Imam Khomeini invited all Christian spiritual leaders to take stance in order to confront aggressive policies of the exploiting powers. Imam invited them to make a return to genuine teachings of the Jesus Christ.
Imam Khomeini used to issue congratulatory messages regularly to all Christians of the world on the occasion of Christmas.
Parts of Imam’s speech in this regard comes as following:
Speech
Date:December 25, 1979 [Dey 4, 1358 AHS / S#afar 5, 1400 AH]
Place:Qum
Subject: The mission and tasks of the Christian priests and a criticism of their functions and positions
Occasion: The Birthday of Jesus Christ (‘a)
Audience: The following Christian priests, Messrs. Jimmy Allen, Dole White (The Bishop of the Association of the Priests); Charles Chezartee (The vice for the Head of the American church); Charles Combell (The lecturer at the Center for the Study of the world religions in Harvard University; John Walsh (from the University of Brenston); William Gorbee (from the University of Brenston); Thomas Erics (The Assistant Professor of the history of the Middle East from Georgetown University)
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
The duties of the upright priest of the divine religions
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. 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 task of the Christian clergy
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 Zahrā (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 who was supported by the American presidents. He was imposed over us by America and the American presidents.