An African bishop in Rome for the synod of bishops has decried the lethargy of European Christianity, saying that it opens the door to an “Islamic invasion.”

In an interview Tuesday with the U.S.-based National Catholic Register, Andrew Nkea Fuanya, the bishop of Mamfe, Cameroon, said that the synod has been ignoring Europe’s low birth rates to its own peril.

The synod fathers have not discussed Europe’s demographic implosion, which is “a very big thing” for youth, Fuanya said.

“And I will dare to say that, especially with the backdrop of the Islamic invasion, if you look through history, where the Church slept, got diverted away from the Gospel, Islam took the advantage and came in,” he said.

As in the case of many African bishops, Fuanya has seen what radical Islam looks like up close. Cameroon borders with Nigeria and Chad in the north, forming a triangle that has been the epicenter of much Islamic terror at the hands of Boko Haram, an affiliate of the Islamic State.

Last fall, Amnesty International reported that Boko Haram had shifted its base of operations from Nigeria into Cameroon, which accounted for an upsurge of Islamist terror attacks in Cameroon.

According to Bishop Fuanya, Europe is not immune to the fate suffered by many African nations.

“This is what we are seeing in Europe, that the Church is sleeping, and Islam is creeping in,” Fuanya said.

Christianity is waning in Europe, he said, and Islam will fill the void. Moreover, the disappearance of Christian Europe will have a negative effect on the rest of the world as well.

“Europe is being Islamized, and it will affect Africa,” Fuanya said.

The bishop also suggested that straight talk was necessary, even when it makes one unpopular.

“Diluting the truth” does not go down well in Africa, Fuanya said. “Once we speak ambiguous language, the youth get confused and they go astray.”

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