Sabatina James, a convert from Islam to Catholicism and currently exiled in the United States, has warned that the Vatican’s attitude toward Islam and mass immigration in Europe is contributing, according to her diagnosis, to a situation of growing insecurity for Christians and a process of cultural weakening of the continent.
James, born into a Muslim family in Pakistan and later raised in Austria, left Europe in 2015 after receiving death threats for her conversion to Christianity and for her public denunciation of forced marriage and honor violence. In an extensive interview granted to journalist Diane Montagna, the activist argues that the combination of uncontrolled immigration from Islamic countries and the lack of a clear response from political and ecclesiastical authorities is leading Europe toward what she describes as a “self-annihilation”.
Criticisms of migration policy and the ecclesiastical approach
In her statements, James asserts that numerous European leaders have promoted migration policies that, in her view, ignore the risks associated with violent Islamism. In this context, she considers that the Catholic Church has contributed to this drift by prioritizing a discourse centered on mercy toward refugees, without clearly addressing the persecution suffered by Christians in Muslim-majority countries.
The activist argues that this attitude became consolidated after Benedict XVI’s speech in Regensburg in 2006 and the subsequent violent reactions in the Islamic world. In her view, the Vatican’s subsequent response reinforced the idea that the Church avoids any explicit criticism of Islam out of fear of reprisals.
Assessment of the current pontificate
James also refers to the first public interventions of Pope Leo XIV, particularly statements made during a papal flight in which the Pontiff defended dialogue and peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims in Europe. From her personal experience, the activist considers that this approach risks minimizing the gravity of religious persecution and conveying the message that abuses committed in the name of sharia must be tolerated or ignored.
In this regard, she argues that the Church should more clearly denounce practices such as apostasy laws, anti-blasphemy laws, or systematic violence against women and religious minorities in certain Islamic countries, considering them incompatible with fundamental human rights.
Call for an explicit defense of persecuted Christians
According to James, more than 200 million Christians currently suffer persecution, especially in regions like Pakistan, Nigeria, or Iran. From her humanitarian foundation, she claims to have intervened in cases of kidnapping of Christian girls, forced conversions, and murders due to blasphemy accusations.
The activist explains that she has sent copies of her new book, The Price of Love, to all the bishops of the United States with the aim of raising awareness among the ecclesiastical hierarchy about this reality. In her opinion, the silence or lack of a firm response from ecclesiastical leaders in the West is particularly painful for those who suffer direct persecution for their faith.
James concludes her intervention by calling on the Pope and the Holy See for a more active involvement in the public defense of persecuted Christians and a greater demand for religious reciprocity in dialogue with Islam, emphasizing that religious freedom should be guaranteed in Muslim countries in the same way as it is protected in nations with a Christian tradition.