AFP: Iran’s hardline press on Monday accused the late pope John Paul II of compromising with Jews, pointing out that the Jewish state was not only an arch enemy of the Islamic republic. “Not only did the pope never condemn the crimes of the Zionist regime in the territories, the Vatican officially recognised its existence,” the Jomhuri Islami newspaper complained.
AFP
TEHRAN – Iran’s hardline press on Monday accused the late pope John Paul II of compromising with Jews, pointing out that the Jewish state was not only an arch enemy of the Islamic republic.
“Not only did the pope never condemn the crimes of the Zionist regime in the territories, the Vatican officially recognised its existence,” the Jomhuri Islami newspaper complained.
The paper also cautioned that the expansion of Islam “was a constant worry” for a pontiff it said “compromised with the Zionist regime”.
The Hamshahri newspaper, also on the right wing, complained that the late head of the Roman Catholic Church “caved in to pressure from the Jewish lobby”, despite “Jewish responsibility for the death of Christ”.
Despite the dissenting voices, there was nevertheless praise for the pope’s attempt to build bridges with the Muslim world.
“He tried to show the independent face of the Vatican, recovering Muslim public opinion lost through his rapprochement with the Jews,” Hamshahri wrote, noting that John Paul II was “the only Christian leader to have entered a mosque and kissed the Koran”.
The paper also praised his position after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, when he took the opposite view to those who “went on a crusade on the pretext of fighting terrorism.”
