was no doubt one of the reasons for the sudden surge of support that poured out for this action in the last 72 hours .

(Source: various posts on Riposte-Catholique).

Fontgombault Sermon: Christmas Midnight Mass - Why do Nativity Scenes cause such scandal and hatred?

Christmas Midnight Mass

Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau

Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault

Fontgombault, December 25, 2014

Natus est vobis hodie Salvator.

For unto you is born this day a Saviour. (Lk 2:11)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

My dearly beloved Sons,

On this holy night, let us greet anew the divine Child Who has come to bring on our earth the fire of uncreated Love. Let us hasten towards the Crib where the Word of God, the Almighty Word, is born to us from the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Dec. 22, 23, 24 - Let us join the special pre-Christmas Fast of the Catholics of Iraq

Christian refugees in a Chaldean Catholic church in Erbil

The Chaldean Patriarch of Baghdad Raphael Louis Sako calls on Iraqi Christians to fast on Christmas Eve in order to implore the Lord for the return of refugees in Mosul and the Nineveh plains. At the same time, he asks the faithful not to organise "any worldly celebration" for Christmas and New Year as "a sign of solidarity with their displaced brothers and sisters, who are going through indescribable suffering."

...

For this reason, he urges them to fast from Monday 22 December until night on 24 December, not touching food or drink until noon, as "in the days of Ba'utha". The Fast of Ba'utha commemorates what the prophet Jonah brought to the people of Nineveh for their conversion.

Italian Paper Editorial: "Let's stop beating around the bush: With Islam it is a War of Religion"

With Islam it is a War of Religion

Editorial for Il Foglio

September 5, 2014

Notes of One Week in the Islamist Global War Against Everyone Else: - Christians Beheaded in Nigeria; Massive executions in Syria and Iraq; in England, Massive Abuse and a Startling Publication

1. Nigeria: Our Parish Rectory, Overrun By Boko Haram - Christians beheaded, Christian homes marked

Islam: Territorial Advances on the Western African FrontNigerian Cardinal: Young Muslims are Joining Boko Haram

3,000 miles from Mosul (Iraq), and Raqqa (Syria) in the "Islamic State", and 1,800  miles from the new "Islamic Emirate of Benghazi" (itself just 400 miles from Athens or Sicily), Islamist armies are now conquering Nigerian cities in which Christians have lived together with Muslims since the time of the first missionaries.

See below several of their conquering moves in at least three different Nigerian states in the past few weeks, up to this Saturday:

Aug. 12:

From Raqqa to Mosul: The Islamic "Capital" was the First City to be "Cleaned" of Christians -- and with the First Dhimma Agreement

Cross being removed from the Armenian Church in Raqqa, Syria, 2013

Archbishop of Mosul: "I have lost my Diocese to Islam - You in the West will also become the victims of Muslims"

Armenian Orthodox church in Raqqa, Syria, now an ISIS office

Our sufferings today are the prelude of those you, Europeans and Western Christians, will also suffer in the near future. I lost my diocese. The physical setting of my apostolate has been occupied by Islamic radicals who want us converted or dead. But my community is still alive.

Please, try to understand us. Your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here. You must consider again our reality in the Middle East, because you are welcoming in your countries an ever growing number of Muslims. Also you are in danger. You must take strong and courageous decisions, even at the cost of contradicting your principles. You think all men are equal, but that is not true: Islam does not say that all men are equal. Your values are not their values. If you do not understand this soon enough, you will become the victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home.

Archbishop Amel Nona

Chaldean Catholic Archeparch of Mosul, now exiled in Erbil

Corriere della Sera

August 9, 2014

[Updated: Date has been corrected; full translation of the relevant paragraph from original article below:]

Chaldean Catholic Patriarch and Holy See Envoy to Iraq:An Appeal to the International Community

Press Release of the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans

IMPORTANT - IRAQ DONATIONS: alms for refugees in Iraq A Chaldean Catholic Project

A traditional Roman Catholic priest has passed along a site for our readers to give alms to help the Chaldeans suffering unimaginable evil in Iraq - it is a project sponsored directly by the Saint Thomas the Apostle Chaldean Catholic Eparchy in the United States.

We cannot take up physical arms -- but we can wage a spiritual battle of fasting, penance and prayer. And we can help with our wallets as well.

Click here to read more.

Click here for the direct Paypal donation page.

See also: latest appeal of the Holy See Envoy and Patriarch Sako.

Iraq and Syria News Roundup - Aleppo's Christians under grave threat of genocide

Church in Aleppo, Syria, destroyed in 2012

In a small way, it is good that the news from Iraqi and Syrian Christians under threat is now so abundant that it has become hard to select worthwhile items - it shows a concern for their fate that wasn't there just weeks ago. Let us keep praying to the Mother of God for deliverance and a safe way out of this unbelievable situation for our wronged brethren. 

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1. On Friday evening, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) at last edited its first resolution on the Islamists who have expelled hundreds of thousands, and raped and killed an unknown number, of Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Syria. Those countries and individuals (most reports had been pointing to the Gulf region, of course) financing these groups are the object of sanctions.

It is a complex resolution, because many items are new applications of items already present in prior anti-terrorist resolutions, but it is a very good sign (despite its ridiculous lateness) of a response. Whether we like it or not, international coordination on security matters after World War II almost always depends on the UNSC and on the acceptance of the facts by its five permanent members. So this is a start, as it provides a legal footing for further actions.

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2. This Times report on the first major village reoccupied after ISIS left shows how difficult it will be to repopulate these areas (including those left by Christians in the Nineveh Plains) until this terrorist force is completely vanquished.

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3. The most frightening news comes from the Christian community that has been suffering for the longest time, in Syria. The great city of Aleppo, where Christians have also been present for two millenia and that had immense Christian communities living in peace just before the outbreak of the civil war, has been in the center of the war. But in the past couple of days, ISIS has advanced closer and closer to Aleppo, where thousands of Christians, the original inhabitants of the city before the Muslim invasions of the 7th century, still remain.

Please, keep in your prayers and sacrifices the Christians of Aleppo and of all Syria.

Aleppo's forgotten Christians

ALEPPO, Syria — Walking through the largely Christian neighborhoods of Aleppo city — Azizieh, Siryan, Sulaimaniyah and Midan — you can still see the posters of the two bishops kidnapped by Islamist militants last year hanging on shop windows, walls and even cars. The people here haven’t forgotten them; the event is still as painful and fresh as if it had happened just yesterday. The bishops’ kidnapping was a symbolic event, indicative of the larger collapse of interfaith communal relations in a country under the strain of a sectarian civil war, and marked the end of a long era of relative peace and safety for the Christians of Syria.

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Fear is palpable in this city; it hangs heavy in the air everywhere you go, like a potent and nauseous perfume. You can see it in people's eyes, in the deep lines on their faces; you can hear it in the way they talk; it’s in their conversations, it’s all they ever talk about.

But fear of a new kind permeates this ancient and deeply rooted community. Genocide and ethnic cleansing are very real threats that haunt the collective conscience of Syria’s Christians.

Fontgombault Sermon and Allocution: Assumption of Our Lady, Proclamation of Love, Motherhood and Life Vow to Our Lady: a Vow for Peace and Prayerfulness

Assumption of Our Lady

Sermon of the Right Reverend Dom Jean Pateau

Abbot of Our Lady of Fontgombault

(Fontgombault, August 15, 2014)

There is more happiness in giving than in taking (cf. Acts 20:35).

God the very first has put into practice this fundamental rule of spiritual life: He gave us His Son, He gave us Mary.

In monastic life, men give themselves to God through the practice of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They renounce riches, the legitimate joys of a human family, and the exercise of their own will, thus giving to the world the testimony that God only suffices. Today we remember the commitment that fifty years ago two of us have made. Throughout these years God has remained faithful. Man can rely on this faithfulness to enter into a path which might seem to go beyond human strength.

Whereas current ideas incline us to zapping, to ceaseless changing, to the culture of the temporary which debars us from any long-term commitment, life’s true joy and fecundity spring from an irrevocable commitment which gives us time to grow, to ripen, to blossom. Monastic life thus emerges as a laboratory where in the contact with divine realities, in liturgical prayer, in lectio divina, in personal prayer, as well as in brotherly life, a sweet fragrance is evolved which goes up from earth towards heavens to the praise of the Maker’s glory.

It is therefore not very hard to understand why monks like to choose Mary’s feasts to commit themselves before God by the links of profession or promise, and why they cultivate a great love for her. Mary is she who has entirely been God’s possession, to the extent that God has wanted to take flesh in her. To man’s gift, to his often so poor prayer, God Who is never niggardly of His grace answers with His abundance, He gives bountifully and lavishly. Mary is full of grace and she invites her children to follow the path of abandonment to Providence.

We remember today the end of Mary’s earthly life. She has gone up to Heaven in her body and soul and she has been crowned by God as Queen of heaven and earth. 

For the record: Latest Church pronouncements on Iraqi Christians

1. Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Sako - need for United States direct involvement in removing jihadists from the Nineveh Plains:

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2. Pope Francis' letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations (made public today):

They owe Benedict XVI an apology

IL FOGLIO

12 August 2014

  by Camillo Langone

 

Manuel Paleologus, they owe you an apology. They also owe an apology to Benedict XVI, whom they attacked after he quoted you at Regensburg: 

 

“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

 

Today, when the news from ex-Iraq is once more making history, and is showing to anyone who has eyes to see what the Koran translated into action truly is, they need to apologize to both of you.  But they won’t do it: because they don’t believe in sacred texts. They are Europeans and a European doesn’t believe in the Gospel not even if he’s a Catholic. Not even if he’s a priest (at Mass on Sundays the only words about Faith are those written in the Missal, while the ones from  the priest -- homilies, admonitions,  casual chatter --  are melancholic manifestations of  unbelief). 

 

It is impossible for a European to think that someone could actually believe in their own religion.   And as for the Italians: according to their vocabulary the word Religion is defined as “a good and human thing”, so they will never apologize to you nor to Benedict.

 

Those who are not able to believe in God are not even able to believe in reality: they are not able to recognize a sword -- not even when it goes into their neck.

 

Translation by Rorate's Francesca Romana.

BREAKING:URGENT STATEMENT OF THE CHALDEAN PATRIARCHOn Alarming Situation of 130,000 Refugees and Other Grave Matters

Rorate was sent a Declaration by the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch, Louis-Raphael I Sako, on several urgent aspects and the grave risk in which Iraqi Christians and other refugees still find themselves.

THE ALARMING SITUATION OF THE REFUGEES

WARNING OF A DISASTER YET MORE DREADFUL

+Louis Raphael Sako

Chaldean Patriarch of Babylon

President of the Assembly of the Catholic Bishops in Iraq

Baghdad – Iraq

10 August  2014

Death and sickness are taking hold of the children and elderly people among the thousands of refugee families spread over the Kurdistan Region who lost everything in the recent tragic developments while the ISIS Militants are still advancing and the humanitarian aid is insufficient.

There are seventy thousand displaced Christians in Ankawa [Erbil] along with the other minorities in this city that has a population of more than twenty-five thousand Christians. The families who found shelter inside the churches or schools are in a rather good condition while those who are still sleeping in the streets and public parks are in a deplorable situation…

In Dohuk, the number of Christian refugees' amount to more than 60.000 and their situation is worse than those in Erbil. There are also families who found shelters in Kirkuk and Sulaymaniyah, as well as some have arrived as far as in the capital city of Baghdad.

While the humanitarian needs are escalating: housing, food, water, medicine and funds, the lack of international coordination is slowing and limiting the realization of an effective assistance to these thousands awaiting immediate support. The Churches are offering everything within their capacity.

To summarize the situation of the Christian villages around Mosul up to the borders of Kurdistan Region: the churches are deserted and desecrated; five bishops are out of their bishoprics, the priests and nuns left their missions and institutions leaving everything behind, the families have fled with their children abandoning everything else! The level of disaster is extreme.

The position of the American president Obama only to give military assistance to protect Erbil is disappointing. The talks about dividing Iraq are threatening. The Americans are not up to a rapid solution to give hope specifically as they are not going to attack the ISIS in Mosul and in the Nineveh Plain. The confirmation that this terrible situation will continue until the Iraqi Security Forces will fight along with Peshmerga against the ISIS militants is very depressing. The President of the Kurdistan Region said that the Kurdish troops are fighting with a terrorist State and not minor groups! While the country is under fire, the politicians in Baghdad are fighting for power.

Iraqi Notes for the Day (Updated throughout the Day) "The Gates of Hell have opened."

August 7: The most prized possession of a family of
Christian refugees in a social area of St. Joseph's Cathedral
Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Erbil

1. The Pope today named a "personal envoy" to be in Iraq, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Prefect of Propaganda Fide (Evangelization of Peoples).

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2.

Iraqi Christian Refugees call upon the Vatican and the West"Come, Pope in the Vatican!" "America, fix it." "Where are you?"Updated

There's really nothing left for us to say, other than our words in the editorial and our surprise at the Pope's silence  (except for a written statement by his spokesman) and absence from the cameras in this, one of the most dramatic days for any mostly Catholic population in decades. The mostly Catholic refugees can't understand either, and call upon the "Pope of the Vatican" to help them. But from Rome and from the United Nations Security Council only written statements...

Dramatic moments ask for dramatic gestures by those who can make a difference, and these have not been forthcoming, we are very sorry to say.

This video was recorded hours ago:

[Update: 01:40 a.m. GMT:] The President of the United States has authorized limited airstrikes against ISIS.

"This is going to be a very long term effort against ISIL," White House officials say on background call on #Iraq airstrikes
— LATimes' Maeve Reston (@MaeveReston) August 8, 2014

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BREAKING:CHALDEAN PATRIARCHATE'S APPEAL FOR URGENT HELP S.O.S. Updated throughout the day

We have just received this desperate appeal from the Chaldean Catholic Patriarchate in Baghdad, following the fall of Qaraqosh (see our editorial from earlier today) and the current humanitarian tragedy as 100,000 Christians flee the Islamic terrorist armies.

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[Update: 11:30 a.m. GMT:] As a response to the catastrophe, the Holy See Press Office made a declaration on how the Pope is extremely concerned with Iraqi Christians, rehashing what was said at the Angelus of almost three weeks ago after Mosul Christians were expelled.

We regret to say, but a Holy See spokesman declaration is not enough at this extremely urgent moment! The Christian, Catholic, 2000-year-old presence in Iraq is being wiped out as we speak. Since all the media seems to agree that Pope Francis is the most popular figure in the world today, then only he can make the dramatic gestures that the moment demands. It's a time for public weeping, and crying out loud in the middle of Saint Peter's Square for all the world to see, if necessary. It's time to denounce by name the powerful of this world who have abandoned the Christians of Iraq and Syria. It's time to show that we are desperate because they, our brothers and sisters, are desperate. What's the point of popularity if it is not put to urgent use in moments of emergency?

Please, Peter, show your face and your tears for all the world to see! Please, Peter, speak up with your own voice! These are your own sheep being massacred!

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[Update: 5:30 p.m. GMT:] After chasing the Kurdish and Assyrian fighting forces from the Nineveh Plains to the East, it was easy for ISIS terrorist armies to take hold of the Mosul Dam to the north, on the Tigris, near the Turkey-Syria-Iraq triple border.

This and the minority emergency of Christians and Yazidis have at last prompted more vigorous responses today:

1) Emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, probably with specific measures. The session will be held at 11:30 p.m. GMT (7:30 p.m. local time). Please contact United Nations Missions of Security Council permanent members - by mail or Twitter: @USUN, @RussiaUN, @UKUN_NewYork, @franceonu

2) The United States is considering specific measures, including airstrikes, that could begin at any moment.

3) France will send military aid to the forces fighting for the Kurdish Region (mostly Kurds, but also many Assyrians are in the Kurdish troops and their allies).

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[Update: 9:00 p.m. GMT:] From the Times (UK): "US carrier is set for attack - The USS George HW Bush, equipped with four squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornet jet fighters, is waiting for an order from President Obama to launch strikes against the Islamic State"

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[Update: 11:20 p.m. GMT:] As in Aesop's fable, the mountain in labor gave birth to a mouse... From the U.N. Security Council, a third innocuous "condemnation" of the terrorists, and "support" for the Iraqi government. From the US government so far, not any intervention regarding ISIS, but only humanitarian aid to some isolated groups, dropped without even certainty that it will help them or be seized by the attackers, as it often happens in such circumstances.
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[Last update: Aug. 8, 01:40 a.m. GMT:] The President of the United States has authorized limited airstrikes against ISIS.