Speaking at an event to commemorate Christian forces victory over the Ottomans 333 years ago, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn issued his warning in the Vienna Cathedral, suggesting that Muslims wanted "an Islamic conquest of Europe."

​According to the Archdiocese of Vienna, the cardinal also said:

Will there be an Islamic conquest of Europe? Many Muslims want that and say: Europe is at the end."

Against this serious backdrop man must first rely on the mercy of God, the Cardinal said.

God have mercy on Europe and on thy people, who are in danger of forfeiting our Christian heritage,” he prayed.

​He said that some Christians already felt a sense of loss, "not only economically, but above all, in human and religious matters."

“The chance of a Christian revival of Europe is with us," he said, urging the faithful to reflect on Christ’s word and spread it to “everyone, even strangers.”

The Mass celebrated on 9/11 commemorated the Catholic Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, which was instituted in gratitude for the liberation of Vienna from the Ottoman Turks. The Battle of Vienna, between the allied Christian forces under the command of Polish King John III Sobieski and 90,000 Islamic soldiers from the invading Ottoman Empire, was waged on September 11 and 12, 1683, and marked the turning point in Europe’s 300-year struggle against Islam.

The feast also coincided with the tenth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s historic “Regensburg Address,” in which he spoke of the important relationship between faith and reason, underscoring differences between the Christian understanding of God and the Muslim concept of Allah.

Whereas for Christians, “not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God’s nature,” Pope Benedict said, “for Muslim teaching, God is absolutely transcendent. His will is not bound up with any of our categories, even that of rationality.”

Benedict offered these reflections after having quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus regarding the place of violence in Islamic practice.

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,” the citation ran.

Although Benedict acknowledged that the Emperor spoke with a “startling brusqueness,” which today “we find unacceptable,” his remarks set off a wave of Muslim retaliation in particular in Somalia, Gaza, India, Pakistan, and Iraq.

Around 90,000 asylum seekers (mainly Muslims) arrived in Austria in 2015, overwhelming the country’s population of eight million people and leading to a surge in popularity for the right-wing, anti-immigrant party, FPÖ, whose candidate, Norbert Hofer, is currently leading in the polls in a presidential election re-run to be held on October 2.

Europe has been on high alert since 2015, when it was hit by a series of Islamic State-linked terrorist attacks. The attacks took place in Belgium, France, and Germany.

In September this year, a report emerged that over 11,000 asylum seekers were listed as criminal suspects in Austria.

In the United States, according to CNS.news, State Department Refugee Processing Center data shows that of the now total 11,491 Syrian refugees this fiscal year, the vast majority – 11,300, or 98.33% – are Sunnis.

Just 54 of the 11,491 – 0.46% – are Christians. They comprise 14 Catholics, six Oriental Orthodox, four Protestants, one Greek Orthodox, plus 29 refugees identifying themselves simply as “Christian” rather than by denomination or sect.

The remaining 137 are made of up of 20 Shi’a Muslims, 90 refugees described simply as Muslims, 17 Yazidis, four Jehovah’s Witnesses, five refugees identified as “other religion,” and one as having “no religion.”