VATICAN CITY - After calling for the world to respect the Muslims in their concerns about the Mohammed cartoons, the Vatican is now urging Islamic countries to reciprocate by showing more tolerance towards the Christian minorities in their countries.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State, its Prime Minister, had criticized both the controversial cartoons and the violent Islamic protests in Muslim countries that followed and now has linked the issue to its long-standing concern that the rights of other faiths are limited, sometimes severely, in Muslim countries. Reciprocity, allowing Christian minorities the same rights that Muslims generally have in Western countries, such as building houses of worship or practicing religion freely, is at the heart of Vatican diplomacy toward Muslim states.
"If we tell our people they have no right to offend, we have to tell the others they have no right to destroy us," Cardinal Sodano told journalists.
"We must always stress our demand for reciprocity in political contacts with authorities in Islamic countries and, even more, in cultural contacts," Foreign Minister Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo told the daily Corriere della Sera.
"Let's drop this diplomatic silence," said the rector of the Pontifical Lateran University. "We should put pressure on international organizations to make the societies and states in majority Muslim countries face up to their responsibilities."
Recent killings of two Catholic priests in Turkey and Nigeria, both killings linked to the Muslim violence over the Mohammed cartoon, has motivated the call by the Vatican for the Muslims to reciprocate by showing tolerance toward the Christian minorities in Muslim countries.
Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News
The Vatican calling on the Muslim world to practice what they preach is a precursor to a scenario that can be found in Bible prophecy for the Last Days.
Vatican diplomats argue that limits on Christians in some Islamic countries are far harsher than restrictions in the West that Muslims decry. This outcry from the Vatican to the Muslim world is a precursor to a scenario that can be found in Bible prophecy.
Revelation 17 speaks of a world-wide religious headquarters that will be located in the seven hilled city of Rome, that will take place during the first half of the seven-year Tribulation Period. The religious leader then, known as the Antichrist, will call for all the religions of the world to fall under his domain. This world-wide religious system will work closely with the revived Roman Empire, Revelation 17:10, 15; and most likely will be the outgrowth of the European Union and will have the world worship the religious leader, the Antichrist, who will be headquartered in Rome.
The Vatican calling upon the Muslims to practice what they preach is indeed a precursor to Bible prophecy, Bible prophecy that will be fulfilled.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State, its Prime Minister, had criticized both the controversial cartoons and the violent Islamic protests in Muslim countries that followed and now has linked the issue to its long-standing concern that the rights of other faiths are limited, sometimes severely, in Muslim countries. Reciprocity, allowing Christian minorities the same rights that Muslims generally have in Western countries, such as building houses of worship or practicing religion freely, is at the heart of Vatican diplomacy toward Muslim states.
"If we tell our people they have no right to offend, we have to tell the others they have no right to destroy us," Cardinal Sodano told journalists.
"We must always stress our demand for reciprocity in political contacts with authorities in Islamic countries and, even more, in cultural contacts," Foreign Minister Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo told the daily Corriere della Sera.
"Let's drop this diplomatic silence," said the rector of the Pontifical Lateran University. "We should put pressure on international organizations to make the societies and states in majority Muslim countries face up to their responsibilities."
Recent killings of two Catholic priests in Turkey and Nigeria, both killings linked to the Muslim violence over the Mohammed cartoon, has motivated the call by the Vatican for the Muslims to reciprocate by showing tolerance toward the Christian minorities in Muslim countries.
Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News
The Vatican calling on the Muslim world to practice what they preach is a precursor to a scenario that can be found in Bible prophecy for the Last Days.
Vatican diplomats argue that limits on Christians in some Islamic countries are far harsher than restrictions in the West that Muslims decry. This outcry from the Vatican to the Muslim world is a precursor to a scenario that can be found in Bible prophecy.
Revelation 17 speaks of a world-wide religious headquarters that will be located in the seven hilled city of Rome, that will take place during the first half of the seven-year Tribulation Period. The religious leader then, known as the Antichrist, will call for all the religions of the world to fall under his domain. This world-wide religious system will work closely with the revived Roman Empire, Revelation 17:10, 15; and most likely will be the outgrowth of the European Union and will have the world worship the religious leader, the Antichrist, who will be headquartered in Rome.
The Vatican calling upon the Muslims to practice what they preach is indeed a precursor to Bible prophecy, Bible prophecy that will be fulfilled.