By Reuters VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A bishop at a Vatican synod launched a broadside against Islam Wednesday, bluntly accusing Muslims of plotting to dominate Europe and de-Christianize the continent.
Giuseppe Bernardini, a 72-year-old Italian who is archbishop of Izmir, Turkey, made his comments in a written address submitted to the Synod of European Bishops.
Bernardini, who has lived in predominantly Muslim Turkey for 42 years, called on Pope John Paul to convoke a special Vatican meeting to deal with what he called ``the problem of Muslims in Christian countries.''
Bernardini's words were among the harshest delivered against Islam inside the Vatican in recent memory and clashed openly with the Pope's policy of promoting Christian-Muslim dialogue.
In his Italian address released by the Vatican press office, Bernardini said a Muslim leader once told him: ``Thanks to your democratic laws, we will invade you. Thanks to our religious laws, we will dominate you.''
Bernardini continued in his own words: ``One can believe it because the domination has already begun.''
He accused oil-rich Muslim countries of ``using petro-dollars not to create jobs in the poor countries of North Africa and the Middle East but to build mosques and cultural centers in Christian countries where Muslims have migrated, including Rome, the center of Christianity.''
He added: ``How can one not see in all this a clear program of (Islamic) expansion and re-conquest?''
ISLAM SPREADING IN ITALY
The Muslim population of Italy has been growing steadily in recent years as Islamic immigrants have arrived, mostly from northern Africa and Asia.
Islam has overtaken Judaism as Italy's second-largest religion after Catholicism. Mosques and Islamic prayer centers, most of them small, have sprouted up in a number of cities. A growing number of Italians are also converting to Islam.
Rome got its first mosque in 1995 at a cost of some $50 million dollars borne by 23 Muslim countries. Saudi Arabia provided the lion's share, $35 million.
In his address, Bernardini said Muslims did not share Christian ideas about democracy and human rights.
The archbishop said that ``it is a fact that for Muslims terms such as dialogue, justice, reciprocity or concepts such as human rights and democracy have a different meaning than they do for us. By now, I think everyone recognizes and admits this.''
He said that while it was necessary to distinguish between ''the fanatic and violent minority'' and the ``peaceful and honest'' majority in Islam, he believed even peaceful Muslims would, without hesitation, ``follow orders given in the name of Allah.''
The Pope has made improving relations between Christians and Muslims one of the aims of his papacy.
He has visited several Muslim countries, including Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan, and Indonesia, and preached a message of dialogue and tolerance between followers of Christ and Mohammed.
He held a key meeting at the Vatican in March with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who himself has called for a ''dialogue of civilizations'' and closer contact between Islam and Christianity.
When the massive Rome mosque opened four years ago, the Pope forcefully demanded equal rights for Christians in Muslim countries, including those where Christian places of public worship are banned outright.
