Vatican Islam Conspiracy

The Vatican Islam Conspiracy is a conspiracy theory from Alberto Rivera publicized by Jack Chick in his comic book tract "The Prophet". Rivera, who claimed to be a former Jesuit priest, alleged that he had been given secret information by Augustin Cardinal Bea that proved the Roman Catholic Church created Islam through the manipulation of people and events around Muhammad. There is no support for this theory amongst mainstream historians, or indeed outside of a small number of evangelical Fundamentalist Protestant groups.

The conspiracy theory claims that the major goal of the Vatican was the elimination of Jews and early Christians who were not Catholics, and ultimately capturing the Holy Land, namely Jerusalem, for the Pope. The theory claims that the project backfired on the pontiff and the course of history was altered, eventually culminating in the Crusades. Some others also believe in that theory, although they have nothing to do with Jack Chick. These include Walter Veith, a scientist, author and speaker known for his work on Christian topics. In his "Total Onslaught series" called "The Islamic Connection" he repeats these accusations.

The Vatican Islam Conspiracy is very popular with radical Fundamentalist Protestant groups, some of whom have even merged the Rivera testimonies with assertions from other anti-Catholic and anti-Muslim evangelical writers such as Robert Morey. One good example of this can be found in the ministry of Leon Kilkenny who even uses Chick Publications' illustrations in his version of the Vatican Islam Conspiracy.

The Vatican Islam Conspiracy has also become very popular with conspiracy theorists as well. It has been featured on some of the best known conspiracy websites such as Conspiracy Planet, Cloak and Dagger, and that of the internationally known conspiracy theorist David Icke. The Vatican Islam Conspiracy has also been published in the self-proclaimed "alternative news publication", The Arctic Beacon and in a marriage of right wing Christian evangelical anti-Jesuit fervor and conspiracy theory, Bill Hughes of the San Diego, California, based evangelical Pacific Institute (not to be confused with the Oakland-based Pacific Institute) has also woven this Vatican Islam Conspiracy theory into his account of the Jesuits being behind the World Trade Center attacks in New York City in order to start a modern day crusade..

Many of the conspiracy theorists believe that the announcements in late 2005 by the Israeli government handing over holy sites such as the Tomb of David, the Upper Room site of the Last Supper and the Mount Zion Diaspora Yeshiva to Vatican control is proof of the Vatican Islam Conspiracy because one of the main allegations is that one of the primary Vatican aims in the fruition of the conspiracy is control over Jerusalem.

Refutations of the Vatican Islam Conspiracy

Partial rebuttals have been undertaken by Jimmy Akin of Catholic Answers, and Søren Filipski of the Los Angeles Lay Catholic Mission, as well as Hofstra University Anthropology professor Daniel Varisco. With the exception of Varisco and the Answering Islam ministry, most of these rebuttals have been aimed at the personal reliability and character of Alberto Rivera. A very detailed refutation of this story has been published by the expatriate author Gary Dale Cearley which counters all of the claims made by Rivera with historical facts and although it also points to many references to the personal character of Alberto Rivera, Cearley lets others do most of the work when dealing with Rivera's character issues and mainly deals with the content of his testimony.

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