In his 2015 Christmas message, Pope Francis asked the world to join forces in order to battle the forces of Islamist militant terrorists.
The Pope’s message was heard by 100s of millions worldwide, both Catholic and not. In the face of the recent terrorist attacks in France and the US, the call for ending terrorism delivered by the Islamist has begun to unite the major and minor powers of the globe in an all out effort to prevent and punish the extremists.
The Vatican isn’t immune to terrorist attacks as in the early 1980s, Pope John Paul II was wounded in a shooting that almost killed him by Pakistani Muslims. Security at Vatican City during the Pope’s message was tight, with people and their bags being searched and armed guards mingling throughout.
In addition to the Pope, Queen Elizabeth II also addressed the issue of terrorism but focused mostly on ISIS/ISIL expounding that the group will be stopped and the perpetrators punished.
The debate has arisen that now that the Pope has targeted Muslim extremists who have angered and frustrated just about every culture, race, and religion on the planet. How the combined forces of the globe will achieve what the Pope has called for will be difficult to achieve as the terrorists are so well embedded within the various populations of the world. It only takes a couple of assailants to wreak havoc on a crowd of people.
President Obama has sworn to stop and punish the terrorists, but his administration is stretched to the limits with problems regarding illegal immigration and immigration issues that the admission of 10s of thousands of Muslim refugees from Syria that the American public are protesting against.
The Republicans are foremost in criticizing the Obama Administration and Democrats for their position on the Syrian refugees. If just one other terrorist attack occurs in the US attributable to ISIS/ISIL, the Democrats may well lose the White House due to the fear and frustration of the public.
The Pope stated, “May the attention of the international community be unanimously directed to ending the atrocities which in those countries, as well as in Iraq, Libya, Yemen and sub-Saharan Africa, even now reap numerous victims, cause immense suffering and do not even spare the historical and cultural patrimony of entire peoples.”
It’s good to see the Pope taking on the dangerous topics of the day and calling for cooperation, but it’s going to be risky not to turn this campaign into the world against Islam. The only way it will work is for the Muslim leaders to stand up, one and all, and engage into an aggressive effort to route out the terrorists from their midst and ours.
