MAGA Attacks Pope Leo for Opening Muslim Prayer Room in Vatican Library

From Laura Loomer to Raymond Arroyo, MAGA pundits rage as the Vatican opens a modest prayer space in its library.

The Vatican did something simple and kind: it set aside a small prayer room for Muslim scholars visiting the Vatican Library.

Yet certain right-wing voices are losing their minds over this act of hospitality.

Far-right agitator Laura Loomer thundered that “we have a WOKE MARXIST POPE… letting the Muslims take over the Vatican!”

A sedevacantist blog sneered that accommodating Muslim prayer was “to accommodate their practice of a false religion” and that “false worship is welcome in the sacred halls” of the Vatican.

Even a prominent Catholic broadcaster, EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo, chimed in, asking whether any mosque in Mecca would ever open a chapel for Christian prayers — a pointed reminder that such reciprocity is nonexistent.

To these critics, Pope Leo’s courtesy is tantamount to apostasy or weakness.

A Lesson from John Paul II

Here’s the reality: Leo isn’t acting out on a limb here — he’s following a well-trodden path of respect.

Pope St. John Paul II — certainly no one’s idea of a “woke Marxist” — believed in showing esteem for Islam. In 1999, John Paul II famously kissed a Quran as a gesture of goodwill and respect. (If a saintly, staunch anti-communist pope could do that, maybe welcoming a quiet prayer space isn’t so radical after all.)

Pope Benedict XVI likewise paused to pray peacefully in Istanbul’s Blue Mosque in 2006.

These past pontiffs understood that offering basic courtesy to people of other faiths does not mean denying Christ; rather, it reflects Christ’s own command to love our neighbors.

Confidence, Not Fear, in Our Faith

What the ultra-conservative detractors miss is that an act of hospitality comes from confidence in one’s faith, not confusion about it.

The Vatican Library’s little prayer room isn’t a grand mosque or a capitulation — it’s a good-hearted accommodation for guests.

It springs from the Christian virtue of caritas (charity) and the knowledge that truth doesn’t crumble just because we show kindness.

Nostalgia for Crusades and cries of “blasphemy” betray a lack of trust in the power of the Gospel to engage the world without fear.

Pope Leo’s gesture is in line with the Gospel and Vatican II’s call for respect across faiths, not some modernist plot.

There’s nothing “woke” about treating others with dignity — it’s as Catholic and as Christian as it gets.

In the end, the Church is strong enough to open its doors and even a prayer room in the library, without losing a shred of its identity.

The real weakness would be to give in to fear and hostility, rather than to lead with the courageous love that Christ himself taught us.

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