October 9, 1958 was a very sad day for the Catholic Church. It was the day that Pope Pius XII died. Toward the end of October 1958, Pope John XXIII was elected and things have only gone downhill from there in terms of the Papacy. Whoever thought that communism ended in 1991 wasn’t paying attention as over a billion Chinese citizens are still subject to it.
After Pope Pius XII died, the Popes no longer condemned communism. The best example is Vatican II. Vatican II produced 16 documents and not one of them condemned communism. This was in the 1960’s when Soviet communism was alive and thriving. Of course what the Popes didn’t do, the individual bishops did. There are well known bishops in Eastern Europe who fought communism tooth and nail while the modernist Popes did next to nothing for them. Some examples of these valiant anti-communist bishops were Cardinal Beran in Czechoslovakia, Cardinal Stepinac in Croatia, Cardinal Wynszynski in Poland, Cardinal Mindszenty in Hungary, and Cardinal Slipyj in the Ukraine. These bishops and many others fought hard against communism while receiving little help from the Vatican.
Things have only gotten worse. Now the Vatican has agreed to a deal with China and recognized seven Chinese bishops that were appointed by the Chinese government. If Emperor Henry IV were alive today he would be proud. Pope Francis is the kind of Pope that he would want, as opposed to Gregory VII whom he had to deal with. For those who aren’t familiar with the story of Pope Gregory VII and Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, Google “Henry IV Canossa” and read all about it. It’s such a great story.
The Guardian has a great article on the China fiasco:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/22/vatican-pope-francis-agreement-with-china-nominating-bishops
It talks about the retired Cardinal of Hong Kong opposing this deal. It also has this one line which I got a kick out of:
Sources told Reuters the accord gave the Vatican a say in the naming of bishops and granted the pope veto power over candidates.
It’s so comforting that the Vicar of Christ on Earth can have a say in the appointment of bishops in his Church, isn’t it? He just has to run things by those sweet little commies. This is one of the most shameful things that the Church has done in it’s 2,000 year history.
It should also be pointed out that the recently disgraced ex-Cardinal and sodomite Ted McCarrick probably had a hand in drafting this agreement. He was a regular envoy to China in these last few years. According to Archbishop Vigano’s letter, McCarrick received this role after Francis had lifted the sanctions that Benedict had placed on him for his abominable acts.
It seems that the Francis Papacy has been all about appeasing evil. He doesn’t condemn false religion, instead he prays with their leaders thereby affirming them. He doesn’t condemn communism, instead he lets them appoint his bishops. The only thing that Pope Francis seems to condemn is people who try to live by the ancient customs of the Church.
In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis writes:
The other is the self-absorbed promethean neopelagianism of those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. A supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads instead to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, whereby instead of evangelizing, one analyzes and classifies others, and instead of opening the door to grace, one exhausts his or her energies in inspecting and verifying.
Can you imagine if the Pope would condemn communism like he condemns traditional Catholics. Yes, trads can be prideful and arrogant and it really bothers me. However, I’ve never seen a trad compromise with a communist, let alone one of the most oppressive regimes toward religion on the planet.
We should all look to the lives of Pope Gregory VII and Pope Pius XII. Pope Gregory VII is a canonized Saint and one who stood up to the most powerful man in the world and said that he didn’t have the right to appoint bishops. Pope Pius XII was a Pope who fought against communism tooth and nail. We need to pray that our next Pope has both of these qualities.
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