Speech [The mission and tasks of the Christian priests and a criticism of their functions and positions]

I offer my congratulations to the deprived nations of world and to the Christian nations and to our Christian fellow countrymen of the occasion of the auspicious birthday of Jesus Christ (s). Everything Jesus Christ performed was a miracle. It was a miracle that he was born of a virgin mother. It was another miracle of his that he spoke while he was in the cradle. It was miraculous that he brought peace, tranquility and spirituality for humankind. All prophets performed miracles in that they had come to make man. All of them wanted that all human beings live in peace, sincerity and brotherhood. All these divine messengers came to elevate man from the earth to the heavens. It is the task of all priests, including those of Christianity, Islam or Jewish nations to follow the prophets in educating man. The priests have the priority in implementing the Prophet's aspirations, which are the divine revelation. The priests have a special divine task which is more exultant than that of other people: they have a divine responsibility. They are accountable in front of the prophets and God. They have to convey to people the instructions of the prophets and help people out of their sufferings.

The world's people have been afflicted by superpowers, which are Satanic in nature and oppose the great Prophets, hindering the crystallization of their instructions. The Christian clergy is gifted with numerous attributes and one of these is that the great powers of the world are Christian, and it is exactly these powers which oppose the righteous instructions of Jesus Christ (`a). It is up to the Christian clergy to start a spiritual combat against these Christian governments which are working against the teachings of Jesus Christ. They have to instruct these oppressive governors and statesmen and show them the right path.

When I meet with the Christian clergy, I have to bring up the issues which are related to spirituality and religion in general. It is up to you to analyze the world issues as they are and to study the behavior of the statesmen who claim to be Christian, but impose the harshest measure on nations. Now you are in Iran and I do not think you will stay here long enough to visit the tombs of our martyrs. You have already seen some of the tombs at Behesht-e Zahra (cemetery). You will see many such tombs scattered over our cities. However, you have not yet seen our disabled ones. Wherever you go, you will meet people who have lost their legs or hands and who have lost their mobility. It was a good idea if you could stay longer in Iran to see the evidence of the crimes of a man «1» who was supported by the American presidents. He was imposed over us by America and the American presidents.

I wish you could go around our cities to see the kinds of crimes which have been committed in Iran. I wish you could have visited Iran during the time of the defunct Shah and got his permission to visit our prisons. Then you could have seen the condition of the imprisoned clergymen, university students, and the intellectuals. You would have seen, then, the deplorable living conditions our committed youth had been subjected to hold in the underground dens because they had asked for nothing except independence and freedom.

If I am to retell all these cases of crimes one by one, time will run out. In sur youths. They amputated the hands of some of our youth in front of their fathers. They carried out such shameless acts on young boys that one does not have the couraghort, I can say the way they treated us was worse than the way a beast treats another beast. They sawed the legs of some of our youth. They fried the bodies of some of oe to describe in words the small children to force their fathers to confess to their alleged crimes. They performed all of these crimes by claiming that they are commissioned by superpowers to carry out these acts to satisfy the American presidents. In Iran such abominable acts of crime have occurred that would make a Christian cleric shudder if he read about them. They have performed such heinous acts that would put the Christian priesthood under question.

It is the task of the Christian clerics to free Jesus Christ (s) from the shackles that your presidents have bound him with and scrutinizing. Jesus Christ is closely watching the Christian scholars and clerics. He wants to see how you treat the aggressors who have subjected humanity to so much oppression. Have you ever brought up these crimes in your churches? Has the Pope ever condemned such cases of atrocities? Does the Pope, who has condemned our hostage taking, know the nature of these American detainees? Is the Pope, who considers himself a great Christian, authorized to condemn the acts of a deprived, poor nation like us? Has he ever condemned the atrocious acts of the kings, who pretend to be Christian within the last fifty years? Have the Christian clerics, as a whole, condemned the cruel acts, which have been imposed over us, and run counter to Christ's instructions,. When I was in Paris, during the birthday of Jesus Christ, I wrote some articles depicting the crimes we have been exposed to, but the Pope did not let them get published. Why should a great Christian cleric treat the deprived nation in this way? Why should a great Christian cleric condemn the oppressed and side with the oppressors?

Are you not aware of the crimes having taken place here? Do you not know that a nation has been robbed of its reserves and now is miserable? Are you not familiar with the fact that a nation has been put under pressure for fifty years and its reserves have been plundered by the superpowers? Aren't the Christian clerics aware that Carter has, in contrast to the saying and teachings of all prophets, frozen our assets in the foreign banks? We know that Jesus Christ (`a) came to establish justice and it is your task to force the aggressors to stop engaging in cruelty. Are you not aware that a poor nation is under all sorts of pressures? Are you aware that by using sanctions Carter wants to let thirty-five million people die of hunger? Is the Pope aware of these facts and then he condemns us? Or, is he being given wrong information? If he is, then how deplorable our situation we that of Christianity, and the Christian scholars is! And if he is not, how deplorable the situation in the Vatican is! Why should you not relay to the Vatican what you have seen here? Does the Vatican refuse to listen to you? Does the Vatican listen to the proponents of the superpowers and to the oppressors, but refrain from listening to the oppressed? Where should we take our complaints against those superpower agents who pretend to be followers of Jesus Christ? Who should we discuss our problems with? Should we discuss them with you, Christian clerics? Should we complain to the Pope?

Does the Pope listen to our pleas? Do they let him listen to us? If he listens to us, will he take action? Is he not supposed to combat those who, contrary to Christ's teachings, inflict us with injustice? Is he not aware of the cruelties which are being carried out against the deprived nations by the American presidents? Does he not know what is going on in Palestine, Lebanon, Vietnam and elsewhere? Does the Pope remain ignorant of these mishaps? Is he surrounded, by some people who will not let him know these world events? Or does he know, but prefer to remain silent? Why does he apt for silence vis-a-vis cruelty? It is Jesus Christ's command to stop these abominable acts of violence. Why, then, did the Pope let superpowers carry out any crimes they wish to and slaughter the oppressed wantonly?

Jesus Christ (`a) is the prophet of peace. He wanted peace to prevail in the world and today is a day of peace. On this day of peace, do you know what is going on in the war-stricken localities? Do you believe in the American president's invocations and prayers? Are you aware of all the adverse propaganda against us being carried out in America's newspapers, television, and radio? Do you know that the propaganda serves the interests of the oppressors and is directed against the oppressed ones? Are not you supposed to stop this propaganda? Is it not among the Pope's agenda to advise the oppressors? Then whose task is it, if not the Pope's? Who is to spread the teachings of Christian? Who is supposed to convey to people his ideology? Is religion only for the lower layers of the society? Is it only for the slum dwellers? Is it only for the farmers? Shouldn't the upper class layers of society get acquainted with Christ's teachings?

Neither you nor I have enough time to listen to all these predicament of a poor nation. Through your Christian clerics, I am asking the American nation, the American clerics, the Christian clergy all over the world to rescue both the oppressed and Jesus Christ (`a) and his religion. Both Christ (`a) and his religion are at the mercy of accusations. Help this religion out. The Pope is being accused. People are not allowed to ask why. Are people not allowed to ask why the Pope condemns an oppressed nation in favor of an oppressor? Let people find out about this controversial issue through you. They say the American government has mobilized the American nation against us at a time like this when peace is supposed to reign. The American president is waging war everywhere in the world. But the Christian clerics are silent. Why should they be silent? Why should they be indifferent to the oppressed? If you know our situation, why don't you combat the oppressors, or at least do not support them? Is guidance confined to the lower classes of society? Or should it be given first to the upper classes? When the prophets were appointed they struggled first with the upper class. Moses combated the Pharaoh. The upper classes of the society should, first and foremost be confronted and then guided. It is your responsibility to guide them and the American presidents as well. Give Jesus Christ. Save the Christian nation. Save Christianity. Do not let people have a misconception of Christianity. Do not let the Christian clerics be introduced to the world as the supporters of the arrogant powers. May God let people of the world be free from those who act against the divine teachings of the prophets. May God release the oppressed ones out of the claws of the oppressors.