Belgian Nuncio welcomes Muslim immigrants into churches

Monsignor Karl-Josef Rauber, the Papal Nuncio (i.e. the Vatican’s Ambassador) to Belgium, supports the occupations of Belgian churches by illegal immigrants. “The Church has always sided with the weak,” the Nuncio says in today’s issue of the leftist newspaper De Morgen. With his statement the Nuncio comes out in support of the embattled Belgian Catholic Bishops. Hans Geybels, the spokesman of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the Primate of Belgium, said the Nuncio’s support is “a positive signal.”

During the past weeks the Belgian Bishops have allowed hundreds of squatters – so-called “sans-papiers” or “people without papers [=staying permits]” – to occupy over 20 Belgian churches and turn them into dormitories and Muslim places of prayer. The immigrants demand that they be allowed to stay in Belgium permanently.

An interesting nugget further down in the story: The Community of Sant’Egidio is apparently organizing the church-squatting in Antwerp.

When I was in Rome, I spoke to someone who has a quite jaded view of Sant’Egidio, remarking that their main purpose in life seemed to be hustling for a Nobel Peace Prize. Who knows?

They were recently involved in a program at Georgetown centered on cultural understanding.