Washington Post excerpt
VATICAN CITY -- The plainclothes police on the lookout for pickpockets
in St. Peter's Square also have an eye out for terrorists these days.
Extra uniformed police keep watch on the crowds of pilgrims that
flock daily to St. Peter's Basilica. Mail undergoes intense scrutiny,
part of the reaction to an alert that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks on the United States.
The city-state that is the headquarters for the Roman Catholic Church
is nervously eyeing the distant conflict in Afghanistan, fearing
that the church might become a target. In the longer term, Vatican
officials are also concerned that accused terrorist leader Osama
bin Laden's calls for holy war bear religious hostility that may
awaken historical enmities between the church and the Muslim world.
At stake is one of the dearest projects of Pope John Paul II's 22-year
reign as head of the church: the promotion of understanding between
Muslims and Christians. During the pope's travels throughout the
world, he has frequently taken time out to visit mosques and converse
with Islamic clerics.
The Vatican fears that this ecumenical
campaign will fall victim to a conflict
defined by some political analysts as an incipient "war of civilizations," in
which some Muslims equate the church with the West and treat it as
an enemy of Islam. "It is very worrying," said Vatican
spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls. "This has been a 20-year project
of this pontiff. It is in danger of a major reversal."
It is the opinion of The Sabbatarian Network that
the Catholic church has always exhibited its true goal to be the
conquest and subjugation of Sabbatarians all over the world. Whether
it be the taking of a small Jewish boy, the "Crusades" against
Sabbath Keepers, the "Inquisition" against Sabbath Keepers,
the support of Hitler against Jews (Sabbath Keepers) or her present
goal of Ecumenism. The Catholic church hates Seventh Day Sabbath
Keepers!
