Jihadist magazine shows black flag flying from St. Peter’s Obelisk

Meanwhile, even as – as some people claim – there are within the Church those who wish to bring her down. There are – as is patently clear to anyone with a brain – there are outside the Church those who wish to bring her down.

Rather, chop off her head.

I saw this at Tempi (Italian HERE):

La bandiera nera sventola sull’Obelisco di San Pietro: la rivista dello Stato islamico festeggia la “crociata fallita”

The black flag waves over the Obelisk of St. Peter: the magazine of the Islamic State celebrates the “failed crusade”

The “crociata” in this case refers to the present loose coalition doing stuff – sort of – to bits and pieces of ISIS, Islamic State, whatever the evil movement of militant Islam is called right now.

Didn’t the leader of this movement say something about going to Rome?

Yes, I remember that correctly. HERE

Rome will be conquered next, says leader of ‘Islamic State’
Muslims have been called to flock to the ‘Islamic State’ to gather for a battle against non-believers throughout the world

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed leader of the ‘Islamic State’ stretching across Iraq and Syria, has vowed to lead the conquest of Rome as he called on Muslims to immigrate to his new land to fight under its banner around the globe.
Baghdadi, who holds a PhD in Islamic studies, said Muslims were being targetted and killed from China to Indonesia. Speaking as the first Caliph, or commander of the Islamic faithful since the dissolution of the Ottoman empire, he called on Muslims to rally to his pan-Islamic state.

“Those who can immigrate to the Islamic State should immigrate, as immigration to the house of Islam is a duty,” he said in an audio recording released on a website used by the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.
“Rush O Muslims to your state. It is your state. Syria is not for Syrians and Iraq is not for Iraqis. The land is for the Muslims, all Muslims.

Is this really really really haaaaard for people to grasp?

Sts. Nunilo and Alodia, pray for us!  (Feast 22 October)

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in The Coming Storm, The Drill, The future and our choices, The Religion of Peace and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

28 Comments

  1. Elizabeth D says:

    At first glance at that magazine cover I thought it read “DIABLO”

  2. YoungLatinMassGuy says:

    Is this really really really haaaaard for people to grasp?

    A wise man once said:

    Smart people learn from the mistakes of others.
    There are others who learn from their own mistakes.
    And then there are people who just need to piss on the electric fence for themselves…

    When someone tells you they are going to kill you, believe them.

  3. David in T.O. says:

    Black flag of IS? That is a laugh, they’ll have to take the rainbow flag first. [I might actually buy a ticket for that.]

  4. Now here’s a thing. Why Rome?

    Surely Canterbury would be the logical next step for militant Islam, as the Anglican Communion is such an important force for … oh, hang on.

    So I suppose we should take this as a kind of backhanded compliment, much in the way that Satanists only steal consecrated Hosts from Catholic churches.

  5. As a result of the Enlightenment’s crusade against the “wars of religion,” Western culture is absolutely incapable of recognizing Islam’s purpose as primarily religious. We in the West will do absolutely everything we can to avoid the reality of Islamic violence, preferring to stick our head in the sand rather than admitting that it is still possible in our day and age for religion to be this influential; instead, it’s a “misunderstanding of Islam” based on those who would use religion as a tool for political ends, and not Islam itself.

    News flash: Islam is intrinsically political. Christianity is transpolitical, but for Muslims, Islam is the state.

  6. Lin says:

    I’m not usually a pessimist, but unless someone puts their big boy pants on, who is going to stop them?!? This world is a mess. We send soldiers to fight Ebola instead of ISIS. We are lied to by the administration on a daily basis. Confusing reports are surfacing about the synod on the family. I pray some good comes of all this. And I offer my anxiety up every day!

  7. Some of the news reports we’re getting about what Rome is saying about cohabitation and homosexuality is only adding coal to their engine. The timing of the flag and these latest reports from the synod are ominously chilling. The synod makes me recall St. Pio’s remarks about the Council: “For pity sake, end the Council quickly.”

  8. Juergensen says:

    Muslims rising in the East and homosexuals rising in the West. The two riders of the Pale Horse of the Apocalypse: Death and Hades? (Rev. 6:7-8).

  9. Joan A. says:

    Rome IS conquered. Today’s official Synod report makes that clear. It’s been nice being Catholic, I loved the Church. [?!?] I’m sure it exists in its Divine form somewhere. Not in the Vatican and not in the hierarchy. I won’t wallow in the mud of the dark church so I can maintain the pretense of belonging to the True Church. Where do we go now? God help us all.

    [Everyone, this is the sort of thing none of us needs. Sober up and toughen up. We do not give in to Satan.]

  10. Susan M says:

    Lin, my sentiments exactly.

    And where is the Enola Gay when we need her? Unfortunately only something catastrophic will put an end to this. Note that ISIL has not ventured into Israeli territory (they’re using the UN for that) more than likely because Israel will not hesitate to obliterate ISIL. My anxiety intensifies daily.

  11. fib09002 says:

    This is a distraction from the real issue, which is the fact that Catholicism is today all but a dead tradition. It is all very well to say that the media is selectively reporting bits and pieces from the synod in order to further an ulterior agenda. But the fact is, we all know where this is heading. It is clear that many of the bishops DO NOT HAVE THE CATHOLIC FAITH. And once they formally defect from it, I see no reason why anyone should care if the ISIS were to overrun the Vatican.

  12. Filipino Catholic says:

    Would that we storm heaven with prayers and beseech God to see us through this storm. Is there a line in the Litany of the Saints that goes “From threat of jihad, deliver us Lord”? Because there really should be one.

    Ad Iesu per Mariam,
    Filipino Catholic

  13. Martlet says:

    A long, long time ago there lived a power-hungry lunatic who wanted to create a great empire. They hauled him off to prison for being a ruffian, but he didn’t idle away his time. Instead, he wrote what has to be one of the most rambling publications of all time. Few read it, and of those who did, most said he was just a nut-case, a man who liked to strut about in brown clothes, a trouble-maker who wouldn’t amount to much. Back in that long ago time, there also lived a man who took the ruffian seriously. Churchill was his name, but people mocked and scoffed, saying that this crazy Hitler bloke wouldn’t attract any followers…

    Today, we have a power-hungry group who want to create a great empire. They have told us all ahead of time what they want to achieve, but few read what they say and of those who do, they think they are dealing with a bunch of trouble-makes whose violence can be contained.

    My question – Why is it that everyone can quote the line about learning from history, and then refuse to learn from history?

  14. Sonshine135 says:

    Unfortunately, a lot of “c”atholics I know would probably be happy about the Vatican being lost to Militant Islam. They would say that it is about time the church gave the priceless artwork, buildings, and gold away to the poor and suffering.

  15. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    Philippa Martyr asks, “Why Rome?” In his article in the International Business Times, Umberto Bacchi quotes from this jihadist magazine article:

    ” ‘Rome in the Arabic tongue of the Prophet refers to the Christians of Europe and their colonies in Sh?m [Greater Syria],’ the article read.

    “It was accompanied by a picture depicting IS’s black flag risen atop the Egyptian obelisk at the centre of St. Peter’s Square, in the Vatican.

    “The magazine reproduced parts of an earlier statement attributed to IS spokesman Mohammed al-Adnani, claiming jihadists will one day conquer Rome.

    ” ‘We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses, and enslave your women, by the permission of Allah, the Exalted,” Al-Adnani said. “If we do not reach that time, then our children and grandchildren will reach it, and they will sell your sons as slaves at the slave market.’ ”

    So, for them, ‘Rome’ would appear to mean not only Rome but Canterbury and a lot else besides. I do not know whether that “Christians of Europe and their colonies” includes the Orthodox and all ‘Oriental’ Churches not in communion with the Pope and parallels the Turkish usage whereby, after the fall of Constantinople, the Orthodox Church was treated as the ‘Rum Millet’, the ‘Roman nation’, with the Patriarch treated as ‘millet-bashi’ or ethnarch with responsibility for ‘the Greek nation’ as well as all who described themselves as ‘Christians’ – which by the Nineteenth century included a geat variety of Protestants. Perhaps a ‘dhimmi’ Pope could be the ‘ethnarch’ of an IS caliphate – but I would not count on it.

  16. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    Martlet writes, “Few read it, and of those who did, most said he was just a nut-case” – which is very true in part. Sebastian Haffner’s Defying Hitler: A Memoir (2000 ed. of 1939 MS.) gives a vivid picture of this side of it. But there was another side of it, whereby that “one of the most rambling publications of all time” made him a very wealthy man and, in certain circles, something like a ‘rock star’ avant le lettre.

    Among the worrying questions today are how many potential wildly enthusiastic (actual or potential) ‘fans’ does that “power-hungry group” or others like it (remember the “Russo-German Treaty of Non-Aggression”) have, world-wide, and how many Churchills – with any chance of success – are there (in the wings)?

  17. MWindsor says:

    Can we, at least here, dispense with this media driven “IS” nonsense. Name it. Say it. It’s not the State-which-must-remain-nameless, and this isn’t a Harry Potter novel.

    “Islamic State” in Arabic is khil?fa…in English “caliphate”. For 1000 years Christendom had the balls to say Caliphate when it applied, but we’re being emasculated by the media drones that don’t want to upset their leash-holders. They will bring the fight to us soon enough, and we might as well be ready psychologically. Facing up to it – naming it – will be a step in the right direction.

    Americans – go Google July 7, 2005, then tell me that they can’t do the same thing here after six months with an open southern border.

    The Caliphate, the economy, Ebola – a perfect storm.

  18. LarryW2LJ says:

    When a demon is the problem, and an exorcism is needed, they call in a Catholic priest.

    When Satanists want to defile and insult Christ, they don’t steal a Communion wafer from one the Protestant communities, they want a Host consecrated by a Catholic priest.

    When the Islamists want to defeat Christianity, they look to Rome.

    It would appear that even though the enemy hates us, they know where the Truth resides. Oh, if only so many “Catholics” would realize the same!

  19. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    MWindsor,

    So you happen to know what the Popes, Catholic Monarchs, et al., did in the past? Recognize claimants to being ‘Caliph’ as Caliph – at least on the level of polite diplomatic address? And where there were competing claimants…?

    Perhaps in everyday use quotation marks or so-called or both, would be to the point. I seem to recall those who would only ever use “Democratic Peoples’ Republic” and such-like lying designations for murderous dictatorships ironically.

  20. Paul Young says:

    Oddly enough, I recently dreamed of one day seeing the Vatican flag atop the Kabaa in Mecca. I wonder what would happen if I Photoshopped that and published the image?

  21. MWindsor says:

    Venerator – not sure I see your point.

  22. Johnno says:

    Even the Islamists recognize the Catholic Church as the true Church of Christ, and also it’s old enemy, back when Catholic men were willing to give their behinds a good beating.

    If it’s inevitable that ISIS attacks Rome (And I believe it is, thanks Obama and years of jihadist-supporting US foreign policy), then hopefully they’ll do us all a favour and interrupt the Synod before it reaches it’s lio-riffic climax.

    The 13th of October, when the relatio was released, is the anniversary of Pope Leo’s vision of Satan’s attack on the Church.

    And also of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima.

    And also when the call for a new committee hijacked Vatican II.

    Coincidence?

  23. Sconnius says:

    Paul Young,

    while you’re at it, add the Polish war flag. I’m sure they’re still upset about that one.

  24. The Cobbler says:

    Paul Young, typically, when someone publishes an image that Muslims can interpret as disrespectful of Mohammed or Islam, the most immediate result is rioting in Muslim countries complete with murder of innocent bystanders. (Of course, lately the militants in one such country haven’t been waiting for any such excuse to kill innocent bystanders, but I dunno about the rest of them.)

    My question: Why the ____ do jihadists have a magazine? Aren’t magazines one of the tools of “the Great Satan”? And who among those who would be sympathetic to their views cares how glossy the print on their propaganda is?

  25. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    MWindsor,

    You wrote, ” ‘Islamic State’ in Arabic is khil?fa…in English ‘caliphate’. For 1000 years Christendom had the balls to say Caliphate when it applied”. I wonder when it applies and how it applies. And more broadly what one does with another’s self-description.

    One thing in the back of my mind was Herbert Thurston’s interesting remarks in his 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia article, “Roman Catholic”, “We use this name [‘Catholic’] ourselves and ask those outside the Church to use it, without reference to its signification simply because it is our customary name, just as we talk of the Russian Church as ‘the Orthodox Church’, not because we recognize its orthodoxy but because its members so style themselves, or again just as we speak of ‘the Reformation’ because it is the term established by custom, though we are far from owning that it was a reformation in either faith or morals.”

    I don’t know (and haven’t done the homework to try to find out, yet) if for “1000 years Christendom” had the customary practice of saying ‘Caliphate’ because it so styled itself. Or whether Christian’s often, insisting on reference to its signification, said (in effect), ‘there’s no such thing – God never installed a series of successors of Mohammed to rule over as much of the earth as they can, in the way they suggest, and we won’t use their terms for it.’

    As far as I know, questions as to who, if anyone, was or is the ‘Caliph’, have been continuing major points of division -and warfare – among different groups of those regarding themselves as ‘the only faithful Muslims’ for at least the past 1358 years or so, since the battle of Siffin.

  26. Venerator Sti Lot says:

    The Cobbler asks, “And who among those who would be sympathetic to their views cares how glossy the print on their propaganda is?” Perhaps they are hoping that a variety of – especially young – people, whether ‘secularized Muslims’ or fairly rootless and impressionable non-Muslims, may well be.

  27. Mac_in_Alberta says:

    Philippa Martyr, you remark, “. . . I suppose we should take this as a kind of backhanded compliment, much in the way that Satanists only steal consecrated Hosts from Catholic churches.”

    I believe that Orthodox Churches don’t reserve the Sacrament except during Holy Week, so Catholic churches are the only places to find a supply of consecrated hosts, no matter what high Anglicans and Lutherans believe they have.
    Venerator, “Rome” might mean more than just Rome in the sense of all of Christianity, but the real deal is found completely only in the Catholic Church, not out of it.
    I am trying hard to trust Our Lord’s words in Matt. 16:18b, “. . . the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” I think we are about to get a lot closer look at those gates than even our parents and great-grandparents got from 1939 to ’45.

  28. Mac_in_Alberta says:

    Philippa Martyr, you remark, “. . . I suppose we should take this as a kind of backhanded compliment, much in the way that Satanists only steal consecrated Hosts from Catholic churches.”

    I believe that Orthodox Churches don’t reserve the Sacrament except during Holy Week, so Catholic churches are the only places to find a supply of consecrated hosts, no matter what high Anglicans and Lutherans believe they have.
    Venerator, “Rome” might mean more than just Rome in the sense of all of Christianity, but the real deal is found completely only in the Catholic Church, not out of it.
    I am trying hard to trust Our Lord’s words in Matt. 16:18b, “. . . the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” I think we are about to get a lot closer look at those gates than even our parents and great-grandparents got from 1939 to ’45.

Comments are closed.