Christians should pray for bin Laden: cardinal

Mr K.M Edwards

May 5th 2011, 15:41

@Mr. Malcolm Seychell

"Taliban Catholics make you kill yourself ..."

The Taliban are certainly not Catholic as evidenced by their assassination of Pakistan's only Catholic member of Parliament 2 months ago.

I know of no Catholics who go around assassinating Muslims or convincing Muslims to kill themselves.

Catholics teach that non-Catholics need to convert to Christ and His Church to be saved. St Francis of Assisi for example travelled with no weapons to the Sultan and preached to him to convert. The Popes have gone through extraordinary measures to promote peaceful dialogue with Muslim leaders. But when the Pope protested the pogrom against Christians in Egypt, the Muslim clerics decided to stop all dialogue with the Church!

The point being made is that the charity of Catholics towards Muslims, and even criminal Muslims like Osama bin Ladin, must perforce be shown BEFORE they die.

Praying for their soul AFTER they are dead is pointless according to Christian doctrine because they did not die in friendship (grace) with Christ. This is where the Cardinal is question has missed his calling.

Giving them charitable instruction, admonition and support, as millions of Catholics do for example when Pakistan suffered in terrible floods last year, is certainly an imperative BEFORE these non-believers die. I think even a non-Catholic can agree that there is more tangible charity in that approach than praying for the soul of a dead Muslim.

Sincerely. KM Edwards, Canada

Mr Malcolm Seychell

May 5th 2011, 11:58

What's the difference between taliban muslims and taliban catholics?

Taliban Muslims kill you, taliban catholics make you kill yourself.

Mr Mark Anthony Mifsud

May 5th 2011, 08:34

Wow! Reading many of these comments only confirms the Cardinal's cause for concern.
Hatred really does destroy the soul! It may have destroyed Bin Laden and it may destroy those who hate him.

Mr J BaldryFarrugia

May 4th 2011, 21:00

Sorry Cardinal whoever you are, but i certainly will NOT be praying for his soul , do you really think these type of terrorists will do the same for you, after this moron killed and murdered thousands around the world. with due respect are you after a 5 mins of fame, as i am sure nobody in his right mind will do what you are suggesting, think again this animal should burn in hell for all i care, if there ever is one, as i think in most cases Hell is on earth as this bastard proved it to be and the once that will take over from him --------------- End of Story.

Mr Giov DeMartino

May 4th 2011, 17:40

Il-Knisja, bhal kull gvern, anzi bhal kull awtorita ma ghandha EBDA cans li ggib wahda zewg. Is-soltu malli xi hadd jikkundanna lil xi hadd mal-ewwel tisma l-professuri jwissuna biex ma niggudikawx. U jkollhjom ragun. Il-Kardinal bir-ragun kollu stedinna biex nitolbu ghal Bin Laden. Xorta hargu kontra l-Knisja!

Mr K.M Edwards

May 4th 2011, 17:29

Agree with Victor Pullis.

This advice is the weirdest advice one can expect from a "Catholic" and especially a "prince of the Church".

A person who dies without the Catholic faith and sacraments, especially baptism, according to perennial Catholic teaching, has no hope of heaven.

"He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned" [Mark 16:16].

Osama bin Ladin did not believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, nor the teachings of His Catholic Church, nor was he baptized in the name of Christ. Ergo, in Catholic teaching, as per the above, he is condemned, which said another way means damned.

Catholic teaching is that a portion of those who are "saved" have to "pay temporal punishment" or be "purged from the temporal effects" of their forgiven sins before they can enjoy the beatific vision in heaven - this is the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. As Christ stated in Matthew 18:34 "...until he should pay back all that he owed". The doctrine draws from Catholic teaching of Divine Justice as well as Mercy - that is, while you may be a terrible sinner who repents at the last breath, Divine Justice will still require you to be purged of the effects of your sin. But your brethren who live on can help you to pay off your debts.

Since these souls are considered to be saved but need to expiate punishment, prayers for them are believed to alleviate their "time in purgatory". Hence Catholics, like their Jewish ancestors, pray for *their* (i.e. believing and baptized) dead to expedite their release from purgation into the relief of heaven.

Praying for the damned in hell who have no recourse to heaven is quite pointless, at least from a Catholic perspective. While no one can judge Osama bin Ladin but the Divine Judge, it is quite clear that he missed the pre-requisites for Catholic heaven notably, Catholic Faith and baptism.

As such, the French Cardinal clearly has muddled his faith, presuming he had any to begin with.

Sincerely, KM Edwards, Canada

Mr Joe Xuereb

May 4th 2011, 17:26

The Church teaches us to forgive (and forget too, presumably). Turn the other cheek like Christ did. Now, I have a problem with this. I'll explain.
If A. does me wrong I will be prepared to forgive (but not necessarily forget, what am I?! an imbecile) depending on my mood and how important A. is to me. Forgive on condition that A. admits his wrongdoing. If I forgive A. unconditionally, and A. happens to be one of those people who play power games, he'll say: 'I have a right sucker here!'. And he'll 'beat me to pulp' again and again and again. I turn the other cheek you see and pray for my enemy' Possibly/probably without knowing it (because ignorant of what I've just said) my self-esteem and my self-respect will go the window and A. will continue to 'persecute' me (his slate is always clean you see, never challenged) and in the end he will finish me off. Now the Cardinal will say to me, 'ah! yes, but when you die you go to Heaven and A. will go to Hell!' Well, as it happens I don't buy that. You see, I've only one miserable life here on earth. But at least I retain my self-respect. For make no mistake, without self-esteem a miserable life here on earth is even more miserable.

In a nutshell, all I am saying is that there's a world of difference between (total)subjectivity and studied* objectivity. Which pays dividends.

* Objectivity is always studied. Anything else and it becomes knee-jerk reaction.

An evil man is dead. It's not a question of praying, forgiveness, R.I.P.S - that's all nonsense. He's gone leaving a terrible legacy. Now we move on.
If I'm not mistaken, praying for someone implies wanting an improvement in their situation. Who in god's name would want this for such a man, wherever he is (if anywhere)?

Victor Pulis

May 4th 2011, 15:12

A very prominent commentator on this news paper who likes to send people to hell stated that a person dies as he lives. Now comes this cardinal and proves him wrong. I wouldn't be surprised if this cardinal finds himself in hell as well!

Charles Sammut

May 4th 2011, 12:42

This Catholic Church gets wierder by the day. It seems that it finds forgiveness for OBL but those who vote 'YES' in the divorce referendum will cause "irreparable damage" to their souls.

Mr ALBERT FENECH

May 4th 2011, 11:33

Osama bin Laden was an enemy of mankind. Should we also pray for Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin? Osama should have been captured live by the Americans, put on trial and if found guilty made subject to the Muslim Sharia law on murder, that is, handed to the relatives of the deceased he murdered to carry out their own execution. Luckily he was spared by the Americans who killed him.
AJF Fenech