- “In the past the Church stood strong against communism!”
- That was then
- . . . and the Popes were not communists themselves DLH
This Wikipedia item provides links to substantiate the long held anathema (prior to this Pope anyway) of the Roman Catholic Church toward atheistic communism. It was to the extent of automatic excommunication (separation from full communion with the Church). We doubt Pope Francis’ predecessors would be fooled by any prospective church leader’s personal equivocation between pledged support and loyalty for a regime, its legitimacy in all matters vs loyalty to God and Church as defined by the “magisterium” (accumulated wisdom of the Church)
Deal With the Devil? Vatican Caves to China’s Demands on Bishop Appointments
In a cowardly move, Francis bows to Beijing.
In the past, the Catholic Church stood strong against communism. As The American Spectator‘s Paul Kengor has noted in multiple books,
Pope John Paul II bravely opposed the Soviet Union. In a particularly powerful moment in 1979, thousands of Poles chanted “We want God,” defying their overlords in Moscow. A decade later, Poland’s transition to democracy became one of the final death blows to the Soviet Union. . . .
This week, Bishop Antonio Yao Shun was installed as Bishop of Jining in northern China. There are thousands of Catholic bishops, but Shun’s installment was a groundbreaking event. Bishop Shun was approved by both the Vatican and the Chinese government. In the past, the millions of Chinese Catholics have been divided between the state-sanctioned “Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association” and the underground and persecuted Catholic Church, which is loyal to the Vatican. Shun is the first bishop to be appointed since a deal was made in September of last year, which gave both the CCP and the Vatican a say in appointments. While the deal is said to be a compromise, it is submission from the Church to the whims of Xi Jinping. Last year, two faithful Catholic bishops who were critical of China’s regime were asked to step down by the Vatican to help with negotiations. The Catholic Church in China will become an institution completely dependent on the approval of a regime that is virulently hostile to people of faith.
