Pope Benedict xvi has appointed Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore as the new pro-grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. The appointment was announced simultaneously in Rome and Washington, d.c., on August 29. O’Brien succeeds 75-year-old Grand Master John Foley, who announced his resignation last February for health reasons.

The Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher is a chivalric organization dedicated to promoting and defending Catholicism in the Holy Land and supporting the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Its origins date back centuries to the time of the First Crusade, when its first leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, invaded Jerusalem.

For the past several decades, the title “grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher” has been little more than a quasi-honorary position given to ecclesiastics at the end of their careers.

Persecution of Middle Eastern Christians by Muslims is now so pervasive and violent, however, that some are wondering if it isn’t time to redefine the role played by the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher. Indeed, the Vatican estimates that from Egypt to Iran there are just 17 million Christians remaining.

Archbishop Edwin O’Brien could “become the ‘tip of the spear’ for a far more concentrated and effective global Catholic response to the realities facing Christians in today’s Middle East,” according to John Allen Jr. of the National Catholic Reporter. Pope Benedict xvi is stacking the Vatican hierarchy with conservative priests loyal to his ultra-right-wing version of Catholicism.

Expect a clash of religions in the near future. The truth is, radical Islam’s fierce hatred for Christianity—and the global campaign of violence and cruelty it has fueled—is infuriating an institution that has historically been Islam’s greatest enemy: the Roman Catholic Church.

For more information on where the enmity between these two religions is leading, read our article “How to Make the Pope Furious.”