In the New Testament, John the Baptist calls Jesus "the Lamb of God" (John 1, 29); In Apocalypse written by St. John, the New Jerusalem is described with such symbolic majesty that according to the visionary the city needed no light "for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb" (Revelation: 21: 23).
Since the beginning of Christianity, the recognition of the risen Jesus Christ being one with God the Father was at the core of the Apostles preaching. Over so many centuries the Church kept the doctrine of the Mystery of God in all her Councils and this Mystery always inspired saints - Some of them had private revelations of Christ and/or his mother the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The month of June is dedicated in the Catholic Church to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The private revelations of our Lord Jesus Christ to St. Marguerite Marie Alacoque between 1673 and 1675 are the most authentic sources of the visions confirmed by her devotion, humility, and charity towards those opposed to her claims in the Visitation Convent at Paray, France. In the first revelation, our Lord made known to her his ardent desire to be loved by everyone and his design of manifesting his heart with all its treasures of love and mercy, of sanctification, and salvation. He asked that the Friday after the Octave of the feast of Corpus Christi be dedicated as the feast of the Sacred Heart. She was also inspired by Christ to establish a Holy Hour and to pray lying prostrate from eleven till midnight on the eve of the first Friday every month to share in the mortal sadness he endured when abandoned by his Apostles in his agony before his trial and crucifixion and to receive Holy Communion on the first Friday every month. From that time on she was consumed by the fire of the love of the Sacred Heart until her death in 1690. In 1824, she was pronounced Venerable by Pope Leo XII; In 1864, Pope Blessed Pius IX beatified her; and in 1920 Pope Benedict XV canonized her (Cf. The Catholic Encyclopedia here or here). This beginning of frequently receiving Holy Communion was followed by Pope St. Pius X who admitted children as young as 7 to receive Holy Communion.
Historically, Christian humanism formed the civilization of Europe since the Renaissance which, for some historians, started with the Carolingian empire (Cf. G.W. Trompf; "The Concept of the Carolingian Renaissance"; Journal of the History of Ideas; 1973:3ff). A more detailed treatment of Christian humanism can be found in my post dated March 28, 2018 (here). It is within the second millennium in the Catholic Church that St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) is regarded as possibly the first to have venerated the shoulder wound of Jesus as he was dragged and hit by the Roman soldiers on his way to be crucified (see here); St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) promoted the worship of the humanity of Christ. In his contemplation, he called the Moon "brother"; and did not fear "death" for he called death a "sister" and composed his hymn to Christ: "Make me an instrument of your peace"(here and here); St. Gertrude the Great (1256-1302) too had private mystical revelations of Christ and experienced devotion to the Sacred Heart of the Lord. St. Marguerite Marie Alacoque was not the first nor was she the last to experience devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. St. Jean-Baptiste Marie Vianney, Curé of Ars, (His life can be found here in French and here in English) used to sit in the parish and look to the Blessed Sacrament. When asked, why he looks to the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle, he simply answered "I look to him and he looks to me" - It was a conversation with Jesus!
Since the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation produced much polemics which did not spare any disagreements in interpretation of the Biblical texts. Exegesis became problematic for the average Christian.
On the larger scale in secular Europe and the West in general, much doubt about the existence
of immaterial beings developed especially with the availability of printed material and philosophical discussions starting with the 18th century Enlightenment (e.g. Voltaire; Diderot; Montesquieu, Adam Smith; David Hume; G.E. Lessing; Emmanuel Kant; Hobbe; Locke; Descartes; Leibniz; Niesztche; Sartre...)
In the 20th century, the Second Vatican Council issued a number of declarations that marked a number of developments that affirm the faith, yet reformulate it in modern language (see particularly the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church "Lumen Gentium" here; and the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World "Gaudium et Spes" here); See too the decrees of the Council on the Catholic Church's openness for dialogue with other Christian Churches and Christian Communions (here). For dialogue with followers of non-Christian religions, see this declaration here...
An expert advising the German Bishops in the Second Vatican Council, Joseph Ratzinger wrote his masterpiece "Introduction to Christianity in 1968. See this post for an excerpt on the truth of the Resurrection.
In the long pontificate of Pope Saint John Paul II that followed the departure to God of Pope Blessed Paul VI, John Paul II continued to uphold the decrees of the Council, initiated the World Youth Day (once every four years starting 1984); prayed with leaders of other religions at Assisi (1986); In March 2000, Pope John Paul II publicly apologized for wrongs by sons of the Catholic Church in the past centuries since the start of the Church - To the surprise of some cardinals and bishops he said at a service in St. Peter's that the New Evangelization (which he issued in an Apostolic Letter to Catholics at the close of the Jubilee Year 2000) requires purification of memory. He also made courageous steps toward Muslims in a number of addresses including one to Muslims in Morocco and another in his 2001 pilgrimage to holy places in the Middle East including Damascus where he prayed at the Umayyad Mosque fully respecting Muslim tradition. John Paul II called for mutual forgiveness of wrongs done by Christians in the past towards Muslims, and Muslims towards Christians.
Looking at the contemporary history of Christianity, probably the most enlightening declaration on the unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the Church was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith headed at the time by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in an audience granted by the Holy Father Saint John Paul II in which Saint John Paul II approved the publication of the "Declaration" on June 16, 2000 and the "Declaration" was officially published on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, August 6, 2000. The reader may wish to read it here: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000806_dominus-iesus_en.html Of particular importance are three sections: # 16; #17; #18; as well as these eye-opening sections # 20; # 21; # 22 and the Conclusion section.
Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God - He sits on the throne in heaven together with the Father and the Holy Spirit (who is the eternal bond of love in the Trinity of one God).
But on September 11, 2001, two commercial-passenger-airplanes were hijacked by Islamic extremists that hit the two Trade Towers in New York causing the sudden death of thousands while they shouted words of hatred towards America, the symbol of Western power that influenced much of the Islamic world.
Radical Islam made itself known in America and Europe on that day. George W. Bush retaliated by invading Iraq claiming that Saddam Hussein who had planned to fight Israel was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Hatred begot hatred. When Saddam was found hiding and was taken to be tried by the court under the new Iraqi government, he used the words of Islam "Allahu Akbar..."
In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger) gave his Lecture on faith, reason and the university at the University of Regensburg where he had taught earlier. Some of the professors at Munster included Fr. Adel Theodore Khouri, a Greek Melkite Catholic priest who studied history of Islam and experienced Islam in his earlier days in the Middle East. In the Lecture found here, Benedict XVI used references obtained from Khouri to show the truth of radical Islam. Here are the words quoted: "In the seventh conversation (διάλεξις - controversy) edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. The emperor must have known that surah 2, 256 reads: "There is no compulsion in religion". According to some of the experts, this is probably one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat. But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Qur'an, concerning holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels", he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness, a brusqueness that we find unacceptable, on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”[3] The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God", he says, "is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably (σὺν λόγω) is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death...".[4]
The above raised much protests in the Islamic world breaking any references to Christ and Christianity as Benedict XVI presented it. Turkey's Erdogan became reluctant to receive Pope Benedict XVI in his visit to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, and Al-Azhar cut off dialogue with the Vatican. Not only was Iran an Islamic Republic, but now Saudi Arabia and the countries in the Arabic Gulf felt it was necessary to react to the Vatican. In the same vein, as Saddam was executed, his supporters of the Sunni Iraqis soon started the so-called ISIS or the IS in the hope of restoring the Islamic caliphate.
Millions of dollars were spent on renewing the Muslim Brotherhood; and forcefully attacking innocents in the Middle East, Europe, and North America. Turkey always wanting to become a member of the European Union found itself isolated. However in more recent years, Germany (leader of the European Union) agreed with Turkey to return suspected fundamentalists in Europe for, in turn, allowing Turkish Muslims to thrive in European industries.
Pope Francis was careful to seek cooperation and re-open dialogue with Al-Azhar and other Islamic institutions in his bid to help poor people. He received Dr. Altayeb of Al-Azhar and visited Egypt in 2017. See this report.
The headache of Islamism continued to invade Europe with no interruption. The American President Trump promised to support Israel against Iran's nuclear facilities although European countries objected as they have trade deals with Iran that benefit their exports.
At last, Europe seems to have awaken from its sleep while mosques erected in every city were a sign of the increased political power of political Islam and the forced conversions of inhabitants to Islam by the so-called Islamic State (Daech) funded by militant Islamic countries and possibly other powers with the ultimate goal to impose Islamic Sharia in all societies of the West. The good news were published on June 1st, 2018 by Gatestone Institute International Policy Council (here).
