A leading cardinal who was considered a strong candidate to be pope last year has said he is not surprised by the rise of political Islam in the West, as many Christians have adopted secular values, thereby creating a contradiction between belief and practice, especially in the public square.
6 interview with the French publication Tribune Chrétienne, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, 78, said the growth in Islam “is not at all surprising and does not necessarily result from a deliberate plan,” but rather is a “natural process.” The cardinal archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, who has long sought interreligious harmony in his native country, said Christian societies are gradually declining because they are “absorbing secular values” and basing political choices on them.
Other religions, such as Islam, “do not share the same fascination with secularism,” but rather “base their life choices on their beliefs, which is right and natural,” he said.
The religious composition of Sri Lanka is about 70% Buddhist, 13% Hindu, 10% Muslim and 7% Christian (predominantly Catholic), according to the most recent survey available.
“Secular society is dualistic, because it holds that a person can adhere to a religion without being required to put the values that stem from it into practice in the public sphere,” Cardinal Ranjith observed.
He added that it is a concept that forces believers to act contrary to their deepest spiritual convictions and makes them “lead a ‘double life,’” something Islam and other religions do not accept as “realistic or honest,” adding that this “shows us, as Christians, just how ‘hypocritical’ we have become.” So rather than confronting Islam and other religions or imposing secular rules on them, the cardinal believes the faithful should learn from their commitment to living consistently with their beliefs and recover that integrity themselves.
Church leaders and their flocks, he told Tribune Chrétienne, should respond by reflecting and acknowledging “the erroneous choices made in the past that have led to this sad situation” and then courageously proclaim the Gospel.
Cardinal Ranjith, who grew to prominence during Pope St.
John Paul II’s pontificate, has served in a variety of important roles, including apostolic nuncio to Indonesia and East Timor.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed him secretary to the then Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2005, before nominating him archbishop of Colombo in 2009.
He received international attention in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday in 2019 that killed 270 people and injured more than 500.
In Tribune Chrétienne, he said....
