I remember reading an account about a bishop looking for JPII and was told he was in his chapel. The bishop entered and the pope was prostrate on the floor before the Blessed Sacrament--completely "gone"-- The bishop tiptoed out of the chapel.
I agree. We need to get away from demonising entire nations because we don't like their leaders or because we have been conditioned to believe that our system is the only one that works . We also need to be careful of where we place our trust. During the pandemic "the science" replaced God as our moral compass. "The science" was almighty and anyone who questioned it was evil and needed to be excluded for the sake of the whole human race. The whole world followed Fauci's "science". Then Dr. Fauci declared himself to be "the science", de facto declaring himself the almighty. Do you think there might be a message for us, our religious leaders, and certainly Catholic educators, that Dr. Fauci was infected by the virus at an event at which a school presented him with an award? As far as I can recall, the name of the school was "Holy Cross". I can't be sure that it was a Catholic school but the name suggests that it was. Parents especially need to be extremely careful about who and what influences their children are being subjected to.
I believe that pointing out the Chinese government's responsibility in the spread of the pandemic is not demonizing the Chinese population. The Chinese communist party persecuted the first doctors to warn about the seriousness of the disease, in addition to implementing the strictest lockdown on the entire planet; to the point of causing the death of a child with cerebral palsy whose parents were unable to return home to feed him. I am under no illusion that any system of government works in this world; I just think there is an equivalent evil on both geopolitical sides that needs to be exposed.
Yes, the Chinese government were certainly culpable. So were some of the people in the WHO. There's plenty of blame to go around. I'm pretty sure that even after word got out about the virus, there were international flights from Wuhan. Chinese Communists were no less or more guilty than democratic leaders.
China knew how serious the virus was, and the western media treated it as if it were a simple cold virus at first, facilitating its spread on a global scale.
There is a lovely account about the saint by his driver. He was called by the Conmunist Minister for religious affairs to see him. The driver said the saint was left outside the office sitting for two hours out of pure badness. John Paul just sat there saying the rosary at perfect peace, not the least put out
Of course they knew. So did the people who funded the lab. And those international flights landed in countries where the leaders also knew. The WHO knew when they didn't issue a travel ban from China. China has an authoritarian government. People who know more than me about political systems would argue that it's not strictly communist. It's certainly authoritarian and officially atheist. In our democracy, it was a government predominated by Cstholics that closed our churches and made it an offence for priests to hear Confession. It makes no difference to me what name is given to the system that restricts my freedom of religion. Rather than regurgitating propaganda about those terrible Chinese, Russians, Muslims, Buddhists or whatever are the current objects of hate, maybe we would be better served examining ourselves and the flawed moral values we are passing on to future generations. We get the leaders we deserve. The mess we have created won't be changed by wars, revolutions or the ballot box. It will be changed one soul at a time if we make a better effort at practicing our faith to the fullest. There's more than one cafeteria and we need to be careful not to fall into complacency over avoiding one lest we stray into another.
Exactly this. The temptation to accuse comes from the greatest accuser. Don't fall into the trap. Many of the things we are seeing today are chastisements from God, because of our collective sin. So long as we keep thinking that men have the ability to control our lives we will fall into this trap. We have the sacraments, we have the bible, we have everything. I am currently fixated on Isaiah because so much of it appears to be speaking about today. We have so much sin that of course these things we see in the world are going to happen. At the same time I find myself excited, because our God is alive and with us. He is controlling everything, moving everything.
exposing the truth about the Chinese dictatorship's participation in the spread of the virus is neither xenophobia nor hate speech; This is the same rhetoric that homosexual activists use against us when they accuse us of hating homosexuals simply because we criticize homosexuality. As for the persecution of Catholics by the governments of Russia and communist China, it is necessary to always remember this when someone tries to impose that these governments are a much better alternative than the West. Finally, I must say that I don't remember defending the closing of churches by Western governments, just as I don't see anyone defending the nefarious Western governments here, now when it comes to the governments of the Eurasian geopolitical bloc the case is different.
It was you who insinuated in this thread that criticizing the Chinese dictatorship would be the equivalent of demonizing the Chinese nation. This is a way of promoting an ideological vision by slandering, as a form of intimidation, opponents of the Russian-Chinese bloc.
Nobody is arguing with you about China's complicity. What part of "the love of money is the root of all evil" can you not understand? The Chinese were afraid of what a travel ban would do to their economy. The Italian government does a huge amount of trade with China, especially the Italian fashion industry. Cancelling the Venice festival would have cost millions, and Milan fashion week was shortly after the Venice festival. How many of those Wuhan flights landed in Italy? I don't know but the Italian government were in no rush to impose any travel ban on China. The pharmaceutical giants were up to their necks in Fauci's "science" and those corporates have huge influence throughout the world. It's all about the love of money and the power money buys. We need to get rid of the beam from our own eyes.
That's not the impression I get from what he is saying. In essence you are actually in agreement with him. We can lose sight of the forest if we focus on the trees. When focusing on the actions of nations, instead of the actions of the world over all we lose sight of the bigger picture. Every nation is complicit.
I must say again that I did not defend these Western governments in managing the pandemic. I entered this thread only because it seemed to me that you were insinuating that criticizing China's culpability in the spread of the virus was some kind of xenophobia, "demonizing the Chinese population."
And I only entered the thread to point out that it wasn't only the Chinese government who were culpable. I know that Fauci doesn't represent all Americans and I don't feel any need to apologise for highlighting the fact that Fauci used US government money to fund in China a dangerous practice that had been banned in the US and then, along with other "scientists" denied that the virus was made in the lab. It's a fact, whether you like it or not, that we are being conditioned to hate and fear Chinese, Russians and Muslims. Fear was the tactic used by the Nazis to control Germany. Fear of dying from the virus and then fear of losing livelihood if unvaccinated was the tactic used to control the masses during the pandemic. If we don't acknowledge those tactics for what they are now we can kiss goodbye to all our so-called rights and freedoms. What I learned from the pandemic was that we only have as much freedom as the prevailing power chooses to give us. It was easy for me to refuse the vaccine because I had nobody depending on me for their livelihood and my family would never ostracise me. Others weren't so fortunate. Next time, the choice facing me may not be so easy. And there will be a next time. Pointing the finger at Xi or Putin may serve as a distraction now, but the people who control the purse strings will always find a Putin or Xi to convince us how lucky we are to be controlled by them.
Pointing the finger at Xi and Putin is not a distraction technique if you recognize Western governments for what they are and recognize that Russia and China may be the instruments used by God to punish Western degeneration and apostasy in the Church. As for fear as a weapon, this was used even more incisively in China, where you had to comply with the mandatory lockdown, the most rigorous in the world, regardless of whether or not you thought the virus was something very serious, since surveillance on the streets was very rigid and it could be bad business to go against the government policies of the Chinese communist party, which had already inserted its tentacles into the church even before the pandemic began.
We are not conditioned to hate Muslims, at least in this forum, what is often highlighted in this forum is that the Quranic verses that order holy war against infidel Jews and Christians constitute a danger to Christians of various denominations in countries dominated by groups fundamentalists.
Most people in Western countries don't recognise the governments for what they are. They tend to fall into two, maybe three camps: The camp that swallows everything the government tells them and excuses all the wrongdoing because the other side will be worse; the camp that believes the opposition will fix everything given enough time and power; and the camp that shrugs its shoulders provided whichever side is in government doesn't make life hard for them. The choice is superficial. That's our post-Christian West. It's easy to spot what appears to be Communist infiltration of the Church especially when the loudest voices keep shouting about it. History has taught us that there has been infiltration of the Church since the beginning. We all want the Pope and Bishops to censure Catholics for supporting anti-family policies. We don't hear so much about wealthy Catholics who believe that their love of money can be mitigated by large donations to charity. Communism thrives where supposedly moral wealthy people exploit the poor and don't pay their workers a just wage. Those sins also cry out to Heaven for vengeance but we condemn the upheaval resulting from the poor being manipulated into believing their lives will be better if only they overthrow the power structure that oppressed them. Evils like Communism thrive when the good do nothing or are silent. I see plenty of examples of that. The most vocal supporters of the Palestinian cause would be perfectly fine if thousands of Palestinian babies were murdered in an abortion clinic provided it was the mother's choice. And the most fervent supporters of the genocide of Palestinians often are very vocal opponents of abortion. A Catholic who professes the belief that the Holy Spirit is the Lord and giver of life should believe that all human life is sacred from the womb to the tomb. Far too many Catholics have no problem eating in whichever of those cafeterias suits their own political view of the world. There's a cafeteria to suit the taste of every sin of deed or omission.
Not on this forum, but that's the prevailing narrative. It justifies genocide and will justify war. The narrative is more subtle about stirring up fear of Muslins. Using terror groups like ISIS as proxies serves that purpose.
communism thrives where people have shallow enough political knowledge to think that communist leaders really care about poverty and reducing inequalities, when in fact their political game is about concentrating power and wealth in the hands of an elite that is minority and pitting workers against their bosses and against the church, in a scheme of class struggle. We must also defend life after conception, but this does not include defending the prerogative of just war when it comes to a country that is politically opposed to the West. It also does not include defending theocracies that persecute religious minorities different from our own, such as the Baha'i faith that is relentlessly persecuted in Iran, although it is a pacifist religion.
