"Schönborn warns of Islamic conquest of Europe" (ORF), "Schönborn, Many Muslims want a conquest of Europe '" (OE24). The headlines can herald a departure from the current suspect "Welcoming Path". But is that true really?
Active advocate of an unconditional border opening
Vienna archbishop, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, was thought to be one of the most active advocates of an unconditional border opening for mass immigration. A process which goes forward under the heading of "Refugee Aid", and since last year, has dominated the political debate not only in Austria.
Church institutions are among the main service providers that organize the reception of refugees professionally on behalf of the state. However, a majority of them are economic migrants, as government politicians now admit. The proportion of genuine refugees under the international conventions is given, depending on the estimate, as 20-33 percent. For each genuine refugee therefore up to four economic migrants has entered the country.
However, Cardinal Schönborn refused, together with Caritas and much of the political elite, to makeany differentiation. A refusal which corresponds to the attitude of the immigration party par excellence, the Greens, which was acquired in 2015 for still unknown reasons by both Austrian government parties, the Social Democratic SPÖ and the Christian Democratic People's Party. The bold slogan displayed, Refugee Welcome comes from the vocabulary of the extreme left.
Voting advice for candidates of the immigration parties par excellence
Last May, Cardinal Schönborn, in the context of an election campaign dominated by the subjects of mass immigration and Islamization, made a bizarre recommendation for voting- which he did not want to be understood as such - for the Federal presidential candidate of the Greens, Alexander Van der Bellen. The president of the Austrian Bishops' Conference caused a stir with the statement:
"Nobody has the truth, also not yourself."
In Catholic circles in Vienna, the statement unusual for a Catholic bishop, was evaluated as a benevolent signal to the Masons. Van der Bellen was accepted by a Masonic Lodge in Innsbruck in 1975. In contrast, his opponent, Norbert Hofer, of the nationalist conservative Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) belongs to the Order of St. George, which seems to impress the Cardinal far less.
Salzburg Auxiliary Bishop Andreas Laun had previously responded to voting recommendations of Catholic organizations for Van der Bellen after which the diocesan bishops, including the Archbishop of Vienna, were enveloped in silence:
"That Christians are either thinking about or, even worse, are already brainwashed so that they are ready, rather are prepared to choose a declared enemy of God and of the Church - and want also to to seduce others into their error - shows in what state certain circles in the church are found. "
The election was annulled by the Constitutional Court because of irregularities and must be repeated in the autumn. Whether Schönborn repeats or not his election manifesto, which no one was supposed to, repeated or not, should be the test of truth for his statements made last Sunday and the credibility of the Church in Austria.
Consistently wrongly analysed mass immigration
In December 2015 Schönborn had sharply criticized the "refugee policies" of the Austrian neighboring countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland in the Slovak weekly magazine, Týždeň. He accused the governments of these countries of being "blinded by a vicious propaganda". He is "ashamed" that the rejection of a mass immigration by these countries is supported "in so-called Christian arguments" such s the "fear of Islamisation". A "rational calculation" shows that Europe "needs millions of immigrants to maintain our lifestyle." Schönborn revealingly honestly indicated that in reality there are very different motivations behind the "refugee crisis".
Still on 13 March 13 Schönborn reiterated in the ORF television programme, Pressestunde (Press Hour) that the Austrian Church hierarchy "consistently has wrongly analyzed mass immigration" (see The ecclesiastical "refugee" delusion continues - Cardinal Schönborn's dangerous illusions and the decline of the church). The attitude of the church hierarchy was marked by "clandestine agreements, self-censorship, confused talk" and "siding with the powerful," says the Catholic theologian and pro-lifer, Wolfram Schrems.
But what does Cardinal Schönborn say now?
"Today 333 years ago Vienna was saved. Will there now be a third attempt at an Islamic conquest of Europe? Many Muslims think and wish that and say: This is Europe at the end. And I think that what Moses does today in the reading and what God the Merciful does with his younger son, we should ask for Europe today: Lord, give us another chance! Do not forget that we are your people just as Moses reminds him: It's YOUR people, YOU have led them out, YOU have sanctified them, it is YOUR people. "
The statement is less spectacular than some media stressed. And yet, from the mouth of the Vienna archbishop, it is somewhat spectacular to hear that he is convinced that "many Muslims think and wish" that there is a "third attempt of Islamic conquest of Europe". It was not a real "warning", such as claimed by ORF, however.
Where did the cardinal say it?
The statement came on September 11, at the end of his homily for this year's Feast of the Holy Name of Mary in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral. The festival is an annual meeting, which was founded by the Franciscan Petrus Pavlicek in 1947 as the prayer campaign, the Rosary Crusade of Expiation.
Cardinal Schönborn is reputed to be adaptable to each audience. Is this true for his sermon last Sunday? Was it a realization after a process of reflection that led the Cardinal to think that "Europe is at the end", that Europe "is well on the way to forfeiting its Christian heritage"? Or was the Cardinal only paying lip service given a pious and "conservative" target audience?
The relativisation
When his unusual statements were found to be spreading fast on the Internet and were interpreted as a departure from the previous "Welcoming Path" in matters of immigration and asylum, the Cardinal promptly announced a correction. On Twitter, he was eager not to let a false impression arise:
"Do not understand my sermon as a call for repelling the refugees".
He also referred to the website of the Archdiocese of Vienna, on which the "the intention of the sermon was again clarified", as ORF reported. The archdiocese had published the sermon as a text and to be sure added a commentary to prevent any misunderstanding arising.
The blame is not with Islam, nor the Islamists, the cardinal let it be known. The "Christian heritage of Europe we (have) put in danger ourselves."
The commentary explains: "Islamism could indeed be the beneficiary [...]. But hope lies in the mercy of God "Then the comment is even clearer: "From the context, it is also clear that the Cardinal is not entering a defensive struggle to defend Christian values against Islam ".
In Sonntag, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese, Cardinal Schönborn gave the "following clarification":
"Europe's Christian heritage is at risk because we Europeans have squandered it. It is nothing to do with Islam or even the refugees. It is clear that many Islamists would like to take advantage of our weakness, but they are not responsible for our weakness. We Europeans ourselves are responsible. "
So nothing new in Vienna? "Nothing new," confirms a Viennese informant.
