OPINION:
It seems very strange that the pope is not protecting the Christians in the Muslim world and in the areas controlled by Palestinian Muslim Arabs. For example, in Bethlehem under the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) control, the Christian population declined from 85 percent to 15 percent of the total. This occurred starting during Yasser Arafat’s leadership and has continued into Mahmoud Abbas’ control of the area.
In Gaza the Christians are afraid to walk the streets or go to church. In the meantime the pope is totally quiet and not defending Christianity from the Islamic State and other Islamic extremists. Millions of Christians have been displaced or abused in the Middle East and Africa, yet there has been no leadership from the pope to save the Christians being ousted, discriminated against and even killed by Muslim extremists.
The only countries in the Middle East where the Christians are safe and have increased in numbers are the Jewish state of Israel and Egypt under President Fatah el-Sissi. Yet the pope does not praise either country, and actually has castigated Israeli policy.
ANTON LOEW
New York
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