Top Vatican Cleric Admits Being a non-Muslim in Arabia is Like Being a Fiddler on the Roof

 TOPOL: There are some similarities here, perhaps
shared experiences can be the basis for understanding

The Archbishop is indeed walking a very fine line, one misstep will have the Ideology of Perpetual Outrage (IPO) clamouring for his head. Restrictions on Christians in the region are draconian from a Western perspective, but for the worshippers of Mohamed and allah, it’s all business as usual. KGS

Vatican’s top cleric in Arabia walks a thin line

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The Vatican’s top cleric in the heart of Muslim Arabia tends to a flock of 2 million Christians spread around six desert nations. But he has to do it quietly: Most of them must still pray in secret and are forbidden to display crosses and other symbols of their faith.

From his base in the emirate of Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf, Archbishop Paul Hinder travels the Arabian Peninsula, even slipping in and out of Saudi Arabia—the birthplace of Islam, where restrictions on Christians are the toughest.

[…]

“We are tolerated, but not popular here,” Hinder said in an interview in the archbishop’s living quarters inside a Christian compound in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

He spoke wearing the traditional hooded robe of his Capuchin order. The white garb blends in just fine with the Arab robes worn by men in the region, so he wears it in public—but without a cross around his neck or the belt of three knots that also mark the order.

“People here know who I am, although I never wear a cross when I go outside out of respect for local conditions,” said Hinter, a Swiss citizen

Read it all here.

2 Replies to “Top Vatican Cleric Admits Being a non-Muslim in Arabia is Like Being a Fiddler on the Roof”

  1. This report is indeed a heartening report. It looks like a thaw is happening in the arab wrold but the fanatics are more in evidence in turkey, iran, pakistan and afghanistan. I think this could be due to the greater wealth that the arabs enjoy. Both turkey and iran are poor compared to the gulf states. Kuwait for example is three times plus richer in terms of per capita income than Iran or Turkey and the levels of fanatics just keeps growing in those places every day.
    They are not likely to get wealth soon either so it looks like the countries I have mentioned will be the front action of jihad now and in the future. Does anyone else have an opinion on the facts of wealth and poverty on jihad?