What will the pope say next?

Pope Leo says God doesn't listen to the prayers of those who "wage war." Really? History tells a different story. Pope Urban II and Pope Gregory X both called for crusades to take back the Holy Land from the Muslims. And then there is the significance of the Battle of Lepanto that saved Europe from Islam's advance. Had the West not "waged war" we would likely all be answering the Islamic call to prayer today. Yes, blessed are the peacemakers, but sometimes peace has to be won through war.

The Church Militant

I like this picture.

We're known as the Church Militant, not the Church picnic. And the crusader battling under the sign of Christ carrying both his sword and rosary is a powerful image.

The First Crusade prevented the Islamic Turks from overrunning Europe. Had the Turks succeeded, Christian civilization in the West would have died out. All the women of the West would be veiled and subjugated as second class citizens. It is a fate we may yet come to experience.

I hope we're never eager to fight physically, but always quick to take up spiritual arms against evil. The arms of charity are always preferable to the arms of weaponry. And reflect on this, the only time Jesus took up "arms" was when he used a cord to drive the animals out of the temple and overturned the moneychangers tables. When He Himself was taken by the temple guards He told Peter to put up his sword and He healed Malchus whose ear had been cut off, His last miracle.

We are a little too eager to fight and usually wars line the pockets of politicians and the captains of commerce. How many have really been necessary?