Author:
Publication: Catholic
World News Service
Date: September 14,
2000
Cardinal Giacomo Biffi
of Bologna has issued a public statement recommending that Italy give preference
to Christian pilgrims over Muslims, in order to avoid a profound change
in European culture.
At a September 14 press
conference, Cardinal Biffi-- who has developed a reputation for blunt speech--
told reporters that he had recently made his recommendations to the Italian
government minister charged with immigration policy.
"There is no such thing
as a right to invasion," the controversial prelate stated. "There
is nothing to stop the Italian government from controlling immigration
in a manner that would safeguard our national identity."
Toward that end, the
cardinal said, he had told the government minister that "a truly lay government,
in order to spare the Italian people a lot of suffering, would take the
opportunity to regulate immigration in a way that would give preference
to Catholics, to Latin Americans, Filipinos, and Eritreans."
Cardinal Biffi explained
that the threat to Italian culture would extend beyond strictly religious
affairs, insofar as Muslims have "a different diet, different holy days,
an approach to family rights that is incompatible with our own, and an
attitude toward women much more restrictive than ours, to the point of
allowing and practicing polygamy."
"They also have a rigorous
plan for uniting public and religious life, so much so that the complete
identification of church and state is a part of their faith, which they
do not allow to be questioned," the cardinal continued. He conceded
that Muslims in Europe have not attempted to impose Islamic law, but observed
"there are usually prudent enough to wait until they are in a position
of power" before making such an effort.
Cardinal Biffi said that
Europe today is becoming a "culture of nothing," which takes pride in skepticism
and sees the destruction of noble ideas as "a sort of intellectual conquest."
Such a culture has no future, he warned. "The 'culture of nothing'
will not be able to resist the ideological assault of Islam."
