(The Battle of Lepanto, 7 October 1571)
One of the unexpected ironies of modern times was the establishment of a Catholic church, the first and only one, in the Emirate of Qatar within the last decade. The former emir saw it as a concession to the considerable Christian (Catholic) community of expatriate workers.
After the rise of Islam in Arabia and its conquests, all Christian institutions were destroyed and adherents to the teaching of Christ outlawed if not martyred. For Islam, the Quran is Allah’s book of laws for the conduct of worldly affairs – separation of God’s world from the state is itself haram, contrasting diametrically with the Christian precept: “render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s."
Moreover, it was a matter of astonishment for the present writer that the dedication of this church in Qatar was to Our Lady of the Rosary – the title, equivalent to Our Lady of Victories, and also significantly resonating the words uttered at Fatima in 1917: “I am …More