Christians are to convert all Muslims says top Vatican official

Cardinal Kurt Koch, Pope Francis, Muslims, refugee, Middle East, Christians, Jews, Judaism, Islam, Christianity

New Delhi, May 24, 2016: A top Vatican official close to Pope has said that the Christians have a mission to convert all Muslims and also that Judaism must be respected as the ‘mother.’

The comments were made by Cardinal Kurt Koch, who is the primary man for the ecumenical relations for the Vatican, and he made these comments at an interfaith meeting in Cambridge University’s Woolf Institute.

Jews have many times said that they are often target of conversion activities, so it seems that the Cardinal was trying to address them through this, but his words will surprise the Muslims as the Pope is trying to mend fences with the Muslim communities and is one of the supporters of refugees who are coming to Europe from Middle East.

Cardinal Koch also said that in fact, it is not just the Muslims but all non-Christians.

A report by CatholicHerald.co.uk quoted him saying:

“We have a mission to convert all non-Christian religions’ people [except] Judaism,” he said, before reportedly adding that this extended to Jihadis responsible for persecuting Christians in the Middle East.

Persecution of Christians has emerged as a major concern and Cardinal was also clear that all non-Christian people will be converted as well.

The cardinal also said that Christianity and Judaism shared a deep bond but was clear that this did not include the Islamic tradition.

The report quoted him saying:

“It is very clear that we can speak about three Abrahamic religions but we cannot deny that the view of Abraham in Jewish and the Christian tradition and the Islamic tradition is not the same. In this sense we have only with Jewish people this unique relationship that we do not have with Islam.”

Cardinal Kurt Koch’s views seem different from the Pope Francis who even washed the feet of the Muslim refugees on Holy Thursday.

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