Even if St. Peter's Basilica were a mosque and all of Rome were under sharia law, it would have zero true effect on Catholicism or Christianity. The sacraments would still be offered and Christ would still be King.
This is true. And I do NOT think you are "peeing" on our holy site. I think you are trying to understand us.
It might help to realize that we DO think Islam to be a Christian heresy. And Catholics do, too - at least, those thoroughly grounded in their tradition.
But the concern I think some of us are trying to express to you is a Christological one: What is this thing about sanctified things that makes a consecrated church a particularly holy thing, and the house of (even fervent) believers in China - not? Should we venerate things that have been sanctified? Is there such a thing as holy relics? And how do they represent (literally re-present) the Incarnation?
If all holy relics were blasted to atoms, God could still raise children of Abraham from stones. But what should our attitude be toward the holy things? Should we not cry out, as people cried out, or should have cried out, at the crucifixion of our Lord? Yes, the Martyrs knew, by faith, that though their bodies were being destroyed, God can and will restore everything. But the Catholic Church, like the Orthodox Church, values holy relics for a reason.
In short, these actions have zero effect on the power of God. But they should not have zero effect on us.
