RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21590/the-next-pope

Some Catholics who are sensitive to the Holy See’s influence on international affairs may be hoping for a Pope who exercises decisive moral clarity in condemning brutal behavior, whether in Africa, China or elsewhere.

Pope Francis seemed to be infrequent in his condemnation of Islamist atrocities and when he did condemn them, he would be quick to criticize those who equated the religion of Islam with violence. Mass murders of Catholics and other Christians by Islamists take place daily in Nigeria, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

There are heroic candidates among the “Papabiles” (Papal possibles) such as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who offered himself in exchange for the hostages seized by the Gaza terrorist group Hamas.

Although the Vatican’s reason for being is to guide souls to God, its pronouncements on secular affairs not only have a profound impact, literally, on the lives of millions of Catholics, but on preserving the Judeo-Christian values upon which civilization is built, as well.

While the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics wait prayerfully for the elevation to the papacy of the 267th pope, successor to the Christ-appointed St. Peter, most of the rest of humanity may be wondering what impact the new pontiff could have on global affairs.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, which did not send a representative to the funeral of Pope Francis, has cause to be attentive. If this week’s Papal Conclave selects Philippines Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the Archbishop of Manila, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping would have reason for concern.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21584/persecution-of-christians-march

“Our imam had assured us that when you kill a kafir [infidel], Allah rewards one with a Jannah [paradise]… so I wanted to get that Jannah.” — Hanifa Hamiyat, a Muslim woman who poisoned and killed three people: a young Christian couple, as well as her own 18-year-old daughter, who accidentally ate the same poisoned food the Muslim woman had offered to the Christians; Morning Star News, March 28, 2025, Uganda.

“Pure genocide” experienced by Christians at the hands of Muslims, headlines…. – Nigera

“During the time I was there, Ali did bad things with me… He also beat me whenever I used to cry for my parents and told him that I wanted to go back home. I was kept locked in a room most of the time.” — Saba Masih, age 12, kidnapped, and forced by her kidnapper to convert to Islam and marry him. When her father reported the kidnapping to the police, “the police deliberately misstated Saba’s age,” writing down that she was 16, even though her father kept insisting she was 12; Morning Star News, February 7, 2025, Pakistan.

[E]ven in Indonesia, which is often presented as an exceptionally moderate Muslim nation, Christians are being persecuted for blasphemy…. — Morning Star News, March 21, 2025, Indonesia.

Coptic Christians, for some inexplicable reason, must have become the most careless and fire-prone people in the world: more Coptic churches than any other kind seem to keep “accidentally catching fire.” — Coptic Solidarity, March 17, 2025, Egypt.

The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of March 2025.

Uganda: On March 16, Hanifa Hamiyat, a Muslim woman poisoned and killed three people: a young Christian couple, as well as her own 18-year-old daughter, who accidentally ate the same poisoned food the Muslim woman had offered to the Christians for sharing Christ with the daughter. The Christian woman she killed was six months pregnant. When local leaders later questioned Hanifa, she confessed to poisoning the food, saying:

“I never intended to kill my daughter, but my plan was to kill the neighbors because of taking my daughter to church during this holy month of Ramadan. Our imam had assured us that when you kill a kafir [infidel], Allah rewards one with a Jannah [paradise] called Firdausi, so I wanted to get that Jannah.”

https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/05/01/why-india-and-pakistan-are-on-the-brink-of-war/

Not for the first time, nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India have exchanged fire in the disputed territory of Kashmir. The fighting follows last week’s jihadist attack, in which 26 non-Muslim tourists were killed at a popular beauty spot in Pahalgam, Kashmir. Responsibility for the attack has since been claimed by the Resistance Front, an affiliate of the Pakistan-based jihadist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, which orchestrated the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 175 people.

Although Islamabad denies any involvement, India’s response shows it doesn’t believe the denials. New Delhi has closed the border to Pakistan, expelled diplomats and ordered almost all Pakistani citizens to leave India. In an unprecedented move, it has also suspended the 65-year-old Indus Waters Treaty, which guarantees water supply to Pakistan and provides 80 per cent of the water Pakistan uses for agriculture. According to reports, the Indian authorities have now arrested 1,500 people in Kashmir and destroyed homes linked to the alleged attackers.

In turn, Pakistan has responded by shutting down airspace and halting trade, all the while insisting that the Pahalgam attack was a ‘false-flag operation’, supposedly staged by India as a pretext for war. Ominously, it has described the decision to restrict water supplies as an ‘act of war’. Pakistan says it has ‘reinforced’ its military on the grounds that an attack by India is ‘imminent’.

While a tentative ceasefire has existed between India and Pakistan since 2021, there are well-founded fears that current tensions will escalate well beyond cross-border gunfire and into a full-blown war. This is far from unimaginable, as India and Pakistan have fought four wars against each other since partition in 1947. A deep religious antagonism – Pakistan is a hardline Islamic society and India increasingly Hindu nationalist – makes them perennially uneasy bedfellows, even without the added complications of disputed borders.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21582/turkey-arrests-torture-censorship

On March 19, just days before the March 23 primaries of Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu — the CHP’s leading candidate who was thought by many possibly to win the next presidential election against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — was arrested on contested charges of “corruption and terrorism.”

A day earlier, on March 18, Imamoglu’s university degree was revoked, “citing ‘nullity’ and ‘clear error’ as grounds for cancellation… The decision affects Imamoglu and 27 other individuals whose academic credentials have now been invalidated….”

“All of the detainees, absolutely all of them, were tortured terribly while being detained. They were tortured terribly in the detention vehicle, while being taken to Gayrettepe [police station]. There are young people among them who are in really bad shape. What is terrible is that there is nothing [as evidence against them] in their investigation files, not even a photo against them. ….. [T]hese are revenge trials. The prosecutors who took testimonies of detainees yesterday, today do not talk with the lawyers, in any way… This is not a [proper] judiciary.” — Sezgin Tanrıkulu, MP from the CHP opposition party, March 27, 2025.

Meanwhile, Erdogan’s regime has arrested many dissident journalists and continues to apply financial and judicial pressure on media outlets that refuse to operate as mouthpieces for the regime.

“There was no chance for a defense…. The decision appears prepared beforehand.” — Elif Taşdöğen, attorney, medyanews.net, January 22, 2025.

Meanwhile, the government continues to pardon and release imprisoned Turkish Hizbullah terrorists.

The Erdogan regime’s support for Islamic terror groups such as Hamas and ISIS (Islamic State) is also well-documented…..

Meanwhile, do Europeans really want the possibility of up to 87 million more Turkish citizens flooding Europe?

On March 19, just days before the March 23 primaries of Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Istanbul’s Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu — the CHP’s leading candidate who was thought by many possibly to win the next presidential election against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — was arrested on contested charges of “corruption and terrorism.”