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8/13/2019 Do RCs Know about Catholics and Commies?
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Do Roman Catholics Know about
Catholics and Commies?
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Cathol ics and Communists
The Catholi c Church's recent h istory of sympathizing with, and even supporti ng,
Marxist progressivism is clear, sad, and indicative of a deeply irrational and anti -
individual streak within the modern Church hierarchy.Catholics who care about theChurch, its history, and its future -- and also about humanity, reason and f reedom --
must stop making excuses for their current spiritual leadership's collectivist
authoritarian impulses.
Having now drawn a bull's eye on my own forehead in bold colors, I shall attempt to make my
case. Let us follow the most natural path of reasoning, proceeding from particulars to universals.
South Korea recently observed the third anniversary of the North Korean artillery
attack against Yeonpyeong, an inhabited island which was the staging ground for a
South Korean military exercise. The attack killed four South Koreans, includingtwo civilians, and wounded many others. The Sunday before this anniversary, a
senior Catholic priest, Park Chang-shin,gave a sermon in which he went all-out
Jeremiah Wright:
What should North Korea do if South Korea-U.S. military exercises are
being carried out near the problematic NLL [Northern Limit Line, a UN-
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20131124000216http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=201311240002168/13/2019 Do RCs Know about Catholics and Commies?
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The priests, as their action committee's name declares, are for "justice," which
in modern Catholic parlance, of course, implies economic equality achieved
through redistribution, i.e., the universal annihilation of profit, property, and
prosperity. In short, they favor "democratic" slavery in the form of
progressivism. I will not hold my breath waiting for expressions of surprise on
this point.
For generations, the global Catholic Church, at leadership levels, has been deeply
invested in progressive coll ectivism. This has been an awkward relationship, in as
much as hardcore Marxism seeks to abolish religion in favor of the deification of the
State, and doctrinaire collectivism runs counter to any notion of the value of
individual souls. As a result, the Church has, at times, spoken with some force
against both communism and socialism.These moments of reasonableness have
allowed thoughtful Catholics to defend the Church's political position as basically
non-leftist: "See," they repeatedly tell themselves, "the Church is fighting the good
fight against Marxism."
In so far as Marxism includes atheism, the Church could hardly do otherwise. Soviet-
style Marxists openly declared religion their enemy, and persecuted believers.
Obviously the Church defended itself against this direct assault. But while abhorring
atheistic dialectical materialism, practical elements of Marxist theory -- "social
justice," economic redistribution, the condemnation of wealth -- struck a sympathetic
chord within the Church, which gradually adopted such Marxist language as its own.
This baptism of the Marxist vocabulary in the waters of Christian faith has allowed
generations of good men and women to deny the disturbing truth before their very
eyes, and to persuade themselves that this language, when used by the clergy, is
somehow legitimate Catholic moralism.
Thus in almost every instance in which progressive political forces have dispensed
with the anti-religious rhetoric, one may find priests and bishops standing on the side
of authoritarian collectivism, and against individual freedom. From the long Catholic-
communist alliance in the African National Congress (warmly praised a few weeks
ago by South Africa's Minister of Justice) to the role of the clergy in the radicalization
of Central and South America -- the birthplace of Marxist liberation theology -- the
pattern is monotonous. Pope Francis, though perhaps more moderate than other
Catholic leaders hailing from his part of the world, is representative of the
general trend.
Yes, it is a general trend, not simply a matter of wayward priests preaching in
isolation from the Church mainstream. (Consider that while Pope Benedict openly
criticized liberation theology, his successor hasinvited the movement's founder to
dinner.) In poor or developing nations in which Church leaders take a political stand
https://groups.google.com/forum/#%21topic/communist-university/jIhxkk88T14http://ncronline.org/news/theology/pope-meets-liberation-theology-pioneerhttp://ncronline.org/news/theology/pope-meets-liberation-theology-pioneerhttps://groups.google.com/forum/#%21topic/communist-university/jIhxkk88T148/13/2019 Do RCs Know about Catholics and Commies?
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of any clarity, that stand is almost invariably with progressivism. Papal encyclicals
that touch upon socioeconomic issues routinely attack "capitalism" and
"individualism" as inhumane and unjust forces, thus implying that less capitalism and
individualism would make society more humane and just. See Paul VI'sPopulorum
Progressio(1967), for example, which rejects the right to private property and
demands that "public authorities" (i.e. governments) solve the social injustice of menholding "surplus goods" for their own private use while others lack necessities (23).
As the latest example, we now have the Apostolic Exhortation,Evangelii Gaudium,of
Pope Francis, which includes substantial cribbing from the collected homilies of Karl
Marx:
Just as the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" sets a clear limit in order to safeguard
the value of human life, today we also have to say "thou shalt not" to an economy of
exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills....
Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest,
where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people
find themselves excluded and marginalized....
Human beings [in a free market] are themselves considered consumer goods to
be used and then discarded.... (53)
In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume
that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in
bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, whichhas never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and nave trust in the
goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the
prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting....
The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us
something new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of
opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us. (54)
(Notice that this " cultur e of prosperi ty"flies in the face of the earlier claim that
" masses of people fi nd themselves excluded and marginalized."Authoritarianism isirrational. Hence its proponents often enmesh themselves in logical contradictions, as
reason gives way to emotional appeals.)
Those lives supposedly "stunted,"not by political oppression, but by "the market,"
now "fail to move us." Move us to what, one might ask? To genuine charity, the
voluntary helping hand of the moral man? To dismantling the corporatist-progressive
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum_en.htmlhttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum_en.htmlhttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum_en.htmlhttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum_en.htmlhttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.pdfhttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.pdfhttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.pdfhttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium_en.pdfhttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum_en.htmlhttp://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_26031967_populorum_en.html8/13/2019 Do RCs Know about Catholics and Commies?
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Ethics -- a non-ideological ethics -- would make it possible to bring about balance and
a more humane social order.... (57)
A financial reform open to such ethical considerations would require a vigorous
change of approach on the part of political leaders. I urge them to face this challenge
with determination and an eye to the future, while not ignoring, of course, thespecifics of each case. Money must serve, not rule! The Pope loves everyone, rich and
poor alike, but he is obliged in the name of Christ to remind all that the rich must help,
respect and promote the poor. I exhort you to generous solidarity and to the return of
economics and finance to an ethical approach which favours human beings. (58)
Here Francis, an intelligent man, knowingly echoes the classic Marxist slogan,
" people before prof its."And yet immediately I hear apologists stepping in to object
to such "simplistic criticism" of the Church. After all, they say, who could object to
the Catholic tenets that men must not exalt money, and that the rich must help the
poor? The answer: no one. But the question is not whether mankind ought to worshipmoney, nor whether the wealthy ought to shirk their moral responsibilities. For those
are not the issues at stake in the Pope's "exhortation."
Notice that he is specifically calling onpolitical leadersand "financial experts" (57)
to undertake a "vigorous change" -- fundamental transformation, anyone? -- in the
direction of "balance" and a "more humane social order" which "favours human
beings." In other words, he is not advocating Christian charity, which is, and must be,
a private moral decision, since it is through the correct application of his God-given
free will that man is to find his path to God. Rather, to state the obvious -- let us
finally apply the famous "razor" of a truly great Catholic philosopher here, and
dispense with sophisticated explanations of the indefensible -- Francis is advocating
socialism: a political system which obviates the morality of free will, and thus
violates the foundations of the Catholic faith on the most profound level.
"But," defenders will say, "if he wanted socialism, why wouldn't he just say so?"The
reason is simple: he cannot. The Catholic Church has officially condemned socialism,
communism, and Marxism by name. Opposition to these three notions is a matter of
established Catholic doctrine. Non-Catholics may not understand what this means.
Catholics do, or should. No Pope will ever advocate socialism, communism, or
Marxism by name. Thus, one must infer meaning from the Pope's actual
arguments, and when this meaning flies in the face of the official rejection of
progressivism that every Catholic is doctrinally bound to espouse, one may
suppose that the inferred meaning represents the Pope's true position.
So there it stands. There are pro-North Korean priests. Catholic clergymen have stood
shoulder to shoulder with Marxists, socialists, or "progressives" throughout Latin
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America and Africa for generations. In the U.S., the Catholic bishops firmly and
enthusiastically supported ObamaCare, the penultimate step towards completely
socialized medicine, until they "discovered" -- or, I suspect, until the Catholic laity
discovered -- that abortion and birth control were part of the deal. Like their leaders
in Rome and their brothers throughout the Catholic world, the U.S. bishops
support progressivism in principle -- the Church has declared healthcare a
universal human right, an expressly socialist ploy -- but will criticize particular
progressive parties or factions when matters of doctrinal import are directly indispute.In effect, the Church's war against collectivist tyranny extends only so far as
that tyranny encompasses atheism or some other specific affront to Catholic practice.
(I have previouslydefended Rick Santorum, who caught hellfire from fellow
Catholics for making this point during his presidential campaign.)
In its socioeconomic position, a large proportion of today's Catholic hierarchy isunofficially progressive, socialist, even Marxist.And please do not cite Pope John
Paul II in disputing this judgment. One can no more absolve the Church of its role in
fostering global progressive authoritarianism by citing prominent exceptions than one
can excuse the U.S. Republican Party by mentioning Ronald Reagan, or the British
Tories by naming Margaret Thatcher. That there are freedom-loving rebels within a
decaying progressive institution is no counterargument, but only an exception that
proves the rule.
Likewise, there are marginalized priests and bishops who love the individual soul, and
see liberty as the only proper social condition for a Catholic life, in defiance of their
progressive leaders. These men deserve your love and support: they are martyrs.
All of this is immeasurably sad, and utterly inconsistent with the history of the
Church. In fact, as I haveexplained elsewhere,the case for limited government in the
name of respecting our natural moral freedom was given its first systematic defense
by St. Thomas Aquinas, whose conception of natural law, justice, and the role of
reason in ethics paved the way to the Enlightenment, and the development of the
natural rights theory which grounded modern liberty.
And as I have alsodiscussed elsewhere,Pope Leo XIII, inRerum Novarum, presented
a theological defense of private property rooted in man's individual nature that is as
impassioned and as well-reasoned as any offered by Locke. The corruptive influence
of progressivism, however, was already beginning to assert itself within the Church,
as throughout Europe and North America, by 1891. Thus Leo, after explaining
brilliantly why property is an inviolable right, proceeds to pull away from his own
reasoning and to hint, in explicitly Marxist language, at political means of
ameliorating material hardships, as though such means could ever be consistent with
Christianity's elevation of the individual soul and of free will. The progressive
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/44416http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/44416http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/44645http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/44645http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/44416http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/444168/13/2019 Do RCs Know about Catholics and Commies?
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contradictions began to appear then, and have merely continued to grow within the
Church, as everywhere else in modern civilization, ever since.
The old saw that anti-Catholicism is the anti-Semitism of educated liberals is very true
(or was -- anti-Semitism appears to have worked its way up the ranks these days). It is
for this reason that I generally refrain from expressing my own frustration with theChurch so bluntly. I suspect this same reticence has been protecting the Church from
honest, harsh criticism from its friends for generations.
Yes, I say its friends. I was baptized and raised Catholic. It is the Church of my
mother and of most of my relatives. As an undergraduate, I developed a lifelong
admiration for many of the medieval Catholic philosophers, men who sought to marry
the wisdom of ancient Greece to their sincere Christian faith, and thus set the stage for
the modern triumph of reason and individualism in morality and politics. I count St.
Thomas among my personal heroes and teachers, and return to him frequently for
insight on current and permanent questions.
I have come to realize, however, that if the Church as an institution must
consistently insist on allying itself with a philosophy that I regard, and that
history has repeatedly shown, to be one of death, inhumanity, oppression, and
the systematic demolition of any sensible understanding of human dignity (i.e., of
the divine spark within the human soul), then to mute one's criticism is to offer
tacit consent to the Church's radical realignment against every worthy sentiment
it once represented and championed on this Earth.
This has been an unpleasant article to write. But here it is. The Catholic Church is nomore defensible than any other institution that continues, against all historical
evidence, reason, and decency, to embrace and defend -- whether tacitly or openly --
the politics of mass envy, of collectivist authoritarianism, of coercive redistribution of
the fruits of men's labor, and of the practical denial of the basic right of self-
determination that ought to be at the core of a Catholic teaching that upholds the
dignity of every living soul.
ByDaren Jonescu / December 13, 2013 - 11:18:05 AM CST
http://www.americanthinker.com/daren_jonescu/http://www.americanthinker.com/daren_jonescu/8/13/2019 Do RCs Know about Catholics and Commies?
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Communists Cheer Pope Francis
Shouldnt this trouble the Holy Father?
Irecently wrote here on the interesting embrace of Sister Simone Campbell and her Nuns on the
Bus, the self-described social-justice lobby of crusading liberal nuns. Embraced by whom?
Embraced by some curious bedfellows:Peoples World, house organ of Communist Party USA
and successor to theDaily Worker.
Its fascinating that after a century of denouncing, demonizing, jailing, and, in some cases, even
killing nuns and other religiousespecially in the Roman Catholic Churchcommunists have
suddenly embraced a group of nuns. Why? Because they agree with the nuns and their agenda.
Well, in that same spirit, I have an addendum, and it pains me to report this. It honestly does.
After decades of slandering, attacking, denigrating, and even trying to kill various popes in
the Roman Catholic Churchfrom Pope Pius XII to Pope John Paul II communists
are suddenly embracing a pope. Itis Pope Francis. Imagine my shock, as a Catholic convert
drawn to the Church initially in large part because of its stalwart anti-communism across
centuries, when I did my regular perusal ofPeoples Worldand found not one but two piecesexalting the Bishop of Rome.
The first, published September 27, 2013, was tellingly titled, Welcome Pope Francis,
campaigner against corporate greed!It began excitedly: The campaign against corporate
criminals and their gluttonous greed just added a new speaker wi th a very loud voice, Pope
Francis I.
http://religiousleftexposed.com/home/2013/12/communists-cheer-pope-francis.htmlhttp://spectator.org/archives/2013/07/19/the-communist-party-usas-netwohttp://www.peoplesworld.org/welcome-pope-francis-campaigner-against-corporate-greed/http://www.peoplesworld.org/welcome-pope-francis-campaigner-against-corporate-greed/http://www.peoplesworld.org/welcome-pope-francis-campaigner-against-corporate-greed/http://www.peoplesworld.org/welcome-pope-francis-campaigner-against-corporate-greed/http://www.peoplesworld.org/welcome-pope-francis-campaigner-against-corporate-greed/http://spectator.org/archives/2013/07/19/the-communist-party-usas-netwohttp://religiousleftexposed.com/home/2013/12/communists-cheer-pope-francis.html8/13/2019 Do RCs Know about Catholics and Commies?
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The article quoted the pontiff several times. To be sure, few of us would disagree with any of the
quotes. Indeed, thePeoples Worldcorrespondent, to his credit, noted that we shouldnt be
surprised at the Popes strong words against galloping greed and corporate despotism. Hes
repeating what has been part of of fi cial church teaching for the last 130 years or so, Catholi c
Social Thought. Catholic Social Thought, we shoul d note, is very pro-worker and pro-union.
Yes, it is. I t is also pro-property, which communism is not.The fir st principles of Kar l Marx,
stated unequivocall y in the Communist Manifesto, preached the abolition of private
property.ThePeoples Worldwriter, by harkening back 130 years, was probably referring to
the seminal encyclical by Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum, which, for the record, insists that
a just society allow as many people as possible to become property owners.Ownership and
property are sacred ideals defended by the Catholic Church for millennia. It goes back to the
Mosaic Law and Gods commandments, beginning with Thou shall not steal.No one shoul d
steal someone elses property. Of course, communists did just that with militant, murderous
abandon.
So, Pope Francis is merely reaffirming what his predecessors preached in that
regard. But that raises an interesting question: Why are communists suddenl y
hai l ing the words of the pope?
Well, it appears they prefer the words and emphasis and intentions of this particular pope.
They trust him to take a stance closer to theirs.Consider the enthusiastic take ofPeoples
World: Pope Francis has provided a moral bully pulpit to rally the worlds workers in the
ongoing crusade against corporate greed.
[READER TAKE NOTE OF THE LATEST MANIPULATION MARKETING SPIN : AMERICA has a
NEW (and Improved) WARThe WAR on Corporate Greed]
Workers of the world unite around the pope?A crusade by communists in
concert with the Vatican?
Thats the hope ofPeoples World: The presumed spiritual guide for one-seventh of the
people on the planet has a cer tain legitimacy when he speaks, after all. If Francis words can
marshal more people into the streets to stand up for our selves and against the capital ist
chieftains who rob us of our money, digni ty, self -respect, right to organize and r ight to keep
the fr ui tsall the fru itsof our labor, all the better . He might even pr ick the conscience of
a capitalist or two. Who knows?
Yeah, who knows? Who knew that communists would be on board with the Bishop of
Rome?
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This is something that Pope John Paul II couldnt have imagined merely eight years after the end
of a papacy that crushed the communist world and won the Cold War.
ButPeoples Worldwasnt finished with its encomiumsfor the new pontiff. That was clear three
days later in a September 30 opinion piece, likewise tellingly titled, Pope F rancis: a breath of
fr esh air.
The launch point for this piece was Francis recent controversial interview stating that the
Churchcannot insistonly on issues related to abortion, gay marr iage and the
use of contraceptive methods. To be fair to Francis,the biggest problem with that
interview wasnt so much what he saidas how it was interpreted by non-Catholics, anti-
Catholics, and dissenting Catholics. And this opinion piece inPeoples World, written by
columnist Henry Millstein, is a perfect illustration.
From the Peoples World
The piece stated: A recent interview with Pope Francis has excited Catholic and other
progressives and ruf f led the feathers of some Cathol ic conservativeswith good reason.
H is remarks poin t to a new atmosphere and attitude in the leadership of the Chur chand an
implicit rebuke to some U.S. bishops who have allied themselves with the political right.
Millstein argued that the most important point the pope madeconcerned issues like abortion,
contraception, gay marriage. Why should this matter to progressives?asked Millstein.Because Cathol ic (and other) r ight-wingers, including, lamentably, some bishops, have
latched on to this nar row set of issues to promote a broader r ight-wing agenda. I f the essence
of being Cathol ic is to oppose abortion, gay marr iage, and contraception, then fai thf ul
Cathol ics (and some other Chr istians) can easil y be hoodwinked in to supporti ng r ightist
candidates who l ine up wi th th is agenda, disregarding fl agrant violati ons of other aspects of
Cathol ic teaching. Pope Francis knocked the legs out f rom under this ploy.
http://www.peoplesworld.org/pope-francis-a-breath-of-fresh-air/http://www.peoplesworld.org/pope-francis-a-breath-of-fresh-air/http://www.peoplesworld.org/pope-francis-a-breath-of-fresh-air/http://www.peoplesworld.org/pope-francis-a-breath-of-fresh-air/http://catholicexchange.com/discerning-pope-francis-obsession/http://catholicexchange.com/discerning-pope-francis-obsession/http://www.peoplesworld.org/pope-francis-a-breath-of-fresh-air/http://www.peoplesworld.org/pope-francis-a-breath-of-fresh-air/8/13/2019 Do RCs Know about Catholics and Commies?
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Millstein then delved into the Gospel message of Jesus Christ, lauding Francis interpretation,
especially in contrast to his two predecessors: [T]here does seem to be something new in
Francis attitude. In practice, John Paul II and BenedictXVI , despite their verbal
denunciati on of the ravages of capital ism,seemed more concerned with enforcing doctri nal
conformi ty, parti cularl y on certain i ssues involving sexual moral ity, than with pursuing active
solidari ty with capitalisms victims; f or i nstance, in appointing bishops they seem to have
pri vileged r igid orthodoxy over social conscience. Whil e it is obviously too early to discern f or
sure the direction Francis papacy will take, there are signs that he gives the pursuit of social
justice pr ior ityover enforcement of secondary points of church doctrine.
As one example, Millstein underscored the popes response to a question about gay priests. More
than that, however, he recommended that progressives should take advantage of this to
reinvigorate the relationship between the church and organized labor.
ThePeoples Worldwriter did not stop there, noting added signs from Francis that
progressives, and especially Communists, should take to heart and ponder(this included
the acknowledgement of mistakes).
Millstein concluded: We Communists have much to learn from Pope Francis.
In short, its no exaggeration to say that communists, like secular progressives,
are excited about this new pope, and not because theyre suddenly thinking about
becoming Catholic. No, they believe hes more like them. They like him because
they think he agrees with them. They like him because they think he agrees with
them not just on social justice and economics and the environment, but
because they like what they perceive is his de-emphasis on crucial aspects of the
Catholic faith that they heartily reject.
I know that some readers (faithful Catholics especially) will not like what Im reporting here.
Theyll insist that this pope is doing a good thing; hes reaching out to and impacting secularists,
agnostics, atheists, progressives, liberals, and even communists. He is indeed doing just that. I
appreciate it. In the spirit of Saint Francis, hes bringing the Gospel to the unconverted in a
rapidly secularizing world. I understand. I get it.
In fact, theres no question that Pope Francis is doing some really good things. His leadership on
Syria was superb, and genuinely produced much fruit. Hes preaching forgiveness, mercy,
humility, redemption, helping the poor, the Gospel. He is unquestionably pro-life and has made
some solid pro-life moves. He evenexcommunicated a dissident liberal priest who supported gay
marriage and female ordination. Im on his side. Were on the same team.
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/09/27/pope-francis-excommunicates-australian-priest/http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/09/27/pope-francis-excommunicates-australian-priest/8/13/2019 Do RCs Know about Catholics and Commies?
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But, in all due respect and deference, this man needs to be extremely careful about what hes
saying and how hes saying it, because every imprecise statement is ripe for severe
misinterpretation, exploitation, and abuse by enthusiasts and activists on the left.
His statement on abortion, contraception, and gay marriagewas utterly butchered and completely
misrepresented,most notably by the predictably awful but extremely influentialNew York Times.
Other troubling statements, however, have not been misrepresented at all. A recent
one,highlighted at TheAmerican Spectatorby George Neumayr,was this remark,made to a
prominent Italian atheist interviewer:Each of us has a vision of good and of evil. We have to
encourage people to move towards what they think is Good.Interrupted by the amazed
interviewer, Francis doubled down: And I repeat it here. Everyone has his own idea of good
and evi l and must choose to foll ow the good and fi ght evil as he conceives them. That would be
enough to make the world a better place.
That statement is a jaw-dropper. Im saddened and sorry to say that I cannot, by any
stretch, defend that statement. As a Catholic convert regularly called upon to defend my
faith and various papal statements, thats one I will not be able to explain away. Lets be
honest: That remark is a disaster. Im stunned to hear it from a pope. It is a major, major
problem. All I can do is plea for a clarification or correction, which Ive yet to hear. Again,
this man needs to be extremely careful about what hes saying and how it will be received.
And so, back to my original point:
One manifestation of that is this: Communists, of all people, finally believe they
have a pope who agrees with them, that they like, that they can embrace, that theycan encourage.I knew that Francis controversial interview on abortion, contraception, and
gay marriage had thrilled liberals, liberal Catholics, dissident Catholics, secular progressives,
agnostics, atheists, and socialists. You can read their websites. They love this guy. But
communists?
It seems to me that this is not the kind of praise that the pope should want. Unless he takes steps
to clarify and be clearer, much of the confusion will be his own fault.
by Paul Kengor/ 4 October 2013
References:
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2013/12/catholics_and_communists.html
http://religiousleftexposed.com/home/2013/12/communists-cheer-pope-francis.html
Source:http://spectator.org/articles/56020/communists-cheer-pope-francis
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