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Beginning with Pope Urban II, the church leadership and the European monarchies sought to bring Christianity as far East as possible and to take over Muslim-controlled trade routes in the process.

The Latin phrase “Deus vult” — “God wills it,” a reference to Pope Urban II’s call to arms in the First Crusade — has become a popular dog whistle for Islamophobia among the online alt-right.

A few years later, Pope Urban II — the one who would preach the First Crusade — formally enshrined the relics of the saint.

Her longest quotation is taken from a speech delivered by Pope Urban II in 1095 urging a crusade to wrest Jerusalem from the “wicked race” of the Seljuk Turks.

At the Council of Clermont, in 1095, Pope Urban II addressed a crowd of prelates, knights, and nobles—the leaders of the Latin West.