Cardinal Schönborn: “Islam in an internal crisis and a great upheaval”
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In a radio interview, Kardinal points to a profound conflict between Sunnis and Shiites. For Christians, the situation in conflict zones is extremely difficult
Vienna (kath.net/KAP)
“Islam is a major process of upheaval, in a major internal crisis.” The Vienna Archbishop, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, expressed this opinion on Monday in a summer talk broadcast in “Radio klassik Stephansdom”. Specifically, it is a deeply conflicting conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, which has hitherto demanded more Muslim victims than Christians who suffer persecution through Muslims. And it can not be foreseen “whether this conflict will not become even more bloody.”
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, supported by the United States and influenced by the United States, and the Iranian-supported and Shiite-influenced Iran, were the main contributors. “If this conflict continues to escalate, this can be a huge fire in the entire Islamic world,” Schönborn warned. He can not understand why “the great powers do not do everything they can to avoid this conflict and thus enable a peaceful future for the people of the region.”
For Christians, life in such a conflict zone is “extremely burdensome and extremely difficult”. If there is no prospect of a good future, then it is a “fully understandable” response that people are fleeing “because they do not want their children to become war fighters.” Therefore, “it is immensely urgent that the international peace movement gets more weight,” emphasized Schönborn.
Fundamentalism threatens minorities
In the background of these developments, there was an increasing fundamentalism, the minority denying the right to exist. Such a fundamentalism is currently spreading not only in the Middle East, but also in India and Sri Lanka, the Cardinal pointed out. However, the phenomenon is most significant in Islam, the second-largest religion in the world, with almost two billion believers.
Schoenborn’s overall position was tense. He was particularly worried about the situation in the Middle East and Africa. “These are really dramatic crises,” said the Cardinal. These conflicts could only be solved by intensified cooperation between the great powers. In the Middle East, for example, “it is doubtless necessary that the US and Russia should come together to finally make peace in Syria”.
Copyright 2017 Catholic Press Agency KATHPRESS, Vienna, Austria
