The Download—Catholics Must Defeat ISIS

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Many are politicizing the supposed causes surrounding Orlando's recent massacre at the gay nightclub. But lukewarm Catholics are spiritually to blame, says Pope St. Pius V.

President Obama is advocating for so-called civil rights to include homosexuality. In Sunday's press conference, Obama said of the gay nightclub, "It's a place of solidarity and empowerment where people ... advocate for their civil rights." In the same speech prior to that, Obama lumped together lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders, saying the attack was "especially heartbreaking" for them.

But Obama's ongoing use of the term "civil rights" regarding the LGBT community is something many leaders of the conservative black community resent. Last month ChurchMilitant.com reported one such representative, Stacy Washington, an Emmy-nominated TV personality, who declared, "The term 'civil rights' deserves more respect than likening that battle to transgenderism — what many think of as a mental disorder. Being openly gay or transgender is a choice. Being black isn't."

The president is also using the horrific incident to advocate for increased gun control. "This massacre is, therefore, a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people," he claimed. But the nightclub was a gun-free zone, as are all such places that prominently serve alcohol.

Criminologist John Lott relates, "Since at least 1950, all but two public mass shootings in America have taken place where general citizens are banned from carrying guns." The shooter, Omar Mateen, was already breaking the law, which leads Second Amendment advocates to believe that more gun laws would not deter flagrant lawbreakers such as mass murderers.

Immigration is also seen as a factor by some. Donald Trump's campaign statement reads, "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on." Although it's easy to see how reckless immigration of undocumented migrants from the Middle East are problematic, in this particular case, the shooter was a native-born American.

The media is criticizing President Obama for not labeling radical Islamic terrorism as a factor in the Orlando shooting. It's known the shooter called the Florida 911 center and pledged allegiance to ISIS, the highly publicized militant Islamic group known for terrorist activities, including genocide in the Middle East.

But ISIS is more of a virus than a tumor. It's a movement or ideology radicalizing many Muslims today. But the far-flung group is considered a "soft target" without geographical boundaries. People associated with the movement or ideology are in many areas of the world and affiliated with many individuals, like Orlando's Omar Mateen, and many terrorist groups like Nigeria's Boko Haram.

Trying to label the causes of this recent massacre, aside from shameless politicization, is an attempt at hopefully ending similar mass shootings.

But Pope St. Pius V in the 16th century blamed lukewarm Catholics for the evils in the world — and that would include this particular evil in Orlando this past Sunday. The saint openly declared, "All the evils in the world are due to lukewarm Catholics." This includes Catholic bishops and priests not preaching the Faith; Catholic laity not fully living and spreading the Faith by word and deed; and all Catholics falling short in prayers, sacrifices and almsgiving.

Saint Paul, in 1 Timothy 4, calls us all to fight the "good fight," the true jihad, the inner war against the world, the flesh and the devil. In Ephesians 6 he exhorts,

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect.

The same Pope mentioned above called for a Rosary crusade in 1571 to defeat the Islamic Turks. This resulted in the stunning Christian naval victory over the much larger Turkish fleet in the famous Battle of Lepanto. The leader of the Christian fleet was the 22-year-old John of Austria.

In 1955, Fr. Petrus, in remembrance of John of Austria, called for a Rosary crusade to end the three-year Communist occupation of Austria. This resulted in the Communists' inexplicably signing an agreement on May 13, 1955 to leave Austria. They did in fact leave Austria in October of that same year. These dates are associated with the apparitions in 1917 of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. Today, historians are still at a loss to explain by natural means this Communist expulsion from Austria.

Fast forwarding to December 2014, Bp. Oliver Dashe Doeme, head of the diocese of Maiduguri in Nigeria's Borno State, reports that Our Lord appeared to him in his private chapel while he was praying the Rosary. Bishop Doeme relates how Christ handed him a sword That turned into a Rosary. Jesus then repeated three times to Bp. Doeme, "Boko Haram is gone." His Excellency has affirmed that God wants us to pray the Rosary to overcome such terrorist groups as Boko Haram, which is aligned with ISIS. By May 2015 Boko Haram was already suffering major defeats in Bp. Doeme's diocese.

Watch the panel discuss the role of Catholics in defeating ISIS on "The Download—The Orlando Mass Shootings."

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