(Summary: An analysis – unfurling the Islamic Prayer Rug in the Vatican Library)

Roundup

“…some Muslim scholars have asked us for a room with a carpet for praying and we have given it to them”.

Cardinali justified this ‘answered petition’ by implying that Muslims visited the Vatican library as the Vatican’s book collection contains “incredibly old Korans”, and that the Vatican was “…a universal library, there are Arabic, Jewish, Ethiopian collections and unique Chinese items”, he added.

This was followed by various news sources, both secular and Catholic, releasing articles and hosting discussions in podcasts and videos. This was reported by the Vatican itself, followed by GB News UK, Sky News Australia, The National Review, Zenit, The Dallas Express, Catholic News Agency (CNA), Catholic World Report (CWR), etc.

The National Review said this in their article:

Some Christians criticized the Church’s decision as “effectively allowing a rival faith to set up shop on its property.” Others described the move as a way for the Church to display that “truth has nothing to fear from study.”

Zenit was a bit more circumspect stating:

For some, the move reflects an admirable spirit of dialogue and respect for those who come from afar to study ancient manuscripts. For others, it represents a troubling confusion of mission and identity. “A library is for reading, not for worship,” one Catholic commentator wrote, echoing a concern quietly shared by many in the Vatican’s own academic circles.

Zenit reported the obvious questions being asked by others,

If prayer rooms are offered to Muslims,” one theologian asked, “what will happen when Jewish, Hindu, or Buddhist scholars request the same? Will the Vatican provide separate spaces for all faiths?”

And they also pulled no punches by stating,

the gesture toward Muslim visitors may seem, to some, less like inclusion and more like self-effacement — a well-intentioned step that unintentionally diminishes the Catholic character of a sacred institution.

The Dallas Express added some troubling details stating that Cardinali went on to say that the Vatican’s library is,

“the most secular of all Vatican institutions,” and “a humanistic institution.”

Australia’s Sky News host James Macpherson, was especially critical.

(above video source: Sky News Australia YouTube Channel, titled ‘The Vatican has allowed ‘rival faith to set up shop’ in the Apostolic Library’ dated 16th Oct 2025)

Known for their left-wing & liberal criticism, Macpherson was typically scathing:

“Let’s not mince words. The theological and symbolic implications here are spectacularly unhinged. Does the Catholic hierarchy still believe in Catholicism? Or has the Church become a sort of a Air BNB for whatever religion needs accommodation?….”

“…Here’s the problem. Islam explicitly denies that Jesus is the Son of God. So by creating within the very walls of Catholic intellectual power a space for Muslim prayer, the Vatican is effectively allowing a rival faith to set up shop on its property. That’s not inclusiveness. It’s corporate sabotage dressed up as tolerance.”

He was also one of those who bought up the argument that Muslims would never allow a chapel or a space to be allowed for Christians to pray to Jesus in a mosque in Saudi Arabia (a Muslim country), further commenting that in Rome, inclusivity has become the ‘Eleventh Commandment’.

Meanwhile Catholic popesplaining mouthpieces did the obvious. The Catholic Herald reported in typical papal-adulating, oblivious manner:

The Vatican Apostolic Library(s)…willingness to accommodate visiting scholars of all faiths reflects the institution’s continuing role as a centre of universal learning and cultural preservation.

Catholic News Agency (CNA) & Catholic World Report tried to round up the matter with an air of finality by stating:

The verdict: The Vatican Apostolic Library does indeed allow Muslims a room for prayer. But, importantly, it does not appear to be a generally accessible Islamic prayer space but rather one designated for the “Muslim scholars” that may be on site at the time. Further, it was only opened at the request of scholars themselves.

And though it is understandable that a Muslim prayer room in the Holy See may inspire a bit of cognitive dissonance, the vice prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library describes the space as nothing more than “a room with a carpet.”

That the columnists missed the point by a mile should be noted here.

Thoughts and comments

1. A Novus Ordo-only Catholic may be naïve to believe that such actions (of extending a prayer room to Muslims) are intended towards peaceful relations, of coexistence, and of tolerance towards other religions and faiths. They need to understand that this is not a case of turning the other cheek. The problem is the precedent that is being set, which is a compromise and a violation of the entirety of pre-conciliar (prior to Vatican II) teaching on dealing with such religions that were considered entirely pagan and false.
2. With the push for Synodality, the emphasis on bridge building, inclusion, and inter religious dialogue by the Vatican since Bergoglio (pope), and one that is continued by his protégé, Prevost (pope), it is only evident that such alarming & scandalous incidents of religious ‘tolerance’ will regularly be dished out for the consumption of the faithful Catholics – the intent seems to do with having Catholics get used to the idea of participating with other faiths, by regularly blurring the lines between religious differences – this seems to be towards perhaps a one-world religion.

   While I was in the UAE previously, Paolo Martinelli, a eager & pro-ecumenism Bishop, visited a Hindu temple (note the posturing and the optics captured in these images)

   

   The ever vigilant sedevacantist outfit, ‘Novus Ordo Watch’ had also subsequently reported on Bishop Martinelli’s temple visit here.

3. In all of this virtue-signalling of ‘tolerance’ to Muslims, those who are evidently neglected are the Traditional Catholics – who have been left discouraged by the fact that the current ‘pope’ has little regard for their constant requests and petitions for the TLM. Taylor Marshall lamented on how this move hurt him and Traditional Catholics.
4. One of the aspects that I mentioned above was in context with Cardinali’s loose and casual remark about the Vatican Library being,
   

   “the most secular of all Vatican institutions,” and “a humanistic institution.”

   This is a troubling affirmation, because such statements cannot be limited to only the Vatican Library. Yes, the Vatican may hold books on various religions and subjects – but that in no way should take away or diminish it’s Catholic identity; The question(s) I have to then ask myself is:

   (a) what other Vatican body or institution, is now no longer under the title or banner of Catholicism, and is now a “secular”, “humanistic” institution?

   (b) If the Vatican library is the ‘most’ secular of all Vatican institutions as per Cardinali, which are the other Vatican institutions that are also the ‘most secular’ similarly, and/or which are the least secular, and by what criteria? Catholics need to know why institutions within the Catholic Church, that they believe to be instituted by Christ, have suddenly become a ‘humanistic’ & ‘secular’ organization? Who has authorized this, and when?

   One of the reasons to ask these questions is seeing what has become of the Pontifical Academy of Science, which mostly consists of secular, agnostic, or even atheistic scientists (such as was the late Stephen Hawking). There are other similar institutions within the Vatican that are now secularized towards the drive to ‘ecological conversion’, fraternity, and synodality post the Bergoglian machinations of Laudato si’, Fratelli tutti, the Abu Dhabi declaration, and the Amazon Synod. Wouldn’t such ‘humanistic’ & ‘secular’ mixing of the chaff with the wheat pollute Catholic identity & theology ultimately? This is a rhetorical question that we already know the answer to.

5. While Prevost (pope) was not mentioned in this entire episode, one cannot help but imagine that he had something to do with,

   (a) the approval to the Muslims for a prayer room in the library – If authorized by him, one can add this to the list of strategic posturing and optics (previously listed by me) that continually make it clear that he is Francis version 2.0. And,

   (b) were these press statements by the Vice-Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library, approved by the ‘Pope’ and the ‘Holy’ See (I wonder if we should refer to it as the ‘Humanistic’ & ‘secular’ See now)? I don’t see how a ‘Vice-Prefect’ of the Vatican Apostolic Library can make such a loose and casual remark (to a newspaper, no less) without prior approval and authorization from the Press Office of the ‘Holy’ See.

Conclusion

The more Catholics are likely to be silent and timid, the more bigger changes will be likely in future. Silence in the face of error and the capitulation of the faith is cowardice. It may earn you respect and accolades in the short term, but in the end one needs to consider what the Lord Jesus will have to say – and He will have the final say in the matter; you better hope it won’t be “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:23)

Ave Maria