This old comment of mine on Jihad Watch (way back in January of 2006, when I called myself "Dr. Pepper") is worth reprising, with some tart observations on the pusillanimous pussification of the modern Catholic Church with regard to Islam. Most of my comment comprised extended quotations from a report by the National Catholic Reporter, although as the reader will find out, their archives apparently no longer connect the link to the article. Nevertheless, I repost it here, with my spare but apposite commentary in square brackets here and there:
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Marco d’Aviano, known as a fiery orator, persuaded European Christian monarchs to lift [i.e., to repel] the Ottoman siege against Vienna in 1683. A biography records that during the fighting, d’Aviano brandished a crucifix at the Turks, shouting, “Behold the cross of the Lord: Flee, enemy bands!”
Well known in the 17th century as a preacher of penance and a miracle worker, d’Aviano is thus something of a patron saint for European Christians alarmed over Muslim immigration and fundamentalism in Islamic states.
Italian director Renzo Martinelli, who is making a film based on the life of Marco d’Aviano, asserted that “without him Italian women would today be wearing the burqa.”
John Paul, however, proposed d’Aviano not as a model of resistance to Islam, but as an apostle of Europe’s Christian identity. [Heaven forbid the Pope should propose him as a model of resistance to Islam!]
To date there has been little negative reaction in the Islamic world, said Fr. Justus Lacunza, a Missionary of Africa who heads the Pontifical Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies. He predicted that the beatification would not cause serious problems in the Muslim-Christian relationship. [There would have been, had the Pope had the chutzpah to propose d'Aviano as a model of resistance to Islam, DUH!]
At the same time, Lacunza [said that] one can ask whether beatifying him now is an unnecessary mode of “adding fuel to the fire.” [Yes, we can never be too careful about Muslim sensitivity...]
Politicians associated with anti-immigration stances [i.e., "far right" politicians in Europe] were quick to laud d’Aviano’s beatification.
“This will make Christianity wake up, posing de facto the basis for a second crusade, this one in defense against an Islamic assault, after the first that defeated communism,” said Italian parliamentarian Edouard Ballaman. He led a delegation from the far-right Italian political party, Northern League, known for its opposition to immigration, to the beatification ceremony.
Church leaders, however, attempted to head off an anti-Islamic interpretation.
D’Aviano “should not be instrumentalized for today’s political purposes,” said Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria.
[Cardinal] Schönborn ... also said the Capuchin was no bloodthirsty crusader. When the imperial armies defeated the Ottomans at Belgrade in 1688, for example, d’Aviano interceded to save the lives of the surrendering Muslim troops.
John Paul II made a point of outreach to Muslims. The former Pope met with Muslims more than 60 times, and he was the first Pope in history to enter a mosque. The Pope visited the Grand Mosque of Omayyaid in Damascus, Syria, on May 6, 2001.
Aside from his military and spiritual legacy, tradition holds that d’Aviano left one other trace in history. When the Viennese decided to use milk to lighten the thick coffee left behind by the Ottoman invaders, they named the resulting drink for d’Aviano’s religious order: cappuccino.
[Catholics, Europeans -- and Westerners in general -- are still trying to use milk (of human kindness) to lighten, if not whitewash, the strong venomous black coffee of Islam...]
Postscript:
I rather like another, briefer comment I made on that same thread:
"In our PC climate today, it would be utterly unthinkable for a Battle of Lepanto to happen in the same way -- except after Muslims had mass-murdered hundreds of thousands or even millions of Infidels first. If anyone tried a Battle of Lepanto today, the Pope would probably be among the voices denouncing it."