Credible threats against the Pope?

Iraq's ambassador to the Vatican is saying yes:

ISIS has made 'credible threats' to kill Pope Francis, a top Iraqi diplomat has warned just days before the Pontiff visits the mainly Muslim nation of Albania.

Habeeb Al Sadr issued the stark warning today after Vatican officials insisted there was no threat to his safety - and said he will not ride in the bulletproof 'Popemobile' of his predecessor Benedict XVI.

Mr Al Sadr, Iraq's ambassador to the Holy See, admitted he knew of no 'specific facts' or 'operational projects' but said: 'Just put two and two together... They want to kill the Pope.'

The ambassador said the spread of extremists across the world meant Pope Francis is at risk anywhere - in Muslim countries, on trips to Britain and the U.S. and even in Rome.

He told the Italian newspaper La Nazione: 'Threats against the Pope are credible. Public statements and crimes against Christianity by ISIS are a fact. Just put two and two together.

'Let me be clear, I am not aware of specific facts or operational projects. But what has been said by the self-declared "Islamic state" terrorists is clear. They want to kill the Pope.

'I think they could try to hit him during his travels or even in Rome, because there are members of ISIS who are not Arabs but also Canadians, Americans, French, British and Italian.

'This gang of criminals does not merely threaten. In Iraq they have violated or destroyed some of the holiest sites of Shia Islam. They have hit places of worship in the Yazidi religion and Christianity. They forced 150,00 Christians to flee Mosul.'

The Vatican is dismissing the threat:

Despite warnings that the pope may be targeted by Islamic State-aligned terrorists, the Vatican has said that Francis will not be changing his plans to visit Albania, which has a majority Sunni Muslim population.

“There is no reason to change the pope’s itinerary,” Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said. “We are obviously paying attention but there is no need for concern or a change to his program in Albania.”

Kathy Schiffer speaks for many of us when she writes:

I understand that Pope Francis’s deep humility makes him reluctant to focus on himself and his own personal needs.  The shepherd, he says, should “smell like the sheep”–and he wants to be there, with his sheep, with the people he leads.   Sometimes, though, he needs to be mindful, not of his personal wants, but of the singular importance of his divinely issued mission.  Pope Francis, as leader of 1.2 billion Catholics around the world, has expressed his desire to go “to the periphery.”  But the Pope is a target in good times; and with the special challenge of Islamic hatred fueling violence around the world, this is not a time for business-as-usual.

The open-topped Jeep, the minimal security staff, the broadly publicized agenda–these are evidence that Rome is not taking seriously the very real threat of Islamic militancy.

Your Holiness, the world needs your message.  Your characteristic trust and openness has a certain charm–but this is not the appropriate response to this very real threat.  Please reconsider the plans for this week’s trip, and accept the security staff and special protections which will ensure a successful visit to Albania, and a successful trip back to Rome.

Praying here for the Lord to send angels to form a hedge of protection around il Papa on this trip and beyond.  Lord, hear our prayer.

Comments

[D]

There are two separate threads here:
1. The level of threats against the Pope
It doesn't require a lot of research to deduce that the threat level to the Pope's safety is certainly higher now than what it was a few years ago. Regardless of the venue, with all these jihadis popping up all over the place it makes sense that the risk is higher.
The risk was high even before now (remember Ali Akca?) but it's certainly elevated now.
Overall, more protection I would think is very much needed for the Pope.

2. Albania
Whenever there is a discussion about Albania, the muslim population there always comes up emphasizing the threat there, which shows the lack of basic knowledge about Albania itself.
First off, there is a saying in Albania translated roughly "there is no forest without hogs". The arrests in Australia show that there is no such thing as a safe area/country for evil-doers.
So, yes, there could be evil-doers in Albania, however, the likelihood of that being the case is not higher, rather likely lower than say, in the US or UK or other western countries.
The question would come up: but it's a mostly muslim country and for a lack of a better term, muslims seem to have quite a high rate of evil-doers nowadays. The latter part I think it's certainly true. Discarding political correctness, the cruelties we've seen in the, oh, say last decade have been almost exclusive to muslim populations (I'm not saying they started during the last decade, I'm saying they've accelerated in the last decade).

However, if anyone reads anything about Albania will notice that national identity has always trumped everything else (religion too). Albania is a muslim-majority country but has sizeable christian catholic and christian orthodox groups (I believe the ratios are ball-park 70%/12%/18% give or take a few percentage points). I can't recall off the top of my head what the split is between sunni vs bektashi in the muslim part.
I am not including here smaller groups like jewish, protestant, bahaii etc. etc. etc.
Historically Albania has had (and does) a lot of things that go backwards but luckily religious relationship has been one of the good things going for the country. I do believe that's primarily because again, national identity trumps other elements.
As an example, the Pope's aircraft will land at "Mother Teresa Intl. Airport" - yes, Mother Teresa was Albanian. Does anyone think if there were religious schisms the airport would have been named that way?
Oh, by the way, Albania is one of the very few (the only?) countries which had more jews in its population at the end of WWII than at the beginning with only members of one family having been lost in the holocaust. Don't take my word for it - you can read more here: http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/besa/introduction.asp
The point being that Albania is mostly muslim but first and foremost is Albanian. Protecting their identity has been what has saved the nation during its entire history and Albanians aren't about to change that any time soon.

When talking about islamization, the biggest risk is the money that flows from the Middle East (in Albania too) to build mosques etc. That risk is similar to other countries, however the ground I assume is more fertile where is more poverty. It is a risk in all Europe and all the World. It is that spigot that must be shut off permanently to make a difference.

So, yes, there is a risk in Albania too, but no more and no less than, say in UK, Italy or US.

The focus on muslims only doesn't really help to identify what the world can do to get rid of these evil beings sprouting everywhere. There are a lot of cultural, historical, tribal and national elements at play, which combined with the religious elements have found fertile grounds in ME and due to the money and influence of those ME countries is spreading all over the world. Tackling all those elements will tell us how to defeat them. But for now, that would run afoul of the PC police but at some point I hope the world will wake up and think it through.

BTW - I am muslim, proud to be American and proud to be Albanian.

[Rick aka Mr. Brutally Honest]

D, thanks for posting your intriguing and interesting thoughts here... I hope you'll be a regular...