An Italian Catholic bishop recently suggested he would be willing to let Islam supplant Christianity if it meant saving migrants.
Speaking with reporters earlier this month, the former bishop of Caserta, Raffaele Nogaro, appeared to have misunderstood the command of Christ to “baptize all nations.”
“Morally and as a man of faith I would be willing to turn all churches into mosques if it were useful to the cause and if it helped to save the lives of poor and unhappy men and women, because Christ did not come to earth to build churches but to help men regardless of race, religion, or nationality,” said Nogaro.
Nogaro is either speaking falsity or expressing ignorance with such a statement. Does he not know that the very church he represents is one that Christ himself “built”? Regardless of how Protestants and Catholics view Matthew 16:18, the passage inarguably states: “I will build my church.”
So, contrary to what Nogaro states, Christ actually did come to earth to build churches, since those churches are the means through which He can “help men regardless of race, religion, or nationality.” Without such churches, no vehicle of grace exists, and therefore no offer of help.
Nogaro also said that those who oppose unfettered immigration from the Islamic world are guilty of “serious sin.”
“And instead there are politicians who in their speeches continue to preach of deportations and the worst thing is that they do it with the crown and the rosary in hand and taking the name of God in vain, a very serious sin,” he said.