lifesitenews--2020-08-13--Cdl. Zen: Vatican pursuing policy of submissiveness to Chinese communist govt

August 13 , 2020 ( LifeSiteNews ) — Cardinal Zen , the outspoken retired bishop of Hong Kong , acknowledged in an interview that the “ so-called national security law ” recently enacted by mainland China ’ s government makes it easier for the Chinese Communist Party to punish the city ’ s protesters and reduces the autonomy of the once independent city-state .
The new law , which was kept under wraps before it was passed on June 30 by the mainland legislature — a move that circumvented and overrode Hong Kong ’ s established law — criminalizes any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , terrorism , or collusion with foreign or external forces .
The sweeping new law gives the Chinese Communist Party ( CCP ) new powers to squelch resistance to the mainland ’ s ever tightening control over the compact , thriving economic hub .
“ It effectively strips away the freedom of speech and protest for the people of Hong Kong , ” observed Raymond Arroyo as he interviewed Cardinal Zen .
“ We are at the mercy of this new commission , ” said Zen .
“ We don ’ t have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have freedom.
” “ I went through the whole text of the law , ” said Zen , who summarized the impact of the new law on Hong Kong ’ s Catholics .
“ It ’ s easy to tell you in just one sentence : ‘ Now they can do anything , ’ ” he declared , referring to the CCP .
Zen suggested that the Vatican respects the Chinese government — run by the CCP — too much .
“ The Vatican is constantly pursuing a policy of submissiveness to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whole world can now be awakened , ” said the prelate .
“ We now can see the real face of the Chinese Communist Party and it ’ s now spiritual warfare between the lie and the truth , between the selfish desire of power of domination and concern for other people.
” “ It ’ s a warfare between the good and evil , so I hope the whole world should stand up , ” added the retired cardinal .
Zen told CNA he has ‘ no confidence ’ that the new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ freedom of Catholics and that while many would find official diocesan support for the implementation of the law “ disappointing , ” “ on the other hand , it will be a lot of trouble if we don ’ t support the government .
We never know what they will do to our Church.
” Hong Kong ’ s dicoesan schools told to indoctrinate Catholic students regarding the new National Security Law A pair of letters addressed to Hong Kong ’ s nearly 200 Catholic schools in advance of the new school year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Security Law and squelch political unrest among teachers and students , underscore Zen ’ s concern .
Episcopal delegate for education Peter Lau Chiu-yin sent a letter urging Hong Kong diocesan schools “ to help students understand the ‘ national security ’ law , ‘ respect the national flag ’ and ‘ the national anthem , ’ as well as ‘ foster the correct values on their national identity , ’ ” according to a report by Asia News .
Lau said each school “ should have a ‘ mechanism ’ to monitor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ papers and books ’ used in the classroom.
” A second letter , from Ingrid Yeung , Hong Kong permanent secretary for education , said schools must uphold “ national values ” as well as stop student political activities .
Teachers accused of “ rioting ” or “ arson ” should be suspended at once , according to the same Asia News report .
It ’ s no wonder that the CCP is using the new National Security Law to apply pressure on Hong Kong ’ s schools .
Asia News explains : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ arrested ( as of June 2020 ) since the start of the protest movement , about 3,725 are students , 45 per cent from secondary schools .
”

'We are at the mercy of this new commission,' said Zen. 'We don’t have religious freedom because we don’t have freedom.'
August 13, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Zen, the outspoken retired bishop of Hong Kong, acknowledged in an interview that the “so-called national security law” recently enacted by mainland China’s government makes it easier for the Chinese Communist Party to punish the city’s protesters and reduces the autonomy of the once independent city-state.
The new law, which was kept under wraps before it was passed on June 30 by the mainland legislature — a move that circumvented and overrode Hong Kong’s established law — criminalizes any acts deemed to be succession, subversion, terrorism, or collusion with foreign or external forces.
The sweeping new law gives the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) new powers to squelch resistance to the mainland’s ever tightening control over the compact, thriving economic hub.
“It effectively strips away the freedom of speech and protest for the people of Hong Kong,” observed Raymond Arroyo as he interviewed Cardinal Zen.
“We are at the mercy of this new commission,” said Zen. “We don’t have religious freedom because we don’t have freedom.”
“I went through the whole text of the law,” said Zen, who summarized the impact of the new law on Hong Kong’s Catholics.
“It’s easy to tell you in just one sentence: ‘Now they can do anything,’” he declared, referring to the CCP.
Zen suggested that the Vatican respects the Chinese government — run by the CCP — too much. “The Vatican is constantly pursuing a policy of submissiveness to the Chinese government.”
“I hope the whole world can now be awakened,” said the prelate. “We now can see the real face of the Chinese Communist Party and it’s now spiritual warfare between the lie and the truth, between the selfish desire of power of domination and concern for other people.”
“It’s a warfare between the good and evil, so I hope the whole world should stand up,” added the retired cardinal.
Zen told CNA he has ‘no confidence’ that the new National Security Law will respect the religious freedom of Catholics and that while many would find official diocesan support for the implementation of the law “disappointing,” “on the other hand, it will be a lot of trouble if we don’t support the government. We never know what they will do to our Church.”
Hong Kong’s dicoesan schools told to indoctrinate Catholic students regarding the new National Security Law
A pair of letters addressed to Hong Kong’s nearly 200 Catholic schools in advance of the new school year, intended to promote the new National Security Law and squelch political unrest among teachers and students, underscore Zen’s concern.
Episcopal delegate for education Peter Lau Chiu-yin sent a letter urging Hong Kong diocesan schools “to help students understand the ‘national security’ law, ‘respect the national flag’ and ‘the national anthem,’ as well as ‘foster the correct values on their national identity,’” according to a report by Asia News. Lau said each school “should have a ‘mechanism’ to monitor ‘teaching materials, assignments, examination papers and books’ used in the classroom.”
A second letter, from Ingrid Yeung, Hong Kong permanent secretary for education, said schools must uphold “national values” as well as stop student political activities. Teachers accused of “rioting” or “arson” should be suspended at once, according to the same Asia News report.
It’s no wonder that the CCP is using the new National Security Law to apply pressure on Hong Kong’s schools. Asia News explains: “Among the more than 9,000 people arrested (as of June 2020) since the start of the protest movement, about 3,725 are students, 45 per cent from secondary schools.”
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lifesitenews--2020-08-12--Abp. Viganò: Christ the King has been ‘dethroned’ not only ‘from society but also from the Church’

August 12 , 2020 ( LifeSiteNews ) – Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò , in a meditation delivered at the recent annual meeting of the staff of LifeSiteNews , described how important the Kingship of Christ is and how it has been undermined in society , under the influence of Masonic forces .
But also in the Church , he added , the papal monarchy and with it the Kingship of Christ have been undermined since the Second Vatican Council .
“ And when Paul VI deposed the triple royal diadem with an ostentatious gesture , ” the Italian prelate explained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ below ) , “ as if he was renouncing the sacred vicarious Monarchy , he also removed the Crown from Our Lord , confining His Kingship to a merely eschatological sphere.
” As a proof for this diminishment of the Social Kingship of Christ – also within the Church – Viganò points to the fact that the Liturgy of the Feast of Christ the King has been moved to the end of the liturgical year , thereby giving it a more eschatological meaning and less of a meaning in our daily lives .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which Archbishop Viganò delivered via telephone to some 40 members of the LifeSiteNews team during our annual meeting on August 6 , he referred to the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord of that day .
Referring to the scriptural passage speaking on this event , as well as other scriptural passages , the Italian prelate then established the Kingship of Christ over mankind .
He explicitly chose this topic for his meditation for LifeSite , “ because I believe that in a certain way the focal point of our and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in it ; not only in private and family life but also and above all in social and political life.
” With it , the prelate reminded us that all mankind is called to follow Christ and His Commandments , or , as the Our Father prayer says , “ Thy will be done , on earth as it is in heaven.
” Viganò therefore called upon us to “ revive our faith in the Universal Kingship of Our Divine Savior , ” and he later added that “ it is not possible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work of Jesus Christ .
He is King.
” After establishing and reminding us of these crucial facts , Archbishop Viganò went on to describe our current situation .
“ The fury of the Enemy , who hates the human race , ” he expounded , “ is unleashed primarily against the doctrine of the Kingship of Christ , because that Kingship is united in the Person of Our Lord , True God and True Man .
The secularism of the nineteenth century , fueled by Freemasonry , has succeeded in reorganizing itself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ since it has extended the denial of the royal rights of the Redeemer not only to civil society but also to the Body of the Church.
” That is to say , not only has the Kingship of Christ been increasingly denied in civil society , but also in the Catholic Church .
Here , Viganò pointed to the Second Vatican Council which he argued undermined , by weakening the principle of papal monarchy ( that is , by strengthening the aspect of collegiality ) also the Kingship of Christ , since the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ earth .
By weakening the “ sovereignty of the Vicar , ” the “ sovereign rights of Christ over His Mystical Body ” were weakened .
Here , Archbishop Viganò refers to an important and symbolic act by Pope Paul VI on November 13 , 1964 , when the Pope removed his papal crown from his head and placed it on the altar , in front of 2,000 bishops .
As an Aleteia article states : “ Following a Mass , attended by 2,000 bishops , the pope rose from his chair and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to news accounts at the time , Pope Paul VI was said to have been moved to make the gesture by discussions of world poverty during meetings of the Ecumenical Council Vatican II.
” Archbishop Viganò , in his meditations , commented on this event as follows : “ And when Paul VI deposed the triple royal diadem with an ostentatious gesture , as if he was renouncing the sacred vicarious Monarchy , he also removed the Crown from Our Lord , confining His Kingship to a merely eschatological sphere .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ changes made to the Liturgy of the Feast of Christ the King and its transfer to the end of the liturgical year.
” The prelate then also reflected upon the question as to whether the Council Fathers were aware that “ they in fact ousted Our Lord Jesus Christ , stripping him of the Crown of his social Kingship ?
” This act , however , had grave consequences .
In Viganò 's eyes , “ the Authority conferred by Our Lord on the Prince of the Apostles has substantially disappeared.
” Instead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ post-conciliar popes rather chose to speak “ in favor of pastorality that created the conditions for equivocal formulations that are strongly suspected of heresy if not bluntly heretical.
” The Italian archbishop and former papal nuncio of Washington , D.C. concluded : “ We therefore find ourselves not only besieged in the civil sphere , in which for centuries dark forces have refused the gentle yoke of Christ and imposed the hateful tyranny of apostasy and sin on the nations ; but also in the religious sphere , in which the Authority demolishes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should also reign over the Church , her Pastors and her faithful.
” The consequence of this abandonment of the social Kingship of Christ is , according to Viganò , tyranny : “ Also in this case , the sweet yoke of Christ is replaced by the hateful tyranny of the Innovators , who with an authoritarianism not dissimilar to that of their secular counterparts impose a new doctrine , a new morality , and a new liturgy in which the only mention of the Kingship of Our Lord is considered as an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Church.
” This new church can be characterized by “ clergy who give scandal to the faithful by their reprehensible moral conduct , spreading heresy from the pulpits , favoring idolatry by celebrating the pachamama and the worship of Mother Earth in the name of an eccologism of a clearly Masonic matrix , ” he added .
But Archbishop Viganò does not leave us with these distressing insights ; on the contrary , he stated , “ we have the joy and honor of rebuilding.
” There is “ a new generation of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ participating with zeal in this work of reconstruction of the Church for the salvation of souls.
” They allow themselves , weak and humble as they are , to be “ used by God as docile instruments in his hands.
” With our humility and docility , the prelate explained , we may counter those who “ rebel against the King in a delusion of omnipotence , uttering their own non serviam.
” Here , Our Lady will be at our side .
Viganò went on to say that “ there can be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and maternal Queenship of Mary.
” Below is the full text of Viganò ’ s remarks .
Thrice happy city , basking fair beneath His royal sway , where at the mandates from His throne all hearts with joy obey !
Jesus took Peter , James , and his brother John and led them up a high mountain by themselves .
And he was transfigured before them ; his face shine like the sun and his clothes became white as light .
And behold , Moses and Elijah appeared to them , conversing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jesus in reply , “ Lord , it is good that we are here .
If you wish , I will make three tents here , one for you , one for Moses , and one for Elijah.
” While he was still speaking , behold , a bright cloud cast a shadow over them , then from the cloud came a voice that said : “ This is my beloved Son , with whom I am well-pleased ; listen to him.
” When the disciples heard this , they felt prostrate and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ came and touched them , saying : “ Rise , and do not be afraid.
” And when the disciples raised their eyes , they saw no one else but Jesus alone .
As they were coming down the mountain , Jesus charged them , “ Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of man has been raised from the dead ” ( Mt 17 : 1-9 ) .
Permit me , dear friends , to share with you some reflections on the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ today , after other significant episodes of the earthly life of the Lord : from the Angels over the Cave of Bethlehem to the Adoration of the Magi to His Baptism in the Jordan River .
I have chosen this theme because I believe that in a certain way the focal point of our and your commitment as Catholics may be summarized in it ; not only in private and family life but also and above all in social and political life .
First of all , let us revive our faith in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He is truly the Universal King , that is , he possesses absolute Sovereignty over all creation , over the human race , over all people , even over those who are outside his fold , the Holy Catholic , Apostolic , Roman Church .
Each person is truly a creature of God .
Every person owes his entire being to Him , both in his nature as a whole and in each of the individual parts that compose it : body , soul , faculties , intelligence , will , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as well as the actions of all the organs of the body , are gifts of God , whose dominion extends to all of his goods as fruits of His ineffable liberality .
The simple consideration of the fact that no one chooses or can choose the family to which he belongs on earth is sufficient to convince us of this fundamental truth of our existence .
From this it follows that Our Lord God is the Sovereign of all men , both considered individually and also united in social groups , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ communities does not mean that they lose their condition as creatures .
In fact , the very existence of civil society obeys the designs of God , who made human nature to be social .
Thus all people , all nations , from the most primitive to the most civilized , from the very smallest to the superpowers , are all subjected to the Divine Sovereignty and , in and of themselves , have the obligation to recognize this sweet celestial Dominion .
As the Sacred Scriptures frequently attest , God has conferred @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Saint Paul affirms , in a general way , that God made his Son “ heir of all things ” ( Heb 1:2 ) .
Saint John , for his part , confirms the thought of the Apostle of the Gentiles in many passages of his Gospel : for example , when he recalls that “ the Father does not judge anyone , but He has given all judgment to His Son ” ( Jn 5:22 ) .
The prerogative of administering justice belongs , in fact , to the king , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is invested with sovereign power .
This Universal Kingship that the Son has inherited from his Father should not be understood only as the eternal inheritance through which , in his Divine Nature , He has received all of the attributes that make him equal and consubstantial to the First Person of the Most Holy Trinity , in the unity of the Divine Essence .
This Kingship is also attributed in a special way to Jesus Christ inasmuch as he is truly man , the Mediator between heaven and earth .
In fact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is precisely the establishment on earth of the Kingdom of God .
We observe that the expressions of Sacred Scripture relative to the Kingship of Jesus Christ refer , without a shadow of a doubt , to his condition as man .
He is presented to the world as the Son of King David , for whom he comes to inherit the Throne of his Father , extended to the ends of the earth and made eternal , without a count of years .
Thus it was that the Archangel Gabriel announced the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ You shall bear a Son , and you shall name Him Jesus .
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High .
The Lord God will give him the throne of David , his father , and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom shall have no end ” ( Lk 1:31-33 ) .
And , furthermore , the Magi who came from the East to adore him seek him as a King : “ Where is the newborn King of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on their arrival in Jerusalem ( Mt 2:2 ) .
The mission that the Eternal Father entrusts to the Son in the mystery of the Incarnation is to establish a Kingdom on earth , the Kingdom of Heaven .
Through the establishment of this Kingdom , the ineffable Charity with which God has loved men from all eternity , mercifully drawing them to Himself , becomes concrete : “ Dilexi te , ideo attraxite , miserans ” .
“ I have loved thee with an everlasting love , therefore with loving kindness have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) Jesus consecrates his public life to the proclamation and establishment of his Kingdom , at times referred to as the Kingdom of God and at others as the Kingdom of Heaven .
Following the Eastern practice , Our Lord makes use of fascinating parables in order to inculcate the idea and the nature of this Kingdom that he has come to establish .
His miracles aim to convince the people that his Kingdom has already come ; it is found in the midst of the people .
“ Si in digito Dei @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regnum Dei ” – “ If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons , then the Kingdom of God is upon you ” ( Lk 11:20 ) .
The constitution of his Kingdom so absorbed his mission that the apostasy of his enemies took advantage of this idea to justify the accusation raised against him before Pilate ’ s tribunal : “ Si hunc dimittis , non es amicus Caesaris ” – “ If you release him , you are not a friend of Caesar.
” They cried @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who makes himself king opposes Caesar ” ( Jn 19:12 ) .
Validating the opinion of his enemies , Jesus Christ confirms to the Roman governor that He is truly a King : “ You say : I am a king ” ( Jn 18:37 ) .
It is not possible to question the regal character of the work of Jesus Christ .
He is King .
Our faith , however , requires that we understand well the scope and meaning of the Royalty of the Divine Redeemer .
Pius XI immediately excludes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ king ” and “ kingly ” whatever is excellent in a human way of being or acting .
No : Jesus Christ is not king in this metaphorical sense .
He is King in the proper sense of the word .
In Sacred Scripture , Jesus appears exercising royal prerogatives of sovereign government , dictating laws and ordering punishments against transgressors .
In the famous Sermon on the Mount , we may say that the Savior promulgated the Law of his Kingdom .
As a true Sovereign , He requires obedience to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than eternal condemnation .
And also in the scene of the Judgment , which announces the end of the world , when the Son of God will come to administer His judgment to the living and the dead : “ The Son of Man will come in his glory [ ... ] and He will separate them one from another , as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats [ ... ] .
Then the King will say to those on his right : “ Come , you who are blessed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He will say to those on his left : “ Depart from me , you accursed , into the everlasting fire [ ... ] .
And these will go off to eternal punishment , but the righteous to eternal life ” ( Mt 25:31 ff. )
.
A sentence that is both sweet and terrible .
Sweet for the good , because of the unparalleled excellence of the prize that awaits them ; terrible and frightening for the wicked , because of the terrifying judgment to which they are condemned for eternity .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in order to realize how it is of the highest importance for people to identify rightly where the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is here on earth , because belonging or not belonging to it decides our eternal destiny .
We have said “ here on earth ” since man merits the reward or punishment for the afterlife in this world .
On earth , therefore , men ought to enter and become part of this ineffable Kingdom of God , which is both temporal and eternal , because it is formed in this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The fury of the Enemy , who hates the human race , is unleashed primarily against the doctrine of the Kingship of Christ , because that Kingship is united in the Person of Our Lord , True God and True Man .
The secularism of the nineteenth century , fueled by Freemasonry , has succeeded in reorganizing itself into an even more perverse ideology , since it has extended the denial of the royal rights of the Redeemer not only to civil society but also to the Body of the Church .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the Papacy of the very concept of this vicarious Kingship of the Roman Pontiff , thereby bringing into the very heart of the Church the demands for democracy and parliamentarianism which had already been used to undermine nations and the authority of rulers .
The Second Vatican Council greatly weakened the papal monarchy as a consequence of the implicit denial of the Divine Kingship of the Eternal High Priest , and by doing so inflicted a masterful blow against the institution which until then had stood as a wall of defense against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sovereignty of the Vicar was diminished , and this was progressively followed by the denial of the sovereign rights of Christ over His Mystical Body .
And when Paul VI deposed the triple royal diadem with an ostentatious gesture , as if he was renouncing the sacred vicarious Monarchy , he also removed the Crown from Our Lord , confining His Kingship to a merely eschatological sphere .
The proof of this is the significant changes made to the Liturgy of the Feast of Christ the King and its transfer to the end @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Feast , namely the celebration of the social Kingship of Christ , also illuminates its place in the calendar .
In the Traditional Liturgy it was assigned to the last Sunday of October , so that the Feast of All Saints , who reign by participation , would be preceded by the Feast of Christ , who reigns by his own right .
With the liturgical reform approved by Paul VI in 1969 , the Feast of Christ the King was moved to the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Christ and relegating him to the merely spiritual and eschatological dimension .
Did all these Council Fathers , who voted for Dignitatis Humanae and proclaimed religious freedom with Paul VI , realize that they in fact ousted Our Lord Jesus Christ , stripping him of the Crown of his social Kingship ?
Did they understand that they had very concretely dethroned Our Lord Jesus Christ from the throne of his divine Kingship over us and over the whole world ?
Did they understand that , making themselves the spokesmen of apostate nations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ towards His Throne : “ We do not want this man to be our king ” ( Lk 19:14 ) ; “ We have no king but Caesar ” ( Jn 19:15 ) ?
But He , faced with that confused rumor of senseless men , withdrew his Spirit from them .
For those who are not blinded by bias , it is impossible not to see the perverse intention to downsize the Feast instituted by Pius XI and the doctrine expressed by it .
Having dethroned Christ not only from society but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crime with which the Hierarchy could have been stained , failing in its role as the custodian of the Savior ’ s teaching .
As an inevitable consequence of this betrayal , the Authority conferred by Our Lord on the Prince of the Apostles has substantially disappeared .
We have had confirmation of this ever since the edict of Vatican II , when the infallible authority of the Roman Pontiff was deliberately excluded in favor of a pastorality that created the conditions for equivocal formulations that are strongly suspected of heresy if not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not only besieged in the civil sphere , in which for centuries dark forces have refused the gentle yoke of Christ and imposed the hateful tyranny of apostasy and sin on the nations ; but also in the religious sphere , in which the Authority demolishes itself and denies that the Divine King should also reign over the Church , her Pastors and her faithful .
Also in this case , the sweet yoke of Christ is replaced by the hateful tyranny of the Innovators , who with an authoritarianism not dissimilar to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new doctrine , a new morality , and a new liturgy in which the only mention of the Kingship of Our Lord is considered as an awkward legacy from another religion , another Church .
As Saint Paul said : “ God is sending them a deceiving power so that they may believe the lie ” ( 2 Thess 2:11 ) .
It is therefore not surprising to see that , just as in the secular world judges subvert justice by condemning the innocent and acquitting the guilty , rulers abuse their power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hippocratic oath by making themselves accomplices of those who want to spread disease and transform the sick into chronic patients , and teachers do not teach love of knowledge but cultivate ignorance in and ideological manipulation of their students , so also in the heart of the Bride of Christ there are Cardinals , Bishops , and clergy who give scandal to the faithful by their reprehensible moral conduct , spreading heresy from the pulpits , favoring idolatry by celebrating the pachamama and the worship of Mother Earth in the name of an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is perfectly in accord with the plan of dissolution intended by globalism .
“ This is your hour , the hour of darkness ” ( Lk 22:53 ) .
The kathèkon wouldseem to have disappeared , if we did not have the certainty of the promises of Our Savior , Lord of the world , of history , and of the Church herself .
And yet , while they destroy , we have the joy and honor of rebuilding .
And there is a still greater happiness : a new generation of laity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this work of reconstruction of the Church for the salvation of souls , and they do so well aware of their own weaknesses and miseries , but also allowing themselves to be used by God as docile instruments in his hands : helpful hands , strong hands , the hands of the Almighty .
Our fragility highlights the fact that this is the Lord ’ s work even more , especially where this human fragility is accompanied by humility .
This humility ought to lead us to instaurare omnia in Christo , beginning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which is the official prayer of the Church .
Let us return to the Liturgy in which Our Lord is recognized in his absolute Primacy , to the worship that the Innovators adulterated precisely out of hatred for the Divine Majesty in order to proudly exalt the creature by humiliating the Creator , claiming the right to rebel against the King in a delusion of omnipotence , uttering their own non serviam against the adoration that is owed to the Lord .
Our life is a war : Sacred Scripture reminds us of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in which “ sub Christi Regis vexillis militare gloriamur , ” ( Postcommunio Missae Christi Regis ) and in which we have at our disposal very powerful spiritual weapons , a deployment of angelic forces before which no earthly or infernal stronghold has any power .
If Our Lord is King by hereditary right ( since he is of royal lineage ) , by divine right ( in virtue of the hypostatic union ) , and by right of conquest ( having redeemed us by his Sacrifice on the Cross ) , we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plans of Divine Providence , this Divine Sovereign has at his side as Our Lady and Queen , His own August Mother , Mary Most Holy .
There can be no Kingship of Christ without the sweet and maternal Queenship of Mary , whom Saint Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort reminds us is our Mediatrix before her Son ’ s Majestic Throne , where she stands as a Queen interceding before the King .
The premise of the triumph of the Divine King in society and in nations is that He already reigns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and our families .
May Christ also reign in us , and His Most Holy Mother along with him .
Adveniat regnum tuum : adveniat per Mariam .

August 12, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, in a meditation delivered at the recent annual meeting of the staff of LifeSiteNews, described how important the Kingship of Christ is and how it has been undermined in society, under the influence of Masonic forces. But also in the Church, he added, the papal monarchy and with it the Kingship of Christ have been undermined since the Second Vatican Council.
“And when Paul VI deposed the triple royal diadem with an ostentatious gesture,” the Italian prelate explained in his meditation (see full text below), “as if he was renouncing the sacred vicarious Monarchy, he also removed the Crown from Our Lord, confining His Kingship to a merely eschatological sphere.” As a proof for this diminishment of the Social Kingship of Christ – also within the Church – Viganò points to the fact that the Liturgy of the Feast of Christ the King has been moved to the end of the liturgical year, thereby giving it a more eschatological meaning and less of a meaning in our daily lives.
In the first part of his reflection, which Archbishop Viganò delivered via telephone to some 40 members of the LifeSiteNews team during our annual meeting on August 6, he referred to the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord of that day. Referring to the scriptural passage speaking on this event, as well as other scriptural passages, the Italian prelate then established the Kingship of Christ over mankind. He explicitly chose this topic for his meditation for LifeSite, “because I believe that in a certain way the focal point of our and your commitment as Catholics may be summarized in it; not only in private and family life but also and above all in social and political life.”
With it, the prelate reminded us that all mankind is called to follow Christ and His Commandments, or, as the Our Father prayer says, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Viganò therefore called upon us to “revive our faith in the Universal Kingship of Our Divine Savior,” and he later added that “it is not possible to question the regal character of the work of Jesus Christ. He is King.”
After establishing and reminding us of these crucial facts, Archbishop Viganò went on to describe our current situation. “The fury of the Enemy, who hates the human race,” he expounded, “is unleashed primarily against the doctrine of the Kingship of Christ, because that Kingship is united in the Person of Our Lord, True God and True Man. The secularism of the nineteenth century, fueled by Freemasonry, has succeeded in reorganizing itself into an even more perverse ideology, since it has extended the denial of the royal rights of the Redeemer not only to civil society but also to the Body of the Church.”
That is to say, not only has the Kingship of Christ been increasingly denied in civil society, but also in the Catholic Church. Here, Viganò pointed to the Second Vatican Council which he argued undermined, by weakening the principle of papal monarchy (that is, by strengthening the aspect of collegiality) also the Kingship of Christ, since the Pope is the vicar of Christ on earth.
Stated the prelate:
This attack was consummated with the renunciation by the Papacy of the very concept of this vicarious Kingship of the Roman Pontiff, thereby bringing into the very heart of the Church the demands for democracy and parliamentarianism which had already been used to undermine nations and the authority of rulers. The Second Vatican Council greatly weakened the papal monarchy as a consequence of the implicit denial of the Divine Kingship of the Eternal High Priest, and by doing so inflicted a masterful blow against the institution which until then had stood as a wall of defense against the secularization of Christian society.
By weakening the “sovereignty of the Vicar,” the “sovereign rights of Christ over His Mystical Body” were weakened. Here, Archbishop Viganò refers to an important and symbolic act by Pope Paul VI on November 13, 1964, when the Pope removed his papal crown from his head and placed it on the altar, in front of 2,000 bishops. As an Aleteia article states: “Following a Mass, attended by 2,000 bishops, the pope rose from his chair and solemnly placed his tiara on the altar. According to news accounts at the time, Pope Paul VI was said to have been moved to make the gesture by discussions of world poverty during meetings of the Ecumenical Council Vatican II.”
Archbishop Viganò, in his meditations, commented on this event as follows: “And when Paul VI deposed the triple royal diadem with an ostentatious gesture, as if he was renouncing the sacred vicarious Monarchy, he also removed the Crown from Our Lord, confining His Kingship to a merely eschatological sphere. The proof of this is the significant changes made to the Liturgy of the Feast of Christ the King and its transfer to the end of the liturgical year.”
The prelate then also reflected upon the question as to whether the Council Fathers were aware that “they in fact ousted Our Lord Jesus Christ, stripping him of the Crown of his social Kingship?” This act, however, had grave consequences. In Viganò's eyes, “the Authority conferred by Our Lord on the Prince of the Apostles has substantially disappeared.” Instead of speaking authoritatively and infallibly, the post-conciliar popes rather chose to speak “in favor of pastorality that created the conditions for equivocal formulations that are strongly suspected of heresy if not bluntly heretical.”
The Italian archbishop and former papal nuncio of Washington, D.C. concluded: “We therefore find ourselves not only besieged in the civil sphere, in which for centuries dark forces have refused the gentle yoke of Christ and imposed the hateful tyranny of apostasy and sin on the nations; but also in the religious sphere, in which the Authority demolishes itself and denies that the Divine King should also reign over the Church, her Pastors and her faithful.”
The consequence of this abandonment of the social Kingship of Christ is, according to Viganò, tyranny: “Also in this case, the sweet yoke of Christ is replaced by the hateful tyranny of the Innovators, who with an authoritarianism not dissimilar to that of their secular counterparts impose a new doctrine, a new morality, and a new liturgy in which the only mention of the Kingship of Our Lord is considered as an awkward legacy from another religion, another Church.”
This new church can be characterized by “clergy who give scandal to the faithful by their reprehensible moral conduct, spreading heresy from the pulpits, favoring idolatry by celebrating the pachamama and the worship of Mother Earth in the name of an eccologism of a clearly Masonic matrix,” he added.
But Archbishop Viganò does not leave us with these distressing insights; on the contrary, he stated, “we have the joy and honor of rebuilding.” There is “a new generation of laity and priests” who are “participating with zeal in this work of reconstruction of the Church for the salvation of souls.” They allow themselves, weak and humble as they are, to be “used by God as docile instruments in his hands.” With our humility and docility, the prelate explained, we may counter those who “rebel against the King in a delusion of omnipotence, uttering their own non serviam.” Here, Our Lady will be at our side. Viganò went on to say that “there can be no Kingship of Christ without the sweet and maternal Queenship of Mary.”
Below is the full text of Viganò’s remarks.
TE ADORET ORBIS SUBDITUS
O ter beata civitas
cui rite Christus imperat,
quae jussa pergit exsequi
edicta mundo caelitus!
Thrice happy city, basking fair
beneath His royal sway,
where at the mandates from His throne
all hearts with joy obey!
Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shine like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they felt prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying: “Rise, and do not be afraid.” And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of man has been raised from the dead” (Mt 17: 1-9).
Permit me, dear friends, to share with you some reflections on the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, manifested in the Transfiguration that we celebrate today, after other significant episodes of the earthly life of the Lord: from the Angels over the Cave of Bethlehem to the Adoration of the Magi to His Baptism in the Jordan River.
I have chosen this theme because I believe that in a certain way the focal point of our and your commitment as Catholics may be summarized in it; not only in private and family life but also and above all in social and political life.
First of all, let us revive our faith in the Universal Kingship of Our Divine Savior.
He is truly the Universal King, that is, he possesses absolute Sovereignty over all creation, over the human race, over all people, even over those who are outside his fold, the Holy Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church.
Each person is truly a creature of God. Every person owes his entire being to Him, both in his nature as a whole and in each of the individual parts that compose it: body, soul, faculties, intelligence, will, and senses. The actions of these faculties, as well as the actions of all the organs of the body, are gifts of God, whose dominion extends to all of his goods as fruits of His ineffable liberality. The simple consideration of the fact that no one chooses or can choose the family to which he belongs on earth is sufficient to convince us of this fundamental truth of our existence.
From this it follows that Our Lord God is the Sovereign of all men, both considered individually and also united in social groups, since the fact that they form various communities does not mean that they lose their condition as creatures. In fact, the very existence of civil society obeys the designs of God, who made human nature to be social. Thus all people, all nations, from the most primitive to the most civilized, from the very smallest to the superpowers, are all subjected to the Divine Sovereignty and, in and of themselves, have the obligation to recognize this sweet celestial Dominion.
THE KINGSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST
As the Sacred Scriptures frequently attest, God has conferred this Sovereignty on his Only-Begotten Son.
Saint Paul affirms, in a general way, that God made his Son “heir of all things” (Heb 1:2). Saint John, for his part, confirms the thought of the Apostle of the Gentiles in many passages of his Gospel: for example, when he recalls that “the Father does not judge anyone, but He has given all judgment to His Son” (Jn 5:22). The prerogative of administering justice belongs, in fact, to the king, and whoever possesses it does so because he is invested with sovereign power.
This Universal Kingship that the Son has inherited from his Father should not be understood only as the eternal inheritance through which, in his Divine Nature, He has received all of the attributes that make him equal and consubstantial to the First Person of the Most Holy Trinity, in the unity of the Divine Essence.
This Kingship is also attributed in a special way to Jesus Christ inasmuch as he is truly man, the Mediator between heaven and earth. In fact, the mission of the Word Incarnate is precisely the establishment on earth of the Kingdom of God. We observe that the expressions of Sacred Scripture relative to the Kingship of Jesus Christ refer, without a shadow of a doubt, to his condition as man.
He is presented to the world as the Son of King David, for whom he comes to inherit the Throne of his Father, extended to the ends of the earth and made eternal, without a count of years. Thus it was that the Archangel Gabriel announced the dignity of the Son of Mary: “You shall bear a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David, his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom shall have no end” (Lk 1:31-33). And, furthermore, the Magi who came from the East to adore him seek him as a King: “Where is the newborn King of the Jews?” they ask Herod, on their arrival in Jerusalem (Mt 2:2). The mission that the Eternal Father entrusts to the Son in the mystery of the Incarnation is to establish a Kingdom on earth, the Kingdom of Heaven. Through the establishment of this Kingdom, the ineffable Charity with which God has loved men from all eternity, mercifully drawing them to Himself, becomes concrete: “Dilexi te, ideo attraxite, miserans”. “I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.” (Jer 31:3)
Jesus consecrates his public life to the proclamation and establishment of his Kingdom, at times referred to as the Kingdom of God and at others as the Kingdom of Heaven. Following the Eastern practice, Our Lord makes use of fascinating parables in order to inculcate the idea and the nature of this Kingdom that he has come to establish. His miracles aim to convince the people that his Kingdom has already come; it is found in the midst of the people. “Si in digito Dei eiicio daemonia, profecto pérvenit in vos regnum Dei” – “If it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God is upon you” (Lk 11:20).
The constitution of his Kingdom so absorbed his mission that the apostasy of his enemies took advantage of this idea to justify the accusation raised against him before Pilate’s tribunal: “Si hunc dimittis, non es amicus Caesaris” – “If you release him, you are not a friend of Caesar.” They cried out to Pontius Pilate: “Everyone who makes himself king opposes Caesar” (Jn 19:12). Validating the opinion of his enemies, Jesus Christ confirms to the Roman governor that He is truly a King: “You say: I am a king” (Jn 18:37).
A KING IN A TRUE SENSE
It is not possible to question the regal character of the work of Jesus Christ. He is King.
Our faith, however, requires that we understand well the scope and meaning of the Royalty of the Divine Redeemer. Pius XI immediately excludes the metaphorical sense by which we call “king” and “kingly” whatever is excellent in a human way of being or acting. No: Jesus Christ is not king in this metaphorical sense. He is King in the proper sense of the word. In Sacred Scripture, Jesus appears exercising royal prerogatives of sovereign government, dictating laws and ordering punishments against transgressors. In the famous Sermon on the Mount, we may say that the Savior promulgated the Law of his Kingdom. As a true Sovereign, He requires obedience to His laws under pain of nothing less than eternal condemnation. And also in the scene of the Judgment, which announces the end of the world, when the Son of God will come to administer His judgment to the living and the dead: “The Son of Man will come in his glory […] and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats […]. Then the King will say to those on his right: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father […]. Then He will say to those on his left: “Depart from me, you accursed, into the everlasting fire […]. And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Mt 25:31 ff.). A sentence that is both sweet and terrible. Sweet for the good, because of the unparalleled excellence of the prize that awaits them; terrible and frightening for the wicked, because of the terrifying judgment to which they are condemned for eternity.
A consideration of this sort is sufficient in order to realize how it is of the highest importance for people to identify rightly where the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is here on earth, because belonging or not belonging to it decides our eternal destiny. We have said “here on earth” since man merits the reward or punishment for the afterlife in this world. On earth, therefore, men ought to enter and become part of this ineffable Kingdom of God, which is both temporal and eternal, because it is formed in this world and flowers forth fully in heaven.
THE PRESENT SITUATION
The fury of the Enemy, who hates the human race, is unleashed primarily against the doctrine of the Kingship of Christ, because that Kingship is united in the Person of Our Lord, True God and True Man. The secularism of the nineteenth century, fueled by Freemasonry, has succeeded in reorganizing itself into an even more perverse ideology, since it has extended the denial of the royal rights of the Redeemer not only to civil society but also to the Body of the Church.
This attack was consummated with the renunciation by the Papacy of the very concept of this vicarious Kingship of the Roman Pontiff, thereby bringing into the very heart of the Church the demands for democracy and parliamentarianism which had already been used to undermine nations and the authority of rulers. The Second Vatican Council greatly weakened the papal monarchy as a consequence of the implicit denial of the Divine Kingship of the Eternal High Priest, and by doing so inflicted a masterful blow against the institution which until then had stood as a wall of defense against the secularization of Christian society. The sovereignty of the Vicar was diminished, and this was progressively followed by the denial of the sovereign rights of Christ over His Mystical Body. And when Paul VI deposed the triple royal diadem with an ostentatious gesture, as if he was renouncing the sacred vicarious Monarchy, he also removed the Crown from Our Lord, confining His Kingship to a merely eschatological sphere. The proof of this is the significant changes made to the Liturgy of the Feast of Christ the King and its transfer to the end of the liturgical year.
The purpose of the Feast, namely the celebration of the social Kingship of Christ, also illuminates its place in the calendar. In the Traditional Liturgy it was assigned to the last Sunday of October, so that the Feast of All Saints, who reign by participation, would be preceded by the Feast of Christ, who reigns by his own right. With the liturgical reform approved by Paul VI in 1969, the Feast of Christ the King was moved to the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year, erasing the social dimension of the Kingship of Christ and relegating him to the merely spiritual and eschatological dimension.
Did all these Council Fathers, who voted for Dignitatis Humanae and proclaimed religious freedom with Paul VI, realize that they in fact ousted Our Lord Jesus Christ, stripping him of the Crown of his social Kingship? Did they understand that they had very concretely dethroned Our Lord Jesus Christ from the throne of his divine Kingship over us and over the whole world? Did they understand that, making themselves the spokesmen of apostate nations, they made these execrable blasphemies ascend towards His Throne: “We do not want this man to be our king” (Lk 19:14); “We have no king but Caesar” (Jn 19:15)? But He, faced with that confused rumor of senseless men, withdrew his Spirit from them.
For those who are not blinded by bias, it is impossible not to see the perverse intention to downsize the Feast instituted by Pius XI and the doctrine expressed by it. Having dethroned Christ not only from society but also from the Church was the greatest crime with which the Hierarchy could have been stained, failing in its role as the custodian of the Savior’s teaching. As an inevitable consequence of this betrayal, the Authority conferred by Our Lord on the Prince of the Apostles has substantially disappeared. We have had confirmation of this ever since the edict of Vatican II, when the infallible authority of the Roman Pontiff was deliberately excluded in favor of a pastorality that created the conditions for equivocal formulations that are strongly suspected of heresy if not bluntly heretical. We therefore find ourselves not only besieged in the civil sphere, in which for centuries dark forces have refused the gentle yoke of Christ and imposed the hateful tyranny of apostasy and sin on the nations; but also in the religious sphere, in which the Authority demolishes itself and denies that the Divine King should also reign over the Church, her Pastors and her faithful. Also in this case, the sweet yoke of Christ is replaced by the hateful tyranny of the Innovators, who with an authoritarianism not dissimilar to that of their secular counterparts impose a new doctrine, a new morality, and a new liturgy in which the only mention of the Kingship of Our Lord is considered as an awkward legacy from another religion, another Church. As Saint Paul said: “God is sending them a deceiving power so that they may believe the lie” (2 Thess 2:11).
It is therefore not surprising to see that, just as in the secular world judges subvert justice by condemning the innocent and acquitting the guilty, rulers abuse their power and tyrannize citizens, doctors violate the Hippocratic oath by making themselves accomplices of those who want to spread disease and transform the sick into chronic patients, and teachers do not teach love of knowledge but cultivate ignorance in and ideological manipulation of their students, so also in the heart of the Bride of Christ there are Cardinals, Bishops, and clergy who give scandal to the faithful by their reprehensible moral conduct, spreading heresy from the pulpits, favoring idolatry by celebrating the pachamama and the worship of Mother Earth in the name of an ecologism of a clearly Masonic matrix that is perfectly in accord with the plan of dissolution intended by globalism. “This is your hour, the hour of darkness” (Lk 22:53). The kathèkon wouldseem to have disappeared, if we did not have the certainty of the promises of Our Savior, Lord of the world, of history, and of the Church herself.
CONCLUSION
And yet, while they destroy, we have the joy and honor of rebuilding. And there is a still greater happiness: a new generation of laity and priests are participating with zeal in this work of reconstruction of the Church for the salvation of souls, and they do so well aware of their own weaknesses and miseries, but also allowing themselves to be used by God as docile instruments in his hands: helpful hands, strong hands, the hands of the Almighty. Our fragility highlights the fact that this is the Lord’s work even more, especially where this human fragility is accompanied by humility.
This humility ought to lead us to instaurare omnia in Christo, beginning from the heart of the Faith, which is the official prayer of the Church. Let us return to the Liturgy in which Our Lord is recognized in his absolute Primacy, to the worship that the Innovators adulterated precisely out of hatred for the Divine Majesty in order to proudly exalt the creature by humiliating the Creator, claiming the right to rebel against the King in a delusion of omnipotence, uttering their own non serviam against the adoration that is owed to the Lord.
Our life is a war: Sacred Scripture reminds us of this. But it is a war in which “sub Christi Regis vexillis militare gloriamur,” (Postcommunio Missae Christi Regis) and in which we have at our disposal very powerful spiritual weapons, a deployment of angelic forces before which no earthly or infernal stronghold has any power.
If Our Lord is King by hereditary right (since he is of royal lineage), by divine right (in virtue of the hypostatic union), and by right of conquest (having redeemed us by his Sacrifice on the Cross), we must not forget that, in the plans of Divine Providence, this Divine Sovereign has at his side as Our Lady and Queen, His own August Mother, Mary Most Holy. There can be no Kingship of Christ without the sweet and maternal Queenship of Mary, whom Saint Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort reminds us is our Mediatrix before her Son’s Majestic Throne, where she stands as a Queen interceding before the King.
The premise of the triumph of the Divine King in society and in nations is that He already reigns in our hearts, our souls, and our families. May Christ also reign in us, and His Most Holy Mother along with him. Adveniat regnum tuum: adveniat per Mariam.
Marana Tha, Veni Domine Iesu ! Oh come Lord Jesus!
+ Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop
Translated from Italian by Giuseppe Pellegrino
Follow Maike Dr. Maike Hickson was born and raised in Germany. She holds a PhD from the University of Hannover, Germany, after having written in Switzerland her doctoral dissertation on the history of Swiss intellectuals before and during World War II. She now lives in the U.S. and is married to Dr. Robert Hickson, and they have been blessed with two beautiful children. She is a happy housewife who likes to write articles when time permits. Dr. Hickson published in 2014 a Festschrift, a collection of some thirty essays written by thoughtful authors in honor of her husband upon his 70th birthday, which is entitled A Catholic Witness in Our Time. Hickson has closely followed the papacy of Pope Francis and the developments in the Catholic Church in Germany, and she has been writing articles on religion and politics for U.S. and European publications and websites such as LifeSiteNews, OnePeterFive, The Wanderer, Rorate Caeli, Catholicism.org, Catholic Family News, Christian Order, Notizie Pro-Vita, Corrispondenza Romana, Katholisches.info, Der Dreizehnte, Zeit-Fragen, and Westfalen-Blatt.
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lifesitenews--2020-08-14--Priest offers Mass, leads Eucharistic procession outside Maryland late-term abortion facility

URGENT PETITION : Tell the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade !
Sign the petition here .
BETHESDA , Maryland , August 13 , 2020 ( LifeSiteNews ) – Shortly after daybreak on the Memorial of St. Clare , August 11 , Father Antonio Maria , C.F.R.
, celebrated a Mass for life in a shopping center parking lot adjacent to late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart ’ s facility in Bethesda , Maryland .
Carhart is one of only a few abortionists in the U.S. who is willing to abort babies through all nine months of pregnancy – right up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aborted two children at 25 weeks of gestation – a time when babies are routinely viable outside of the womb .
Their mothers , according to an eyewitness and reported by Operation Rescue , suffered life-threatening injuries that required emergency surgery and hospitalization and resulted in permanent physical impairment .
Missy Smith , a decades-long pro-life advocate , has spoken to both women and their families .
She confirmed initial reports that one woman can never bear children again and the other has had several operations to repair internal physical damage .
Carhart @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has caused 22 serious injuries and one patient death at his two abortion facilities in Maryland and Bellevue , Nebraska , since 2012 .
Eight complaints have been filed against him with the Maryland Board of Physicians , but no disciplinary action has been taken .
After the two recent botched abortions , Operation Rescue sent a letter on June 8 to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar seeking an investigation into Carhart ’ s practice .
In his homily , Father Antonio , a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Clare , a disciple of St. Francis of Assisi , attributed to her devotion to the Holy Eucharist and a life of austerity and penance .
She was credited with saving the lives of the citizens of Assisi twice , when the city was besieged by Saracens .
The priest presented St. Clare as “ an example of the power of faith and devotion to the Holy Eucharist.
” At the end of Mass , Father Antonio led the two dozen attendees in a silent Eucharistic Procession around the property where the abortion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the congregation and the abortion facility with the Eucharist .
The service ended with the congregation singing “ Immaculate Mary , ” a hymn of praise to the Blessed Mother .
This was the 11th Mass and first Eucharistic Procession near this abortion facility .
The Masses have been offered by various priests .
When Carhart was located in Germantown , before moving to Bethesda , a Mass was said each Saturday morning for several years in an office next door to his abortion center .
Dick Retta , who leads a prayer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Carhart ’ s facility , said , “ With prayer , witness , and persistent activity by the pro-life community , the abortionist left Germantown .
Hopefully , he soon will leave Bethesda .
”

URGENT PETITION: Tell the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade! Sign the petition here.
BETHESDA, Maryland, August 13, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Shortly after daybreak on the Memorial of St. Clare, August 11, Father Antonio Maria, C.F.R., celebrated a Mass for life in a shopping center parking lot adjacent to late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart’s facility in Bethesda, Maryland. Carhart is one of only a few abortionists in the U.S. who is willing to abort babies through all nine months of pregnancy – right up until birth.
In May, Carhart aborted two children at 25 weeks of gestation – a time when babies are routinely viable outside of the womb. Their mothers, according to an eyewitness and reported by Operation Rescue, suffered life-threatening injuries that required emergency surgery and hospitalization and resulted in permanent physical impairment. Missy Smith, a decades-long pro-life advocate, has spoken to both women and their families. She confirmed initial reports that one woman can never bear children again and the other has had several operations to repair internal physical damage.
Carhart, according to Operation Rescue records, has caused 22 serious injuries and one patient death at his two abortion facilities in Maryland and Bellevue, Nebraska, since 2012. Eight complaints have been filed against him with the Maryland Board of Physicians, but no disciplinary action has been taken. After the two recent botched abortions, Operation Rescue sent a letter on June 8 to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar seeking an investigation into Carhart’s practice.
In his homily, Father Antonio, a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, spoke about the miracles of St. Clare, a disciple of St. Francis of Assisi, attributed to her devotion to the Holy Eucharist and a life of austerity and penance. She was credited with saving the lives of the citizens of Assisi twice, when the city was besieged by Saracens. The priest presented St. Clare as “an example of the power of faith and devotion to the Holy Eucharist.”
At the end of Mass, Father Antonio led the two dozen attendees in a silent Eucharistic Procession around the property where the abortion facility is located. He then blessed the congregation and the abortion facility with the Eucharist. The service ended with the congregation singing “Immaculate Mary,” a hymn of praise to the Blessed Mother.
This was the 11th Mass and first Eucharistic Procession near this abortion facility. The Masses have been offered by various priests. When Carhart was located in Germantown, before moving to Bethesda, a Mass was said each Saturday morning for several years in an office next door to his abortion center. Dick Retta, who leads a prayer vigil each Monday year-around in front of Carhart’s facility, said, “With prayer, witness, and persistent activity by the pro-life community, the abortionist left Germantown. Hopefully, he soon will leave Bethesda.”
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lifesitenews--2020-08-15--Lockdowns never again: Sweden was right, and we were wrong

August 14 , 2020 ( American Thinker ) — In life , we encounter things that may work in theory but not in practice .
Communism is famously one of those things .
Time travel is another .
With any luck , Americans will soon come to realize that strict social distancing , economic lockdowns , and mask-wearing all belong in that category of supposedly sound ideas that simply don ’ t work in reality .
For evidence , let ’ s look to Sweden .
As Dr. Sebastian Rushworth , an E.R .
doctor at a hospital in Stockholm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID is over in Sweden .
People have gone back to their normal lives and barely anyone is getting infected anymore.
” Unlike so many other countries , “ Sweden never went into complete lockdown , ” Dr. Rushworth writes .
Non-essential businesses remained open , people continued frequenting restaurants , the kids stayed in school , and “ very few people have bothered with face masks.
” Basically , Sweden did the exact opposite of what most Americans tragically still believe are the necessary requirements to reach the outcome that Sweden has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be obvious to any rational , thinking person , which is that “ the size of the response in most of the world ( not including Sweden ) has been totally disproportionate to the threat.
” Naysayers may point to Sweden ’ s mortality rate to discount its success .
But the virus has taken nearly 6,000 people in a country of 10 million , and one that tallies about 100,000 annual deaths each year .
Given that 70 percent of those who died with COVID were over the age of 80 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quite a few of those 6,000 would have died this year anyway , ” making COVID a “ mere blip in terms of its effect on mortality.
” And while Sweden will likely continue to see deaths from COVID , it will likely never see anything close to those numbers again .
The large number of deaths can be clearly attributed to a “ complete lack of any immunity ” to this novel coronavirus .
A few months ago , Dr. Rushworth says , “ practically everyone who was tested had COVID , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a “ nose bleed ” or “ stomach pain.
” Today , he reports that he hasn ’ t seen a COVID patient in over a month , and even when he tests patients with fever or cough , the “ tests invariably come back as negative.
” To be clear , Sweden ’ s economy is wide open .
No one is social distancing or wearing a ridiculous mask .
Life is back to normal , and the infection rate is still falling .
It ’ s pretty safe to say the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ level of immunity to the virus , and all signs indeed point to the pandemic being over in Sweden .
What is the obvious takeaway from this ?
Perhaps Dr. Rushworth sums it up best , saying he is “ willing to bet that the countries that have shut down completely will see rates spike when they open up .
If that is the case , then there won ’ t have been any point in shutting down in the first place.
” In other words , all of the lockdowns will have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the lockdowns , the distancing , the masks , all of it would absolutely work , because science ( Science ! )
suggested that these are the only things that could work .
But how strong was the scientific evidence to support our government making us lab rats in its experimental and unprecedentedly oppressive response to this virus ?
To answer that , we ’ ll look to Alex Berenson , who , in my opinion , is nothing short of a national hero for his honest reporting throughout the pandemic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the panic porn preferred by the media , and I could not more highly recommend following his wonderful Twitter feed .
In Part 2 of his book series , Unreported Truths About COVID-19 and Lockdowns , he reminds his readers that lockdowns , complete with the economic disruption and social distancing required , aren ’ t some tried and true means of slowing the spread of a virus in a pandemic .
“ The idea of using lockdowns to slow epidemics took off in 2006 , ” Berenson writes .
In the aftermath @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , President Bush “ asked for research on slowing epidemics.
” I wish what follows were a joke or some conspiracy theory , but it ’ s not .
The idea was the brainchild of the 14-year-old daughter of a computer scientist named Robert Glass .
She “ created a model of the way social distancing might slow the spread of the flu , ” and this was expanded upon by her father in a “ simulation “ proving ” lockdowns could reduce an influenza epidemic in a hypothetical town of 10,000 people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ predicated upon the strength of the simulated results , the CDC issued new guidance to “ reduce transmission , from “ voluntary isolation of ill adults ” to “ reducing density in public transit.
” This was the moment , according to the New York Times , when Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions , or NPIs , became “ official US policy , ” thus presenting the 2020 lockdowns as just an example of long-standing procedures , and totally understandable policymaking .
Crucially , [ the 2007 CDC paper ] also contained a “ Pandemic Severity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ On the low end , Category 1 represented a normal flu season , which might kill up to 90,000 Americans .
On the high end , a Category 5 pandemic , like the Spanish flu , would kill at least 1.8 million Americans .
Based on the CDC ’ s scall , Sars-Cov-2 almost certainly should be classified as a Category 2 epidemic , meaning it will cause between 90,000 and 450,000 deaths .
For an epidemic like that , the CDC merely said governments should consider school closures of less than four @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reduce contacts among adults , such as telecommuting .
The prospect of closing all retail stores or offices is not even mentioned in the paper , not even for the most severe epidemics .
( emphasis added ) In short , it was a high school sophomore who initially dreamed up the modern notion of lockdowns and social distancing .
Her computer scientist father then created a compelling simulation involving 10,000 hypothetical people enduring a pandemic , and the CDC applied the hypothesis by creating some new interventions , though even those interventions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economic lockdown , stay-at-home orders , or mask mandates .
In other words , economic and social lockdowns , stay-at-home orders , and mask mandates had all only worked in theory before 2020 but had never been shown to be effective in practice .
But based on the foundation of that little girl and her father ’ s hypothetical experiment and the theory that followed , more than 300 million real Americans in 2020 have endured the economic hardship ; social unrest ; loneliness ; depression ; anxiety ; and increased substance abuse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lockdowns have produced in reality .
In terms of the national morale , it couldn ’ t be more obvious that the social fabric is being torn apart .
The very likely useless rags that people are wearing over their faces serve as a constant reminder to Americans that their neighbors are little more than vectors for disease transmission .
Teachers in America , who often have endured no pay interruption , incredible job security , and inflation-proof pensions , are now telling their communities that they shouldn ’ t be expected to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many members of their own communities are praying that they can return to work soon and pay their bills .
Families who have lost loved ones have had to forgo funerary services due to social distancing protocols , and churches are closed by government decree , obviously liberty-infringing rules that didn ’ t seem to apply when throngs of mourners gathered in churches to honor deceased Democrat John Lewis .
How could we expect this to do anything other than sow animus and resentment in our communities across America ?
And we are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ belief that it is theoretically possible to achieve what Sweden has achieved by enduring none of it in reality .
Very likely , America will join Sweden in building immunities and being past COVID-19 sometime in the coming months , though we will have paid a much , much higher price to have achieved that goal .
We should all hope and pray that Americans will look back to the public policy reaction to this pandemic and recognize it as the colossal mistake that it has been .
And , if we are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ever doing anything like it again .
[ CORRECTION : This article originally referred to Dr. Malcolm Kendrick in connection with the E.R .
doctor in Sweden , which may have been misleading .
The Stockholm-based doctor is Sebastian Rushworth .
Dr. Malcolm Kendrick was quoting Dr. Rushworth , with the latter 's permission , because Dr. Rushworth wrote something so compelling . ]
Published with permission from the American Thinker .

Basically, Sweden did the exact opposite of what most Americans tragically still believe are the necessary requirements to reach the outcome that Sweden has achieved.
August 14, 2020 (American Thinker) — In life, we encounter things that may work in theory but not in practice. Communism is famously one of those things. Time travel is another. With any luck, Americans will soon come to realize that strict social distancing, economic lockdowns, and mask-wearing all belong in that category of supposedly sound ideas that simply don’t work in reality.
For evidence, let’s look to Sweden. As Dr. Sebastian Rushworth, an E.R. doctor at a hospital in Stockholm, writes on his blog, “COVID is over in Sweden. People have gone back to their normal lives and barely anyone is getting infected anymore.”
Unlike so many other countries, “Sweden never went into complete lockdown,” Dr. Rushworth writes. Non-essential businesses remained open, people continued frequenting restaurants, the kids stayed in school, and “very few people have bothered with face masks.”
Basically, Sweden did the exact opposite of what most Americans tragically still believe are the necessary requirements to reach the outcome that Sweden has achieved.
He argues what should now be obvious to any rational, thinking person, which is that “the size of the response in most of the world (not including Sweden) has been totally disproportionate to the threat.”
Naysayers may point to Sweden’s mortality rate to discount its success. But the virus has taken nearly 6,000 people in a country of 10 million, and one that tallies about 100,000 annual deaths each year. Given that 70 percent of those who died with COVID were over the age of 80 and very unhealthy, he argues, “quite a few of those 6,000 would have died this year anyway,” making COVID a “mere blip in terms of its effect on mortality.” And while Sweden will likely continue to see deaths from COVID, it will likely never see anything close to those numbers again. The large number of deaths can be clearly attributed to a “complete lack of any immunity” to this novel coronavirus.
A few months ago, Dr. Rushworth says, “practically everyone who was tested had COVID,” even if the presenting symptom was a “nose bleed” or “stomach pain.” Today, he reports that he hasn’t seen a COVID patient in over a month, and even when he tests patients with fever or cough, the “tests invariably come back as negative.”
To be clear, Sweden’s economy is wide open. No one is social distancing or wearing a ridiculous mask. Life is back to normal, and the infection rate is still falling. It’s pretty safe to say the population in Sweden has now built some level of immunity to the virus, and all signs indeed point to the pandemic being over in Sweden.
What is the obvious takeaway from this? Perhaps Dr. Rushworth sums it up best, saying he is “willing to bet that the countries that have shut down completely will see rates spike when they open up. If that is the case, then there won’t have been any point in shutting down in the first place.”
In other words, all of the lockdowns will have been meaningless.
But we were assured that the lockdowns, the distancing, the masks, all of it would absolutely work, because science (Science!) suggested that these are the only things that could work.
But how strong was the scientific evidence to support our government making us lab rats in its experimental and unprecedentedly oppressive response to this virus?
To answer that, we’ll look to Alex Berenson, who, in my opinion, is nothing short of a national hero for his honest reporting throughout the pandemic. It often serves as a counterbalance to the panic porn preferred by the media, and I could not more highly recommend following his wonderful Twitter feed. In Part 2 of his book series, Unreported Truths About COVID-19 and Lockdowns, he reminds his readers that lockdowns, complete with the economic disruption and social distancing required, aren’t some tried and true means of slowing the spread of a virus in a pandemic. “The idea of using lockdowns to slow epidemics took off in 2006,” Berenson writes. In the aftermath of an avian flu scare in 2005, President Bush “asked for research on slowing epidemics.”
I wish what follows were a joke or some conspiracy theory, but it’s not. The idea was the brainchild of the 14-year-old daughter of a computer scientist named Robert Glass. She “created a model of the way social distancing might slow the spread of the flu,” and this was expanded upon by her father in a “simulation “proving” lockdowns could reduce an influenza epidemic in a hypothetical town of 10,000 people by 90 percent.”
In 2007, predicated upon the strength of the simulated results, the CDC issued new guidance to “reduce transmission, from “voluntary isolation of ill adults” to “reducing density in public transit.”
This was the moment, according to the New York Times, when Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions, or NPIs, became “official US policy,” thus presenting the 2020 lockdowns as just an example of long-standing procedures, and totally understandable policymaking.
Berenson explodes that absurd contention:
Crucially, [the 2007 CDC paper] also contained a “Pandemic Severity Index” that included five categories. On the low end, Category 1 represented a normal flu season, which might kill up to 90,000 Americans. On the high end, a Category 5 pandemic, like the Spanish flu, would kill at least 1.8 million Americans. Based on the CDC’s scall, Sars-Cov-2 almost certainly should be classified as a Category 2 epidemic, meaning it will cause between 90,000 and 450,000 deaths. For an epidemic like that, the CDC merely said governments should consider school closures of less than four weeks, along with moderate efforts to reduce contacts among adults, such as telecommuting. The prospect of closing all retail stores or offices is not even mentioned in the paper, not even for the most severe epidemics. (emphasis added)
In short, it was a high school sophomore who initially dreamed up the modern notion of lockdowns and social distancing. Her computer scientist father then created a compelling simulation involving 10,000 hypothetical people enduring a pandemic, and the CDC applied the hypothesis by creating some new interventions, though even those interventions certainly did not include recommendations for an economic lockdown, stay-at-home orders, or mask mandates.
In other words, economic and social lockdowns, stay-at-home orders, and mask mandates had all only worked in theory before 2020 but had never been shown to be effective in practice.
But based on the foundation of that little girl and her father’s hypothetical experiment and the theory that followed, more than 300 million real Americans in 2020 have endured the economic hardship; social unrest; loneliness; depression; anxiety; and increased substance abuse, suicide, and crime that the lockdowns have produced in reality.
In terms of the national morale, it couldn’t be more obvious that the social fabric is being torn apart.
The very likely useless rags that people are wearing over their faces serve as a constant reminder to Americans that their neighbors are little more than vectors for disease transmission.
Teachers in America, who often have endured no pay interruption, incredible job security, and inflation-proof pensions, are now telling their communities that they shouldn’t be expected to return to their workplace, even as many members of their own communities are praying that they can return to work soon and pay their bills.
Families who have lost loved ones have had to forgo funerary services due to social distancing protocols, and churches are closed by government decree, obviously liberty-infringing rules that didn’t seem to apply when throngs of mourners gathered in churches to honor deceased Democrat John Lewis.
How could we expect this to do anything other than sow animus and resentment in our communities across America?
And we are enduring all of this because of a belief that it is theoretically possible to achieve what Sweden has achieved by enduring none of it in reality.
Very likely, America will join Sweden in building immunities and being past COVID-19 sometime in the coming months, though we will have paid a much, much higher price to have achieved that goal. We should all hope and pray that Americans will look back to the public policy reaction to this pandemic and recognize it as the colossal mistake that it has been. And, if we are wise, we will commit to never, ever doing anything like it again.
[CORRECTION: This article originally referred to Dr. Malcolm Kendrick in connection with the E.R. doctor in Sweden, which may have been misleading. The Stockholm-based doctor is Sebastian Rushworth. Dr. Malcolm Kendrick was quoting Dr. Rushworth, with the latter's permission, because Dr. Rushworth wrote something so compelling.]
Published with permission from the American Thinker.
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lifesitenews--2020-08-15--Arkansas can enforce ban on dismemberment abortions: appeals court

URGENT PETITION : Tell the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade !
Sign the petition here .
August 14 , 2020 ( LifeSiteNews ) — A federal court has cleared Arkansas to enforce a series of abortion restrictions bitterly opposed by the abortion lobby , including a ban on second-trimester dismemberment procedures .
CBS News reports that last Friday , the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that had blocked the 2017 restrictions , the most significant of which is a ban on the dilation and evacuation ( D & E ) abortion procedure ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” because they tear a preborn baby apart limb by limb ) .
The ban takes effect August 28 , and abortionists will face up to six years in jail and/or a fine of up to $ 10,000 for violating it .
The other newly implemented rules are a requirement that abortionists notify law enforcement when a girl younger than seventeen seeks an abortion ( to better identify instances of potential sexual abuse ) , a requirement to confirm that an abortion is not sought on the basis of sex selection , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mother be involved in deciding how to dispose of an aborted baby ’ s remains .
“ I have always advocated for the lives of unborn children and will continue to defend our state ’ s legal right to protect the unborn , ” Arkansas attorney general Leslie Rutledge responded , celebrating the court ’ s ruling .
Notably , the Eighth Circuit ’ s ruling cited June Medical Services v. Russo , the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that struck down Louisiana ’ s requirement that abortionists have admitting privileges at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s pro-abortion outcome , the Eighth Circuit seized upon Chief Justice John Roberts ’ s acknowledgment that “ the appropriate inquiry under Casey is whether the law poses ‘ a substantial obstacle ’ or ‘ substantial burden , not whether benefits outweighed burdens.
’ ” Roberts also “ emphasized the ‘ wide discretion ’ that courts must afford to legislatures in areas of medical uncertainty , ” the Eighth Circuit added .
Defenders of dismemberment abortions claim they are the safest second-trimester procedure available ( for the mother ) , but pro-lifers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they can fit more into their schedule and therefore make more money .
“ Dismemberment abortion facilitates fetal harvesting , ” Kansans for Life executive director Kay Culp told LifeSiteNews last year .
“ Clinicians experimenting on aborted baby parts don ’ t want their research tainted by drugs , and , they want fresh organs — packed for shipping within minutes of death .
”

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals seized upon some details from the Supreme Court's recent pro-abortion ruling in June Medical Services v. Russo to effect a pro-life outcome.
URGENT PETITION: Tell the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade! Sign the petition here.
August 14, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — A federal court has cleared Arkansas to enforce a series of abortion restrictions bitterly opposed by the abortion lobby, including a ban on second-trimester dismemberment procedures.
CBS News reports that last Friday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling that had blocked the 2017 restrictions, the most significant of which is a ban on the dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion procedure (more commonly known as “dismemberment abortions” because they tear a preborn baby apart limb by limb). The ban takes effect August 28, and abortionists will face up to six years in jail and/or a fine of up to $10,000 for violating it.
The other newly implemented rules are a requirement that abortionists notify law enforcement when a girl younger than seventeen seeks an abortion (to better identify instances of potential sexual abuse), a requirement to confirm that an abortion is not sought on the basis of sex selection, and a requirement that family members of the mother be involved in deciding how to dispose of an aborted baby’s remains.
“I have always advocated for the lives of unborn children and will continue to defend our state’s legal right to protect the unborn,” Arkansas attorney general Leslie Rutledge responded, celebrating the court’s ruling.
Notably, the Eighth Circuit’s ruling cited June Medical Services v. Russo, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month that struck down Louisiana’s requirement that abortionists have admitting privileges at a local hospital.
Despite that ruling’s pro-abortion outcome, the Eighth Circuit seized upon Chief Justice John Roberts’s acknowledgment that “the appropriate inquiry under Casey is whether the law poses ‘a substantial obstacle’ or ‘substantial burden, not whether benefits outweighed burdens.’” Roberts also “emphasized the ‘wide discretion’ that courts must afford to legislatures in areas of medical uncertainty,” the Eighth Circuit added.
Defenders of dismemberment abortions claim they are the safest second-trimester procedure available (for the mother), but pro-lifers suspect that abortionists actually prefer them because they can fit more into their schedule and therefore make more money. “Dismemberment abortion facilitates fetal harvesting,” Kansans for Life executive director Kay Culp told LifeSiteNews last year. “Clinicians experimenting on aborted baby parts don’t want their research tainted by drugs, and, they want fresh organs — packed for shipping within minutes of death.”
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lifesitenews--2020-08-15--French Churches under ‘constant attack,’ and nobody wants to admit the real reason

PETITION : Support priest who was suspended for calling out the Black Lives Matter organization !
Sign the petition here .
August 14 , 2020 ( LifeSiteNews ) — A Rwandan refugee who had been employed as a caretaker has confessed to starting the July fire at Nantes Cathedral , for reasons that remain obscure .
The causes of the terrible 2019 fire that severely damaged Notre Dame in Paris may never be known .
Fires can start for all kinds of reasons , but there is sadly a pattern of Catholic churches in France being deliberately burned down by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the Faith .
There are , indeed , about 1,000 attacks a year .
The Justice and Peace movement is not normally associated with wild claims about culture wars , and as an adviser to the Commission of Bishops ’ Conferences of the European Community , Lunte must be familiar with the safe and stodgy institutional mainstream of the Catholic Church in Europe .
He is clearly fed up with it .
He continued , in an interview with a German Catholic radio station , domradio.de : “ There are Satanist cults @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well as very extreme anarchist and libertarian groups , people often quite unstable psychologically.
” Perhaps he thought it diplomatic not to mention individuals and groups inspired by some version of Islam , but clearly , they are also playing a part in this , both in France and internationally .
What do Satanists , anarchists , extremist Libertarians , and Islamist terrorists have in common ?
It is difficult to think of anything except a common enemy : the Catholic Church .
For some of these , a historic cathedral represents civic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of French identity .
Others would see any Catholic church or recognizably Catholic cleric or religious as a symbol of the Church ’ s teaching on abortion and contraception , others again a rival and sacrilegious religion .
This still doesn ’ t explain this phenomenon .
Arsonists and vandals could be attacking museums and civic buildings , police stations , or government officials .
To an extent , they do .
But the Church and individuals associated with her have a special characteristic that attracts their attention .
They are a soft @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that churches can be difficult to make secure .
But more important is the Church ’ s reaction , which Lunte referred to as “ keeping this under wraps.
” The reaction of bishops and Catholic commentators to these attacks has consistently been to play them down and to ignore them as a pattern , something the secular media are only too happy to help them do .
Terrorists of all kinds want to make a point and are no doubt pleased when this is amplified through the media .
However , their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ undermining sympathy for their cause and generating it for their victims .
This is a game the victims of injustice can win .
As things are , these constant attacks on the Church are clearly not being discouraged by this doormat attitude .
On the contrary , the perpetrators are encouraged in their project of destroying the dignity , prestige , and sense of historical permanence the Church has , particularly in historically Catholic countries like France .
These attacks are so frequent now that few French Catholics can have failed to notice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ silence around them powerfully sends out the message that no one cares — not even , it would appear , the bishops .
What is true of France is true to a degree in many other countries , and the way things are going , the similarity looks set to increase .
Catholic leaders seem concerned to create the impression that to be associated with the Church is not only to be linked with clerical sex abuse , but to risk life and limb in some atrocity that will cause pastors and society @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Their message about the dignity of Catholic churches and the lives of Catholics turns out to be the same as the terrorists ’ .
‘ Turning the other cheek ’ ( Matt .
5:39 ) is not about giving up the Church ’ s holiest possessions to be abused and profaned : that ’ s called “ casting your pearls before swine ” and is something we are told not to do ( Matt .
7:6 ) .
Still less is it about exposing the weakest of our brothers in Christ to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their lives ; that ’ s called “ scandalizing the least of these , ” which Christ warns us will be punished by God ( Matt .
18:6 ) .
It is , rather , about not making our pride our guide in seeking revenge .
It is time bishops admitted they have made a mistake and started protesting about the victimization of those under their charge .

The reaction to these attacks has consistently been to play them down, and to ignore them as a pattern.
PETITION: Support priest who was suspended for calling out the Black Lives Matter organization! Sign the petition here.
August 14, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — A Rwandan refugee who had been employed as a caretaker has confessed to starting the July fire at Nantes Cathedral, for reasons that remain obscure. The causes of the terrible 2019 fire that severely damaged Notre Dame in Paris may never be known. Fires can start for all kinds of reasons, but there is sadly a pattern of Catholic churches in France being deliberately burned down by people with a hatred for the Church and the Faith. There are, indeed, about 1,000 attacks a year.
The British weekly The Tablet recently reported:
“Something is happening in French society that's long been neglected but is becoming evident with these fires”, said Stefan Lunte, secretary-general of Justice and Peace Europe. “The country is becoming de-Christianized, and there are people who wish, for whatever reason, to vandalize and destroy Christian symbols … The long-held strategy of keeping this under wraps simply does not work”.
The Justice and Peace movement is not normally associated with wild claims about culture wars, and as an adviser to the Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, Lunte must be familiar with the safe and stodgy institutional mainstream of the Catholic Church in Europe. He is clearly fed up with it.
He continued, in an interview with a German Catholic radio station, domradio.de: “There are Satanist cults here [in France], as well as very extreme anarchist and libertarian groups, people often quite unstable psychologically.” Perhaps he thought it diplomatic not to mention individuals and groups inspired by some version of Islam, but clearly, they are also playing a part in this, both in France and internationally.
What do Satanists, anarchists, extremist Libertarians, and Islamist terrorists have in common? It is difficult to think of anything except a common enemy: the Catholic Church. For some of these, a historic cathedral represents civic pride, for others a particular conception of French identity. Others would see any Catholic church or recognizably Catholic cleric or religious as a symbol of the Church’s teaching on abortion and contraception, others again a rival and sacrilegious religion. This still doesn’t explain this phenomenon. Arsonists and vandals could be attacking museums and civic buildings, police stations, or government officials. To an extent, they do. But the Church and individuals associated with her have a special characteristic that attracts their attention. They are a soft target.
One aspect of this is that churches can be difficult to make secure. But more important is the Church’s reaction, which Lunte referred to as “keeping this under wraps.” The reaction of bishops and Catholic commentators to these attacks has consistently been to play them down and to ignore them as a pattern, something the secular media are only too happy to help them do.
Terrorists of all kinds want to make a point and are no doubt pleased when this is amplified through the media. However, their atrocities also create a reaction, often undermining sympathy for their cause and generating it for their victims. This is a game the victims of injustice can win. As things are, these constant attacks on the Church are clearly not being discouraged by this doormat attitude. On the contrary, the perpetrators are encouraged in their project of destroying the dignity, prestige, and sense of historical permanence the Church has, particularly in historically Catholic countries like France. These attacks are so frequent now that few French Catholics can have failed to notice them happening locally, and the media silence around them powerfully sends out the message that no one cares — not even, it would appear, the bishops.
What is true of France is true to a degree in many other countries, and the way things are going, the similarity looks set to increase. Catholic leaders seem concerned to create the impression that to be associated with the Church is not only to be linked with clerical sex abuse, but to risk life and limb in some atrocity that will cause pastors and society at large no more than a shrug. Their message about the dignity of Catholic churches and the lives of Catholics turns out to be the same as the terrorists’.
‘Turning the other cheek’ (Matt. 5:39) is not about giving up the Church’s holiest possessions to be abused and profaned: that’s called “casting your pearls before swine” and is something we are told not to do (Matt. 7:6). Still less is it about exposing the weakest of our brothers in Christ to attacks on their faith and even on their lives; that’s called “scandalizing the least of these,” which Christ warns us will be punished by God (Matt. 18:6). It is, rather, about not making our pride our guide in seeking revenge. It is time bishops admitted they have made a mistake and started protesting about the victimization of those under their charge.
Follow Joseph Dr Joseph Shaw has a Doctorate in Philosophy from Oxford University, where he also gained a first degree in Politics and Philosophy and a graduate Diploma in Theology. He has published on Ethics and Philosophy of Religion and is the editor of The Case for Liturgical Restoration: Una Voce Position Papers on the Extraordinary Form (Angelico Press). He is the Chairman of the Latin Mass Society of England and Wales and Secretary of Una Voce International. He teaches Philosophy in Oxford University and lives nearby with his wife and nine children.
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