Portugal cardinal warns of marriage with Muslims
Portugal's Cardinal Jose Policarpo has warned young women in the predominantly Catholic nation against marrying Muslims.
"The advice that I give to young Portuguese girls is -- be careful with relationships, think twice about marrying Muslims," the patriarch of Lisbon said.
"It is getting into a pile of troubles, that not even Allah knows where would end."
Policarpo made the statement at a gathering on Tuesday evening in a well-known casino that organises meetings of public figures with paying guests. His comments were repeated on several television stations on Wednesday.
There are about 40,000 Muslims in Portugal, which like neighbouring Spain was once ruled by Muslims from north Africa, where many Muslim immigrants come from.
The country's biggest Islamic organisation said it was upset by the comments.
"We were in a way hurt by the choice of words by the patriarch of Lisbon about our community and about the dialogue that we have sought with all religious denominations, and especially with the Christian religions," the Islamic Community of Lisbon said in a statement.
The Vatican discourages Catholic women from marrying Muslims and Policarpo echoed that position in blunt terms.
"I know that if a young European of Christian background marries a Muslim, as soon as they go to his country, they'll be subject to the regime of Muslim women," Policarpo said. "Just imagine it."
Policarpo, a leading cardinal who was tipped as a contender in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict, also said dialogue with Muslims was not easy in Portugal.
"It is only possible to dialogue with those who want to have dialogue, for example with our Muslim brothers dialogue is very difficult," he said.
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Brian Galea
Jan 15th 2009, 18:12
The above ‘warning’ of Cardinal Jose Policarpo reminds me of a friendly debate few years ago.
Once I asked a priest friend few questions:- How come and why there are many incompatible bibles? Which of these bibles represent god’s words? Why, at least the bible of the Catholic Church is full of contradiction? Is the bible the creator’s word? Is the bible divine or human?
My priest friend chose to answer only the last question by saying: The bible is divine yet human – I asked him to elaborate, he said, where the bible goes in harmony with both historical and scientific facts...etc this is divine, and where its not its human(Can any body enlighten me what does this mean please? )
I told my priest friend, the Bible claims Earth is flat, and also has four ends and four corners…. Can this be a creator words? My priest friend looked at the clock on hanging on the wall and politely excused himself for could not staying longer with me!!!
Three or four years later, I have met with same friend but he is no longer a priest!
James De Giorgio
Jan 15th 2009, 12:18
Well finally it's about time some high-ranking church official speaks out bluntly... I mean dialogue and inter-faith meetings are important, however it is the Church's duty to warn about the problems when marrying Muslims. Anyone with relatives in similar situations knows what I'm referring to.
To Charles Sammut: you're wrong-footed. Pope Benedict made it clear that the God of the christians is not the same God of the muslims.
Albert Muscat
Jan 15th 2009, 11:46
"It is getting into a pile of troubles, that not even Allah knows where would end."
The word Allah does not exist any where in the Bible. Only in Muslim Quran is mentioned.
Root of the word Allah driven from Arabic language not Latin.
Raymond Sammut
Jan 15th 2009, 10:59
Cardinal Jose Policarpo has a problem with what ordinary people choose to do with their God given little life.
Charles Sammut
Jan 15th 2009, 10:04
Can these people decide!
One minute they are all for inter-faith dialogue and praying and worshiping in each other's mosques, synagogues and churches telling us that they all believe in the same god.
The next moment we get this sort of warning. Give us a break.
What if there is no god and no afterlife? That would really pull the carpet from under the pie in the sky brigade which promises all sorts of goodies after we die especially if we hand them our own goodies on earth.