The following are excerpts from a Friday sermon in Khartoum by Sheik Abd Al-Jalil Al-Karouri. Sudan TV aired this sermon on April 22, 2005:

Sheik Abd Al-Jalil Al-Karouri: We want a pope who will link the suffering of Christ with that of the Jews, because when the pope who just died became very ill, he asked to be read verses from their scriptures about the suffering of Christ. These are the verses that gave him comfort before he died. When he went to Israel - and he was the first pope to do so - he cried over the Jews' suffering in a note he inserted in the Wailing Wall.

How can the Christian world group together the suffering of Christ and the suffering of the Jews? My brother, these sufferings are mutually exclusive. Who caused the suffering of Christ? Who sentenced him to death? Who killed and buried him? The Pope tells us Christ was buried. This is according to their scriptures. Our faith is different: "…They did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so…" Who killed Christ and buried him, after his trial? The Jews did.

Therefore, if the Jews suffered in Germany and in Europe, this was because of the Christian world's hatred of them. The Jews caused the suffering of Christ. so how can a pope ask to be read verses about the suffering of Christ, and then read verses for Israel in order to absolve it of the blood of Christ. One of the Pope's achievements was that he absolved Israel of the killing of Christ. Then who did kill Christ? This question can be the topic for a doctoral dissertation: "Who killed Christ?" If he was indeed killed - and this is documented in the scriptures - who killed Christ? The acknowledgment that Israel is innocent of Christ's blood has strengthened its position and earned the sympathy of the Christian world.

(The Jews) are now destroying Christianity in America for the sake of Israel. Even the Twin Towers, which were destroyed in Manhattan, are planned to be built in Israel. This tiny people of four million living in a small territory has managed to bring the entire Christian world to ask for forgiveness for what happened to the Jews in Europe.