The increasingly woke Catholic Church is facing harsh criticism once again from more traditional practitioners as the first American pontiff, Pope Leo, has granted permission to so-called ‘Muslim scholars’ studying in the Vatican’s storied library and archival records with their own prayer space.
For context, the Vatican Library has existed in its current state since the mid-1400s and never previously allowed for competing faiths to worship in its space. The same goes for the entire Vatican; it’s the heart and home of Catholicism. The library itself is considered the ‘intellectual heart’ of the Roman Catholic Church.
Speaking in an interview with La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper, and via translation from the Catholic Herald, Vice Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library Father Giacomo Cardinali confirmed that Muslim scholars accessing the hallowed space were indeed being accommodated with prayer spaces. While it’s unclear how long Muslim scholars have been requesting this accommodation, for the first time they are being honored with an affirmative reply.
“Some Muslim scholars have asked us for a room with a carpet for praying and we have given it to them,” Father Cardinali said. He added that the Vatican Library contains “incredibly old Qurans.” “We are a universal library,” he explained.The world-renowned and oftentimes secretive collection includes more than 80,000 manuscripts, 50,000 archival items, nearly two million printed books, and more than 100,000 engravings, prints, coins, and medals.
As the Catholic Herald wrote, “[t]he Vatican Apostolic Library, located within Vatican City, traces its origins to Pope Nicholas V in 1451 and has since served as one of the world’s leading repositories of Christian and human knowledge. Its willingness to accommodate visiting scholars of all faiths reflects the institution’s continuing role as a centre of universal learning and cultural preservation.”
Perhaps the most insulting aspect of the decision for non-Catholics to pray within the Vatican is the fact that it is seen as one-sided. Many on the opposing side question whether the most holy locations in Islam would allow for whom they see as infidels to worship to God. “So, I suppose Christians can visit Mecca and get a chapel?” one commenter wrote on the social media platform X.
Another noted that while Muslims are slaughtering Christians in the country of Nigeria right now, the woke papacy is more concerned with demonstrating woke tolerance to people who see them as nothing more than enemies. “Nothing from him about the Muslims murdering and burning down churches in Nigeria?” the user asked rhetorically.
Another commenter simply pointed out that the Pope and Vatican were “[a]llowing Satan worship inside the Holy City,” adding that it was ‘wild.” And, of course, there is the fact that while many Catholics view this as a disgusting attack on their faith, for the reasons observed above, the aforementioned Father Cardinali dismissed valid concerns of non-Catholics worshipping within the Vatican by glibly mocking conspiracy theorists. “We receive the most absurd requests, especially from America,” Fr Cardinali said. “Do you have a time machine? And the menorah from the temple in Jerusalem that Titus took away? And the Holy Grail?”