The King - who is also a Shiite-Muslim leader - spoke out about the responsibility of "many Islamic groups and institutions" which claim they represent "real Islam" but instead encourage the "spread of an extremist ideology.

"With the proliferation of spread obscurantism in the name of religion, all Muslims, Christians and Jews, must draw up a common front to counter bigotry, hatred and withdrawal in all forms," the king urged.

The King called on fellow-citizens to be patient, to defend peace and to live in harmony with others.

He also asked them to "continue to uphold the values of their religion as well as their ancient traditions": this is the best way to respond to the jihadist phenomenon which is "alien to them".

"We strongly condemn the killing of innocent people," the King of Morocco added, in reference to the elderly French priest who had his throat slit inside his own church.

The monarch described the assassination of "a priest inside a church" as "unforgiveable madness". "Whoever incites murder and aggression" using the Quran to do so, "is not a Muslim", Mohammed said.

"Terrorists who act in the name of Islam are individuals who have been led astray and are condemned to eternal hell".

Finally, the king observed that jihadism "takes advantage of some young Muslims, especially in Europe, exploiting their ignorance of the Arabic language and true Islam to pass on false and wrong messages and promises".

Source

• Vatican Insider
• Image:www.moroccotomorrow.org

Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi told the Catholic News Agency on August 26 that "this news has no foundation".

The rumours spread following an August 25 article in Italian newspaper "Il Tempo", which said the number of jihadists in Italy is on the rise due to the influx of unidentified immigrants in the country.

According to the article, Islamic fundamentalists led by former ISIS head Al-Baghdadi plan to "raise the level of confrontation" in Europe.

The story alluded to Israeli sources who said that Pope Francis is "also in the crosshairs of ISIS" as "the greatest exponent of the Christian religions" and the "bearer of false truth".

Italy has tightened its security, although the stories appear unfounded.

Al-Baghdadi has been named as Caliph - the head of state and absolute monarch - of the self-proclaimed Islamic State in western Iraq and north-eastern Syria.

Meanwhile, the president of the German bishops' conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has appealed to Muslim leaders publicly to condemn Islamic terror in Iraq and to declare that violence in the name of God is never justified.

"I know the Islamic State (IS) is not Islam, but I hear too little about Shia and Sunni leaders getting together and publicly, but also forcefully, stating that there must never be violence in the name of God, never be murder in the name of God and never be suppression in the name of God," Cardinal Marx said in a statement published on the German bishops' conference's homepage.

He appealed to Muslim leaders to "set a sign of peace".

The Media Matters website set out several instances where Islamic leaders and groups have denounced ISIS violence in the past two months.

These figures and groups include the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Turkey's highest ranking Islamic cleric, the Muslim Council of Great Britain, the Islamic Society of North America.

Last week, Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti, Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, said that terrorism is anti-Islamic and said that groups like the Islamic State which practice violence are the "number one enemy of Islam".

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• The Tablet
• Media Matters
• Image: Worthy News

The forces fighting Israel are essentially the same as those trying to remove Bashar al-Assad in Syria and those seeking to take over Afghanistan on the borders with Russia - radical Sunni jihadists, most notably the group ISIS who look back to the tradition of the conquering caliphate.

Their sworn enemy is not primarily the liberal West or the imperial United States, but instead Catholic and Orthodox Christendom.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed leader of the Islamic State stretching from Iraq to Syria, has called on Muslims to rally behind his pan-Islamic project:

"Rush O Muslims to your state. It is your state.

"Syria is not for Syrians and Iraq is not for Iraqis. The land is for the Muslims, all Muslims.

"This is my advice to you. If you hold to it you will conquer Rome and own the world, if Allah wills."

This should come as no surprise to anyone.

For decades Sunni jihadists have waged war on Christian oriental communities across the Middle East and North Africa, while other Islamic extremists are fighting Russian Orthodoxy in the Caucasus and throughout Central Asia.

In novel and frightening ways, this pits the militant strands of Sunni Islam not only against the more traditional forms of Sufism, including the Alawites in Syria, but also the remnants of Christendom.

I shall return to the importance of Christendom in due course. But first, a number of points need to be made about the contemporary global geopolitical situation.

The end of Westphalia and the rise of "neo-medievalism"

To begin with, we are witnessing the death throes of the Westphalian system that was dominated by national states and transnational markets, in which great powers could simply buy off small countries and rule by proxy. Continue reading

Sources

• ABC Religion and Ethics
• Image: The Telegraph
• See also: Christendom at War, in Catholic Vote and Persecution of Christians by ISIS contradicts idea of a Caliphate in The Conversation.