Vatican official caught making advances to young man insists he’s not gay, but was only pretending to be gay

Vatican official insists he’s not gay
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press WriterSun Oct 14, 1:06 PM ET
A Vatican official suspended after being caught on hidden camera making advances to a young man says he is not gay and was only pretending to be gay as part of his work.
In an interview published Sunday, Monsignor Tommaso Stenico told La Repubblica daily he frequented online gay chat rooms and met with gay men as part of his work as a psychoanalyst. He said that he pretended to be gay in order to gather information about “those who damage the image of the Church with homosexual activity.”
Vatican teaching holds that gays and lesbians should be treated with compassion and dignity but that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.”
The Vatican said Saturday it was suspending Stenico after he was secretly filmed making advances to a young man and asserting that gay sex was not sinful during a television program on gay priests broadcast Oct. 1 on La7, a private Italian television network.
While Stenico’s face was blurred in the footage, church officials recognized his Vatican office in the background and suspended him pending a church investigation.
There have long been allegations that there are gays in the Roman Catholic priesthood, but the Stenico case is unusual because he is a relatively high-ranking Vatican official. He heads an office in the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy — the main office overseeing all the world’s priests.
The case comes at a particularly sensitive time, just two years after the Vatican issued tough new guidelines effectively barring gays from the priesthood — seen in large part as a response to complaints about a “gay subculture” in U.S. seminaries.
The guidelines say the church cannot admit men to the priesthood who practice homosexuality, or have “deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support so-called gay culture.” However, the document said that if the gay tendencies were just a “transitory problem,” the men can be ordained deacons if they successfully overcome those tendencies for three years.
In the Repubblica interview, Stenico said he had never been gay and was heterosexual, but remained faithful to his vow of celibacy. He said he expected to be fully exonerated after a review.
“It’s all false; it was a trap. I was a victim of my own attempts to contribute to cleaning up the church with my psychoanalyst work,” La Repubblica quoted Stenico as saying.
Stenico said he had met with the young man and pretended to talk about homosexuality “to better understand this mysterious and faraway world which, by the fault of a few people — among them some priests — is doing so much harm to the church,” La Repubblica quoted him as saying.
Italy’s Sky TG24 said Stenico had written a letter to his superiors with a similar defense.
Calls placed to Stenico’s home and office went unanswered Sunday.
In 2006, the Vatican denied Italian newspaper reports that an official in the office of the Secretary of State had been involved in a fight with police after he was stopped in a neighborhood frequented by transvestites and male prostitutes.
In 2002, a former official in the papal household, Archbishop Juliusz Paetz, resigned as archbishop of the Polish city of Poznan over accusations that he had made sexual advances toward young clerics. He denied the accusations.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071014/ap_on_re_eu/vatican_monsignor_suspended_1

Pope Benedict: Stop using embryos for cell research

Stop embryonic cell research, Pope urges
Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:59am EDT
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict appealed to scientists on Thursday to stop using human embryos in stem cell research, saying it violated the dignity of human life.
The Vatican supports stem cell research so long as it does not harm embryos, which the Catholic Church argues are humans from the moment of conception.
“The destruction of human embryos, whether to acquire stem cells or for any other purpose, contradicts the purported intent of researchers, legislators and public health officials to promote human welfare,” the Pontiff wrote in a letter to South Korea’s new ambassador to the Holy See.
The Church supports research on adult cells and promising alternatives to embryonic research, such as the use of amniotic fluid protecting fetuses in the uterus.
The Pope said such research methods “harmonize with the aforementioned intent (to promote human welfare) by respecting the life of the human being at every stage of his or her existence”.
South Korea announced plans earlier this year to remove some of the blocks to human embryonic stem cell research in place since a 2006 scandal involving forged data in stem cell studies.

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSL1132717220071011?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Bishop Would Deny Communion to Giuliani

Bishop Would Deny Communion to Giuliani
Oct 3, 10:02 PM (ET)By CHERYL WITTENAUER
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Roman Catholic Archbishop Raymond Burke, who made headlines last presidential season by saying he’d refuse Holy Communion to John Kerry, has his eye on Rudy Giuliani this year. Giuliani’s response: “Archbishops have a right to their opinion.”
Burke, the archbishop of St. Louis, was asked if he would deny Communion to Giuliani or any other presidential candidate who supports abortion rights.
“If any politician approached me and he’d been admonished not to present himself, I’d not give it,” Burke told The Associated Press Wednesday. “To me, you have to be certain a person realizes he is persisting in a serious public sin.”
Asked if the same would apply to politicians who support the death penalty or pre-emptive war, he said, “It’s a little more complicated in that case.”
Asked about Burke’s comments Wednesday while campaigning in New Hampshire, Giuliani said:
“Archbishops have a right to their opinion, you know. There’s freedom of religion in this country. There’s no established religion, and archbishops have a right to their opinion. Everybody has a right to their opinion.”
Burke says that anyone administering Communion – ordained priest or lay minister – is morally obligated to deny it to Catholic politicians who support an abortion-rights position contrary to church teaching.
Burke published an article in April in a church law journal that explored whether it is ever appropriate to deny Communion. Some U.S. bishops interpret church teaching to say that an individual examination of conscience, not a minister, should dictate whether a person is worthy to receive the sacrament.
Burke said denial of Communion is not a judgment. “What the state of his soul is is between God and him,” he said.
The nation’s bishops are expected to discuss the question again in meetings next month. Burke said he has made no policy proposal, simply laid out his thoughts in the article.
Burke will not be attending the bishops’ meeting because of a prior commitment in Rome.
His stance on Giuliani was made public earlier Wednesday in an interview with The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
A number of other Catholic presidential candidates also have abortion-rights stances in apparent conflict with church teaching. Giuliani is the only Catholic among the top-tier candidates.
Giuliani, a Republican, sometimes evokes his Catholic upbringing as he campaigns for president, yet he declines to say whether he is a practicing Catholic. He has been a longtime supporter of abortion rights.
While it is unlikely Giuliani or any other presidential candidate will present himself to Burke for Communion in the next few months, the archbishop’s comments revive an issue that could be a factor for churchgoing voters.
In 2004, Burke said he would deny Communion to Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee who supports abortion rights. Several other bishops have said politicians should refrain from the sacrament if they oppose the church on such an important issue.
As for Giuliani, when a voter in Iowa asked him in August if he was a “traditional, practicing Roman Catholic,” he said: “My religious affiliation, my religious practices and the degree to which I am a good or not-so-good Catholic, I prefer to leave to the priests.”
Last week, Giuliani compared the scrutiny of his personal life marked by three marriages to the biblical story in which Jesus said only someone who was free of all sin should try to stone an adulterous woman.
“I’m guided very, very often about, ‘Don’t judge others, lest you be judged,’” Giuliani told the Christian Broadcasting Network.
“I have very, very strong views on religion that come about from having wanted to be a priest when I was younger, having studied theology for four years in college,” he said.
“So it’s a very, very important part of my life,” he said. “But I think in a democracy and in a government like ours, my religion is my way of looking at God, and other people have other ways of doing it, and some people don’t believe in God. I think that’s unfortunate. I think their life would be a lot fuller if they did, but they have that right.”
Republicans have been most successful with religious voters – President Bush, a Methodist, won the Catholic vote over Kerry, a Catholic, in 2004 – but Democratic candidates are fighting back and have spoken frequently about their religious beliefs this year.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071004/D8S24K980.html

Parishioner Suing Church for $50,000 Over Bad Sermon

Critical mass
Priest’s alleged response to criticism of his homily leaves parishioner so angry he’s suing the church and diocese
October 3, 2007
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO Staff Reporter
Angel Llavona considered his priest open to honest criticism.
And so after one Sunday mass last year, Llavona telephoned the Crystal Lake priest and left a message that went something like this: Your sermon stunk.
Teacher Angel Llavona, inset, is suing his Crystal Lake Church for making public a phone message he left with his priest. (Rich Hein/Sun-Times)
The Rev. Luis Alfredo Rios, a priest at St. Thomas the Apostle Church, then did something equally brazen, Llavona claims. He played the private phone message during Sunday mass and asked his flock, “What should we do? Should we send him to hell or to another parish?”
Now Llavona, who was sitting in church when his message was played, is suing Rios and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford. Llavona claims in the lawsuit filed this week in McHenry County that he was defamed and suffered “immediate emotional distress, embarrassment and humiliation.”
Llavona says the humiliation forced him to change parishes. He is seeking a minimum of $50,000 in damages.
Llavona, a teacher at Maine West High School in Des Plaines, served as a volunteer with the parish’s religious education program from September of 2005 to April of 2006.
“Disharmony or disagreement between a priest and his parishioners is always unfortunate,” said diocese spokeswoman Penny Wiegert, reading from a statement Tuesday. “We hope that a peaceful solution at St. Thomas the Apostle can be established outside the court.”
Rios could not be reached for comment and Llavona, raking leaves outside his Algonquin home, didn’t want to discuss the case.
In his lawsuit, Llavona claims he left a phone message on Rios’ private parish line one day after the September 24, 2006, mass. At the time, Rios was new to the Crystal Lake Church. The message: “Father Rios, this is Angel Llavona. I attended mass on Sunday and I have seen poor homilies, but yesterday broke all records.”
‘Oh, I love it’
Llavona then says in his lawsuit that he tried to arrange a meeting with Rios, but the priest refused. Then, Llavona claims, Rios played the phone message on Oct. 1, 2006, during two Sunday mass services. According to Llavona, Rios told the congregation, “This is the person in charge of religious education here last year. That’s why it is no surprise to me [that] we had the kind of religious education we had. That’s why we didn’t get altar boys. What should we do? Should we send him to hell or to another parish?”
One parishioner interviewed this week said she was in church when Rios played Llavona’s phone message. She said she had a hard time hearing the message but had only praise for Rios and his abilities as a priest.
“Oh, I love it,” Guadalupe Zambrano, 40, said of Rios’ preaching. “He always talk strong, like he wants to tell everybody how to love God.”
Zambrano said Rios is the kind of priest who encourages parents to take part in their children’s religious education and says it’s clear that Rios prepares diligently for his sermons. “Everything he says in the homily . . . you get it right away,” Zambrano said.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/585247,CST-NWS-priest03.article

Catholic Georgetown University Will Now Fund Law Students to Lobby for Abortion

SHOCKER: Catholic Georgetown U. Will Now Fund Law Students to Lobby for Abortion
Oldest Catholic university in U.S.
By John-Henry Westen

WASHINGTON, DC, September 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A change of policy at Georgetown University Law Center will permit the University – which is the oldest Catholic university in the nation – to give grants to students who lobby for abortion for agencies such as Planned Parenthood. The Hoya, the Georgetown University newspaper, reports on its front page today about the policy change.The policy change was announced September 7 by Law Center Dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff in a letter published in the Law Center’s student newspaper. The decision comes after the Law Center got flack from pro-abortion students and faculty for directing student group Equal Justice Foundation, which received University funds, to refuse funding to a student who applied for funding to intern at Planned Parenthood.The Hoya reports that the University Law Center will no longer consider the mission of organizations in determining grants, as was the case for the initial denial of funding for the Planned Parenthood position. “In partnership with the Equal Justice Foundation, the Law Center will provide grants to all students who work on law-related issues at a public interest organization or government agency,” wrote Aleinikoff.Joy Welan the president of the Catholic university’s Law Center pro-abortion group – “Law Students for Choice” – rejoiced at the decision admitting that her group met with Aleinikoff several times over the policy. “We think that this compromise is fantastic news, for students who are interested in pursuing careers in reproductive rights advocacy,” Welan told The Hoya. “The dean has taken a huge step forward in advancing Georgetown’s commitment to public interest law, and we applaud him for it.”Daniel Hughes, president of the Law Center’s pro-life group – “Progressive Alliance for Life” – said plainly that the Catholic University was now funding abortion advocacy.”Aleinikoff has a radically secular, morally relativistic vision for the Law Center,” Hughes said in an e-mail to The Hoya. “He and other administrators have crafted a dishonest, legalistic ‘compromise’ that will allow students to gain assured, extensive Georgetown funding for pro-abortion legal work.”Spokesmen for the University Administration did not return calls from LifeSiteNews.com prior to press time.The Archdiocese of Washington did not comment on the development. Mark Adkinson, Communications Assistant at the Archdiocese of Washington, told LifeSiteNews.com that the Archdiocese does not oversee the university since it is in the control of the Jesuit Order. To express concerns to the Apostolic Nuncio:Archbishop Pietro Sambi 3339 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W, Washington, DC, USA Telephone: (202)333-7121 Fax: 337-4036 To contact Georgetown UniversityPresident John J. DeGioia Office of the President 204 Healy Hall 37th & O Streets, NW Washington, DC 20057 Tel: (202) 687-4134 Fax: (202) 687-6660 Email: http://contact.georgetown.edu/index.cfm?Action=Mail&NetI…

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/sep/07092605.html

US Anglican bishop defects to Catholic Church in row over gays

US bishop defects to Catholic Church in row over gays
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent, The Times
In the most high-profile American defection to date in the row over gays in the Anglican Church, a diocesan bishop has explained why he is to be received into the Roman Catholic Church.
The Bishop of Rio Grande, Jeffrey Steenson, who was educated at Oxford and is in the Anglican Catholic tradition of the Church, said that to remain in his post in the Episcopal Church may lead him “to a place apart from Scripture and tradition”.
In a statement to American bishops meeting in New Orleans in an attempt to avert schism, in which he requested permission to resign both from his post and his orders, the Bishop Steenson said: “I am concerned that if I do not listen to and act in accordance with conscience now, it will become harder and harder to hear God’s voice.”
He said that he had already received counsel and prayers from the Presiding Bishop, the Right Rev Katharine Jefferts Schori. “Now I come before you, asking that you give me the necessary canonical permission to resign as ordinary of my diocese. I should like to do this by the end of this year, and afterwards, in proper order, to be released from my ordination vows in the Episcopal Church.”
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His defection will come as a further blow to an Anglican province already reeling from the plans of up to five dioceses to seek leadership from a conservative province outside the US. Insiders say that the small but wealthy Episcopal Church, with about two-to-three million Sunday worshippers, is losing hundreds of people every year.
The row is ostensibly over the 2003 consecration of the openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson to New Hampshire, but in reality it is about the wider issue of Biblical interpretation and the place of tradition in a modern church in the secular world. The Church is about to be riven by litigation as many of the departing Episcopalians attempt to take their church buildings with them.
The Right Rev Steenson indicated that those who want to go should go quietly.
He said: “I hope my decision will encourage others who believe they can no longer remain in the Episcopal Church, to respect its laws and to withdraw as courteously as possible for the sake of the Christian witness.”
Referring to another meeting of the Church’s bishops this year, he said: “I was more than a little surprised when such a substantial majority declared the polity of the Episcopal Church to be primarily that of an autonomous and independent local church relating to the wider Anglican Communion by voluntary association. This is not the Anglicanism in which I was formed, inspired by the Oxford movement and the Catholic Revival in the Church of England. Perhaps something was defective in my education for ministry in the Episcopal Church, but, honestly, I did not recognise the church that this House described on that occasion.”
Committing himself to seeking unity with the Catholic Church, he accused the Episcopal Church of making a “decisive turn away” from efforts to preserve the communion. He said: “It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Episcopal Church has rejected the discipline of communion but wants it only on its own terms.”
He spoke as bishops in the US persevered in their attempts to save the Anglican Church from schism with a scheme to offer alternative oversight to traditionalist parishes that cannot accept the ministry of pro-gay bishops.
The scheme mirrors the “flying bishops” scheme that saved the Church of England froms schism by allowing traditionalist bishops to care for parishes that could not accept women priests after the General Synod voted to ordain them in 1992.
The scheme will not go far enough for some dioceses in the US.
The “message” of the US bishops will be published later today after nearly a week of tense discussions in New Orleans, including talks with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. It stops short of the schismatic and provocative act of defiance that was feared by many would result this week but will not go far enough to placate conservatives.
In an early draft of their message, the bishops emphasised that the US Church “needs the Anglican Communion” and acknowledged that their action in 2003 in consecrating the the Right Rev Robinson had caused “great difficulty for some in continuing effective mission and ministry in their own cultural contexts”.
However, they urged Dr Williams to invite the Right Rev Robinson to the 2008 Lambeth Conference, which he has not yet done, and urged him to appoint a group of bishops to find a way to include him.
They said: “We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God’s children, including gay and lesbian persons, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ’s Church.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2529027.ece

Pope to make climate action a moral obligation

Pope to make climate action a moral obligation
By James Macintyre
Published: 22 September 2007
The Pope is expected to use his first address to the United Nations to deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a “moral” cause for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following.
The New York speech is likely to contain an appeal for sustainable development, and it will follow an unprecedented Encyclical (a message to the wider church) on the subject, senior diplomatic sources have told The Independent.
It will act as the centrepiece of a US visit scheduled for next April – the first by Benedict XVI, and the first Papal visit since 1999 – and round off an environmental blitz at the Vatican, in which the Pope has personally led moves to emphasise green issues based on the belief that climate change is affecting the poorest people on the planet, and the principle that believers have a duty to “protect creation”.
Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, head of the Catholic Church in the UK, said last night: “This is a crucial issue both today and for all future generations. We are the stewards of creation and we need to take that responsibility seriously and co-operate to care for the created world.”
A Papal tour of America will be particularly potent during election year in the US, where Catholics number around 73 million, and is being discussed in Rome after Pope Benedict accepted an invitation from the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. For the Pope to take his climate-change message to the high-profile UN platform will be considered hugely influential to the fifth of the world’s population who are Catholics, and will act as a rallying call for action in Africa and Asia, which have seen a rise in Catholics in recent years.
News of the speech comes as Vatican City has become the first fully carbon-neutral state in the world, after announcing it is offsetting its carbon footprint by planting a forest in Hungary and installing solar panels on the roof of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
It also follows a series of interventions by the Pope on the environment. On 2 September he told a 300,000 youth audience: “Before it is too late, it is necessary to make courageous decisions that reflect knowing how to re-create a strong alliance between man and the earth.” On 7 September, he said there was a “pressing need for science and religion to work together to safeguard the gifts of nature and to promote responsible stewardship”.
UK diplomats have held a number of behind-the-scenes meetings with Vatican officials on the environment. A Whitehall source said last night: “Benedict is the spiritual head of 19 per cent of the world’s population and a highly respected figure. If the Pope’s words are taken on board by his community that is one big constituency for change and could well turn the tide on climate change and environmental degradation.”

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2987811.ece

San Diego Diocese to pay $198 million to settle sexual abuse claims

Diocese to pay $198 million to settle abuse claims
See updated breaking news story, with comments from church officials. Also, here’s a link to the bishop’s statement.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has reached a $198.125 million settlement with 144 people who were sexually abused by Catholic priests and church workers. Story coming momentarily.
The announcement capped marathon discussions (See story from this morning’s U-T) between lawyers for the diocese and the victims, who are to receive $1.37 million each.
Church officials had filed for bankruptcy reorganization, but recent court rulings pressured them to settle the case.

http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/news/breaking/2007/09/sd_diocese_settles_sexual_abus.html

Pope Benedict says abortion "NOT a human right"

Pope says abortion “not a human right”
Fri Sep 7, 2007 1:11pm ET
By Philip Pullella
VIENNA (Reuters) – Pope Benedict rejected the concept that abortion could be considered a human right on Friday and urged European leaders to do everything possible to raise birth rates and make their countries more child-friendly.
The 80-year-old German Pontiff told diplomats and representatives of international organizations that Europe could not deny its Christian roots because Christianity had played a decisive role in forging its history and culture.
“It was in Europe that the notion of human rights was first formulated. The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself,” he said in an address at the former imperial Hofburg Palace.
“This is true of life from the moment of conception until its natural end. Abortion, consequently, cannot be a human right — it is the very opposite. It is a deep wound in society.”
Abortion is available in the first three months of pregnancy in Austria under legislation similar to that of other Western European countries, many of Catholic tradition.
But his words had ramifications beyond Europe. Abortion is expected to a big issue in next year’s campaign for president in the United States, where conservatives want to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion.
The Pope’s words also put him on a collision course with the human rights group Amnesty International, which has recently adopted a new stance supporting a woman’s right to abortion if her life is threatened of if she has been raped.

Senior Vatican officials have already sharply criticized Amnesty and urged Catholics to withdraw their support. Last month one of Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic bishops severed his ties with Amnesty after three decades.
In his address, the last speech on the first day of a three-day visit to Austria, the Pontiff indirectly decried Europe’s declining birth rates, appealing to politicians “not to allow children to be considered as a form of illness.”
He urged them to “do everything possible to make European countries once again open to welcoming children”.
The average birth rate in the European Union is down to about 1.5 children per woman, raising fears that an ageing population will not be able to finance pensions systems.
Some European countries have adopted, or plan to, incentives to encourage couples to have children, to try to reverse trends where couples have fewer children and begin families later. Experts say high housing prices are partly to blame.
The Pope said that although Europe was rapidly ageing demographically, it “must not become old in spirit”.
He also said Europe “cannot and must not deny her Christian roots” as they are “a dynamic component of our civilization”.
Last March, Benedict strongly criticized the European Union for excluding a mention of God and Christian roots in declarations on its 50th anniversary, saying the continent was committing a form of “apostasy of itself” by excluding God.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2007-09-07T171141Z_01_L07930016_RTRUKOC_0_US-AUSTRIA-POPE-ABORTION.xml&src=rss&rpc=22&sp=true

Catholic Bishop urges Christians to call God ‘Allah’

Bishop urges Christians to call God ‘Allah’

Catholic leader believes it would help ease tensions between religions
Posted: August 15, 20073:28 p.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Bishop Tiny Muskens (Courtesy Radio Netherlands Worldwide)Catholic churches in the Netherlands should use the name Allah for God to ease tensions between Muslims and Christians, says a Dutch bishop.
Tiny Muskens, the bishop of Breda, told the Dutch TV program “Network” Monday night he believes God doesn’t mind what he is called, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported.
The Almighty is above such “discussion and bickering,” he insisted.
Muskens points to Indonesia, where he served 30 years ago, as an example for Dutch churches. Christians in the Middle East also use the term Allah for God.
“Someone like me has prayed to Allah yang maha kuasa (Almighty God) for eight years in Indonesia and other priests for 20 or 30 years,” Muskens said. “In the heart of the Eucharist, God is called Allah over there, so why can’t we start doing that together?”
Muskens thinks it could take another 100 years, but eventually the name Allah will be used by Dutch churches, promoting rapprochement between the two religions, he said, according to Radio Netherlands.
However, a survey published today in the Netherlands’ largest newspaper, De Telegraaf, showed 92 percent of the more than 4,000 people polled oppose the bishop’s view, the Associated Press reported.
Some letters to the paper were filled with ridicule for the bishop.
“Sure. Lets call God Allah. Lets then call a church a mosque and pray five times a day. Ramadan sounds like fun,” wrote Welmoet Koppenhol.
The chairman of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, Gerrit de Fijter, told the Dutch paper he welcomed any attempt to “create more dialogue,” according to the AP. But he said, “Calling God ‘Allah’ does no justice to Western identity. I see no benefit in it.”
A Muslim spokesman, for Amsterdam’s union of Moroccan mosques, said Muslims had not asked for such a gesture from Christians, the AP reported.
Tensions with the Netherlands’ 1-million-strong Muslim community have been high since the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by a Muslim avenging a film critical of Islam.
Last week, politician Geert Wilders talked about banning the Quran, shortly after the head of a group of former Muslims, Ehsan Jami, compared Islam’s prophet Muhammad with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Muskens made similar remarks several year ago about using the name of Allah, Radio Netherlands reported. He also suggested replacing the national Christian holiday Whit Monday – celebrated the day after Pentecost – with an Islamic religious day.
The bishop also has offended Muslims, saying in 2005 Islam was a religion without a future because it has too many violent aspects.