Cardinal Edwin O'Brien on the Threats to Christianity

Sinicization Means Persecution of Chinese Christians

In May 2015, Chinese President  Xi Jinping announced a policy of Sinicization during a  central United Front Work Department meeting.  Xi Jiping had been seen as a leader who was open minded about religion so long as the faithful are "harmonious".  However, Xi displays a certain tolerance towards homegrown faiths like Confuciusism, Buddhism and Daoism as distinguished from a chary attitude toward foreign influences like Christianity and Islam. 

Following that lead, provincial Chinese officials forced churches in Songmun, Xinhe, Muyu and Dasi  as well as the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Xioshan to take down crosses from their churches lest the buildings be demolished. In Hangzhou, only the Catholic Cathedral and two Protestant churches will be spared that fateful choice.  A Protestant catechist estimates that at least 1,100 Christian churches have been denuded of their crosses, although the figure might be much higher.

Alas, this is not the first time in recent memory that the Chinese government have persecuted Christian churches. In 2014, there was a rash of cross removals and threats of demolishing Christian churches.

What made international headlines was how the Christian faithful  encircled the Sanjiang Church near Wenzhou as human shields. China trying to save the Jerusalem of the East. Initially, officials backed away from their plan and negotiated a compromise withe the Sanjiang pinyin (Chinese Christ followers).  Unfortunately, the bright prominent crosses on Sanjiang Church in a central business district proved too much for Communist Party sensibilities and the church was demolished.

On Pope Francis' Diplomacy

Pope Francis and the Conundrum of the Communist Crucifix

On the second leg of his trip to South America, Pope Francis traveled to Bolivia. The Holy Father made a courtesy visit to  Eso Morales at the Palace of the Government in La Paz.  Pope Francis only made a short four hours visit in La Paz as the 4,000 meter altitude was difficult for him to breath as he has only one lung. 

As is customary when heads of state meet, the President and the Pope exchanged gifts. Pope Francis gave the  Bolivian president a mosaic of the Marian icon of the “Salus Populus Romani". For his part, Bolivian President Eso Morales gave the Holy See  a crucifix based on a hammer and sickle, essentially a communist crucifix.  This was not the only politically charged gift. Morales also gave Pope Francis "The Book of the Sea" a tome bemoaning Bolivia's loss of access to the sea in the 1879-93 War of the Pacific.

As for the gift of religious art, Pope Francis shook his head as the Socialist President gave him this communist styled crucifix and audibly said: “No está bien eso”.  As this exchange was filmed for transmission throughout the world, the Holy Father's embarrassment seemed visible.

Aside from his Socialist politics, Eso Morales gift had some symbolism associated with Catholicism, as this hammer and sickle crucifix was modeled after one carved by Jesuit missionary Fr. Luis Espinal Camps, S.J.. Espinal Camps  was abducted by the paramilitaries loyal to the Bolivian dictatorship, tortured for five hour and shot 17 times in 1980.

Shortly after arriving in Bolivia Pope Francis' motorcade stopped along the highway where Fr. Espinal Camps was abducted.  Pope Francis prayed:

"Remember one of our brothers, a victim of interests that didn't want him to fight for Bolivia's freedom,.  Father Espinal preached the Gospel, the Gospel that bothered them, and because of this they got rid of him."

Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, tried to walk back from this diplomatic faux pas by claiming that Pope Francis was unaware that the gift was inspired by Fr. Espinal Camps crucifix and that the Holy Father meant to say: "I didn't know" instead of "This is not right".  That explanation is courteously convenient but seems spurious considering the Pope's actual words and his visible embarrassment over the gift.

For all those  Catholic criticasters who claim that Pope Francis' beatification of Blessed Oscar Romero was an embrace of liberation theology or that the environmental encyclical Laudato Si was a Marxist manifesto, how do they reconcile Pope Francis' exclamation: “No está bien eso”?  

During his remarks to grassroots groups helping the marginalized in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Pope Francis addressed head on the charge that he is a communist. "When I talk about this [Land, Lodging and Labor], some people think the pope is a communist, They don't realize that love for the poor is at the center of the Gospel."

No doubt that Pope Francis believes in a evangelical option for the poor, as do many contemporary Jesuits and that he walks the talk on social justice.  But if Pope Francis were the Red Pope, why would he recoil at a communist crucifix?

Perhaps the Bolivian visit highlights the conundrum of Pope Francis' disposition towards social justice.  Austral University Historian Roberto Bosca noted that Jorge Bergolio (later Pope Francis) opposed liberation theology during the 1970s, but that he accepted the premise of liberation theology (especially the preferential option for the poor) done in a non-ideological fashion.  But as the rhetoric meets reality, as demonstrated by Eso Morales photo op, secular socialists (and communists) may strive to exploit this sympathy for their own atheistic advantage.

Saeed Abedini on Revival

Nikita Khrushchev on God

On April 12th, 1961, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man in outer space as his Vostok I spacecraft orbited the Earth in a 108 minute flight.  Upon his return, Soviet Premier Nitika Khrushchev mocked religion by claiming that Gagarin announced: "I went up into space and did not see God anywhere." This was triumph for Soviet atheism at the height of the Cold War.

But like many aspects of the Soviet Space program, not everything was accurate.  Despite the brash bluster of Comrad Khrushchev, Gagarin was never heard uttering that controversial quip.  In addition, Gagarin was a baptized member of the Russian Orthodox Church who was actually quite devout (but privately so as not to scandalize the Soviet state and their scientific socialism hagiography).

Naghmeh Abedini on Religious Freedom

 

 Naghmeh Abedini spoke at CPAC to testify about the importance of Religious Liberty.  Abedini is the wife of Saheed Abedini, the Christian pastor who has been imprisoned since the summer of 2012 by the Islamic Republic of Iran for his religious beliefs and apostasy from Shia Islam.

 

 Mrs. Abedini's speech comes as the Obama Administration has been contorting itself to achieve any nuclear deal with the government in Tehran, thus forsaking any leverage to achieve a good will gesture of freeing this pastor who is an American citizen. Mrs. Abedini's testimony of why she is proud to be an American stands against many of the moves of the Obama Administration to minimize our First Amendment Freedom of Religion (e.g. Obamacare's Contraception Mandate, imposing Same-Sex marriage, considering traditional believers as prospective terror groups etc.).

Her testimony is an inspiration to Be Heard.

Patriarch Ignatius III Younan on Religious Freedom

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on Unique Evil

St. Augustine on the World

Mike Huckabee on Evil

Even though ISIS had been threatening "Nazaranes" (Christians in Iraq) in Mosul with expropriation or extermination unless they renounced their faith, this had not moved the Obama White House into action.

A fortnight later, 40,000 Kurds who practice the Yazidi faith  were herded onto Mount Sinjar and left to fend for themselves or be slaughtered. Yazidis  have a monotheistic faith which has roots in Zoroastrianism with elements of Islam as well as Christianity.

What may have prompted President Obama to act in the case of the Yazidis rather than the Iraqi Christians may have been concentrated the ethnic  on a mountaintop for genocide and then bragging about it on Twitter. Or perhaps it was ISIS terrorists putting Yazidi kids' heads on a pike as a message to the world.  Nonetheless, former Governor Mike Huckabee has it right, it is evil

On ISIS Marking Christians for Extermination and Expropriation in Iraq

As jihadist Sunni Islamist terrorists from ISIS/ISIL strive to create a sharia inspired Caliphate as they take over territory in Iraq and Syria, they are slaughtering innocent Christians.  

However, even sharia law allows for dhimmitude, second class citizen status for "people of the book" (i.e. Jews and Christians) so long as they pay the jizya tax.  But that is not good enough for ISIS jihadists.  They have taken to mark the buildings of Christian institutions with spray-painted red marks indicating holdouts to exterminate and expropriate.

Spraypainted ISIS Extermination Graffiti on Christian buildings in Mosel, Iraq

"Nun" 14th letter in Arabic alphabet

 The symbol is "Nun", the 14th letter in the Arabic alphabet.  It is the first letter in the name "Nazara" (or Nazarenes) the way in which Muslims have referred to Christians since the 7th Century. This is intended as a badge of shame for what is perceived as a contemptible and disobedient sect. 

While those who follow world events may be aware of the genocidal fervor of ISIS terrorism, it is for this systematic genocide to get lost in the tumult of today's world news.  Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan's interview with Vatican Radio was a shocking reminder of the consequences of America's precipitous withdrawal from Iraq and not tamping down Islamist forces in Mesopotamia.  There are no Christians left in Mosul.  Many Christian refugees have fled to Kuridstan, but now their Prime Minister claims that it can receive no more refugees.  The last ten families fleeing from the Mosul area were robbed of everything they own and left at the frontier of the city.  Now they may not have anyplace to which to go.

Sophisticates in the West mock the notion that Christians are being persecuted around the world.  The "Nun" marks in Mosul show that Christian brothers and sisters are being marked for their faith and may face martyrdom. 

It would not be a panacea but if Western powers really stood for religious liberty, actions could be taken to mitigate the ISIS mire.  But with  Secretary of State John Kerry's  recent equivocation about religious pluralism rather than noting the source threatening religious liberty in Ethiopia as well as the Obama Administration's open hostility to people practicing their faith in the public square, this issue is likely to be way behind priorities such as political fundraisers and swanky vacations. 

h/t: Rorate Caeli

Pope Francis on Peace in the Holy Land

While traveling to Manger Square, Pope Francis deviated from his tightly scheduled itinerary, he spontaneously halted the motorcade to pray for several minutes at the wall that divides Israel from the Palestinian territory.

{Pope Francis praying  at the Bethlehem Wall, West Bank}

John Kerry on Religions

While  speaking at the US Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Secretary of State John F. Kerry remarked about the "cross-currents of modernity" in Africa.  Kerry made these "cross-current" comments in tandem with remarks calling for respecting the rights and liberties of individuals. 

It could be a veiled reference to the persecution of Ethiopian Christians as the Islamist group Kewarjah, repeatedly attacks Christians in Southwest Ethiopia.  Moreover, the government has sought to ban all religious messages and talks in public. 

However, the Secretary of State's summary of his talks neither seem to approve  of religious pluralism or respecting religious observance. This hardly reflect President Obama's recent robust public comments endorsing religious freedom.   Kerry's  even-handed approach to addressing religious liberty in Ethiopia dismisses religious creed as being relevant in the "cross-currents of modernity" and declines to address what religious fanatics are enforcing their interpretations of faith. 

Mahmoud Abbas on the Holocaust

On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen released a statement which extended his first official condolences of the Shoah.  Unlike prior Palestinian leaders (namely Yasser Arafat) who would say moderate things in English translation but would be undaunted anti-semitic in the Arabic original, Abbas' statement was released in both English and Arabic.

This statement is in stark contrast to his doctrinal thesis from Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow later published as  The Other Side: The Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism (1984) in which he claimed: the Zionist fantasy, the fantastic lie that six million Jews were killed” and claimed that only some 890,000 Jews were killed by the Nazis.  Moreover  these were chiefly the victims of a Zionist-Nazi plot in the Havaara Agrement (1933) to facilitate German emigration to the Palestine Mandate.  Such a theory contributes to the fever swamp frenzy of Holocaust deniers.  Abbas had backtracked from this thesis in 2011 when he asserted that he could accept that six million people were killed during the Holocaust.

Abbas' conciliatory statements are not being welcomed with open arms by the Israeli government.  As Abbas reiterated his Holocaust condolence statement, Abbas' ruling Palestinian Fatah party (which prevails in the West Bank) made a rapprochement with Hamas, the terror organization which is based in the exclave Gaza Strip.

As Hamas is still dedicated in its charter to the destruction of Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet unanimously decided to break off negotiations with a Palestinian government which incorporates Hamas.  In addition, Israel is planning to impose economic sanctions against the Palestinian Authority by withholding tax revenue collected by Israel on behalf of the PA.

 

Etty Hillensum on Faith

 Note how all traffic stops on ten lanes of the busy Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, Israel when the sirens sound marking the moment of silence to remember victims of the Holocaust.

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Pope Francis' Cri-de-Coeur on Syrian Slaying

Dutch Jesuit Fr. Francis van der Lugt was brutally murdered in Homs, Syria by masked gunman. The septigenarian cleric was beaten by a masked man on the street in front of the Jesuit monastery in Bustan al-Diwan, a Christian portion of the Old City,  and then he was shot twice in the head.

Fr. van der Lugt who was a trained psychotherapist, had spent fifty years living in Syria ministering to disabled people at the Al Ard Center near Homs.  The Center also took in refugees from the Syrian Civil War, but that mission curtailed as the staff fled since they could not ensure the safety of their guests.  Fr. van der Lugt tried to be a companion to those in mental distress and give them as much food as possible.

Fr. Frans refused to be part of the February 2014 UN supervised evacuation of 1,400 people from the city, which had been besieged for a year and a half.  In the Old City of Homs, the Christian population had shrunk from tens of thousands to just 66.  Christians used to make up 10% of the Syrian population before the Civil War, but Christians have been brutalized for their faith during the conflict Fr. van der Lugt reasoned that he was the only priest remaining to minister to his people so how could he leave.

In January, Fr. van der Lugt made pleas through the media that gained world-wide attention to have humanitarian aid sent to the city to feed the starving Muslim and Christian population.




This led to meeting with UN officials to receive aid and hear first hand accounts of the humanitarian trials in Homs. Fr. van der Lugt procured four kilos of kilos of flour a week from a Muslim charity so that he could make bread and distribute half a loaf to the enclaves neediest 30 people.

Besides, Fr. van der Lugt considered Syria to be his home. The Jesuit proclaimed:  "The Syrian people have given me so much, so much kindness, inspiration and everything they have. If the Syrian people are suffering now, I want to share their pain and their difficulties."  Per the priests instructions, his earthly remains will be buried in Syria.

Syrian opposition forces were quick to blame the Bashar al-Assad government for the slaying, claiming that government would be the only ones to benefit from the killing.  Yet Fr. van der Lugt believed that even after eighteen months of being under siege that the opposition was not popular among Syrians.  The amnesty which was offered in January only applied to Syrians.  Thus the foreign fighters who remained in the Old City may have looked askance at one who was not a co-religionist.

Regardless of who was responsible, Fr. Francis van der Lugt was a martyr for the faith. Aside from Pope Francis' cri-de-coeur at his fellow Jesuit's brutal slaying, the Vatican voiced outrage over the killing of Fr. van der Lugt.  Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Holy See declared: "This is the death of a man of peace, who showed great courage in remaining loyal to the Syrian people despite an extremely risky and difficult situation."  Lombardi added that the Dutch priest had offered "the testimony of Jesus to the end." 

Fr. van der Lugt's selfless dedication to his fellow man and openness to serve the Lord even unto death echos the ultimate sacrifice that our Lord Jesus Christ which we will celebrate next week in the Triduum.

Marveling at Super-Pope Francis via Graffiti Art

Artist Mauro Pallotta with his graffiti art "Superpope" Francis (photo:  Andreas Dueren/CNA)

Mauro Pallotta is a 41 year old artist and sculptor based in Rome.  But Pallotta may better be known as a celebrated street artist based on widespread notoriety of his graffiti "Super-Pope" Francis on the Via Plauto, a tiny cobble stoned street in the Borgo Pio district near St. Peter's Square in Rome (Vatican City).

Pallotta (a.k.a. Maupal) was inspired to do the piece one evening when he was reading a comic book and the image of the Pope appeared on television.  Pallotta opined:

“I thought of representing this Pope, Francis, as a super hero of the Marvel (Heroes), simply because, according to me, he is one of the few people who, having a real power as a Pope, he uses it for the good like the superheroes of the American Marvel.” 

It dawned on the artist that this Pope also had superpowers in the form of humility and empathy.

Pallotta likened Super-Pope  to  "It's  a little bit like Greek mythology brought to modernity.”   In depicting Pope Francis as a superhero using his papal authority for the good, the pontiff is shown as a pop style dressed in his understated white cassock, simple shoes and an iron pectoral crosscross as the Super-Pope carrying a black briefcase labeled "Valores" (meaning values in both Latin and Spanish).  This symbolizes that the first New World  Pope only carries his Christian values.

A red and blue scarf is hanging out of the briefcase, which is for the Argentine San Lorenzo de Football (soccer) club, which the Pope been a fan of this underdog team since his boyhood.

Graffiti art in Buenos Aires, Argentina of Pope Francis &San Lorenzo Football Club (photo TripAdvisor)

Pope Francis greeted players from San Lorenzo at the Vatican in December after a Wednesday general audience to congratulate them on winning the Tornial Incial championship.

 Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken of the spiritual values of sports teams.  His Holiness exhorted Argentine and Italians sports clubs that:  "[R]ugby is like life because we are all heading for a goal, we need to run together and pass the ball from hand to hand until we get to it".

The artist explained that the San Lorenzo soccer scarf brought Super-Pope Francis to being human.  However, considering Pope Francis' connection between sports and spirituality, carrying  the San Lorenzo scarf with his values "baggage" , it can be seen as a reminder that even a "Super-Pope" needs the support of his underdog team to achieve the goal of advancing the kingdom of God.

Vatican Communications embraced Pallotta's Super-Pope folk art tribute by posting it on  its Twitter feed.

The Super-Pope graffiti art lasted but a day, as Rome's decorum police acted faster than a speeding bullet took down this street art in record time. 

An Unruly Aviary Angelus

Pope Francis during January 26, 2014 Angelus, St. Peter's Square, Vatican City

Crowds gather in Vatican City on Sundays at Noon to pray the Angelus prayer with the Pope.  Often the Pontiff will make brief remarks in conjunction with praying this ancient Christian devotion to the Incarnation.  

However, those who sojourned to St. Peter’s Square this Sunday saw quite an unusual spectacle.  Pope Francis stood on the balcony of the Apostolic Palace and was flanked by a boy and a girl who released doves into the air.  This international symbol of piece should have served a dual purpose, marking the end of the Octave of Christian Unity as well as underlining the Pope’s call for peace.  Pope Francis focused on the bloody unrest in Ukraine, where he called for “constructive dialogue” to prevail in the Eastern European nation.

Alas, an unruly aviary altercation took the world’s attention.  After the two white doves took flight, a seagull and a large black crow swooped down on the doves immediately after they were released.  While one dove lost some feathers when it broke free from the gull, the other dove was repeatedly pecked by the crow.

Some wags have suggested the faith of the black bird might have been from The Religion of Pieces, but that remains unsubstantiated. 

While it was rather ironic that symbols of peace seemed under attack as they were released to the world, it would be wise not to ruminate on this grotesquerie in order to consider the call for peace in Ukraine.  

Pope Francis Calls for Peace in Syria

In his Angelus, Pope Francis proclaimed  September 7th a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria, the Middle East and the world. 

"Anguished" pope call for Syria prayer day by reuters

Today, dear brothers and sisters, I wish to make add my voice to the cry which rises up with increasing anguish from every part of the world, from every people, from the heart of each person, from the one great family which is humanity: it is the cry for peace! It is a cry which declares with force: we want a peaceful world, we want to be men and women of peace, and we want in our society, torn apart by divisions and conflict, that peace break out! War never again! Never again war! Peace is a precious gift, which must be promoted and protected.

There are so many conflicts in this world which cause me great suffering and worry, but in these days my heart is deeply wounded in particular by what is happening in Syria and anguished by the dramatic developments which are looming.

I appeal strongly for peace, an appeal which arises from the deep within me. How much suffering, how much devastation, how much pain has the use of arms carried in its wake in that martyred country, especially among civilians and the unarmed! I think of many children will not see the light of the future! With utmost firmness I condemn the use of chemical weapons: I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart. There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which are inescapable! Never has the use of violence brought peace in its wake. War begets war, violence begets violence.

With all my strength, I ask each party in this conflict to listen to the voice of their own conscience, not to close themselves in solely on their own interests, but rather to look at each other as brothers and decisively and courageously to follow the path of encounter and negotiation, and so overcome blind conflict. With similar vigour I exhort the international community to make every effort to promote clear proposals for peace in that country without further delay, a peace based on dialogue and negotiation, for the good of the entire Syrian people.

May no effort be spared in guaranteeing humanitarian assistance to those wounded by this terrible conflict, in particular those forced to flee and the many refugees in nearby countries. May humanitarian workers, charged with the task of alleviating the sufferings of these people, be granted access so as to provide the necessary aid.

What can we do to make peace in the world? As Pope John said, it pertains to each individual to establish new relationships in human society under the mastery and guidance of justice and love (cf. John XXIII, Pacem in Terris, [11 April 1963]: AAS 55, [1963], 301-302).

All men and women of good will are bound by the task of pursuing peace. I make a forceful and urgent call to the entire Catholic Church, and also to every Christian of other confessions, as well as to followers of every religion and to those brothers and sisters who do not believe: peace is a good which overcomes every barrier, because it belongs all of humanity!

 I repeat forcefully: it is neither a culture of confrontation nor a culture of conflict which builds harmony within and between peoples, but rather a culture of encounter and a culture of dialogue; this is the only way to peace.

May the plea for peace rise up and touch the heart of everyone so that they may lay down their weapons and be let themselves be led by the desire for peace.

To this end, brothers and sisters, I have decided to proclaim for the whole Church on 7 September next, the vigil of the birth of Mary, Queen of Peace, a day of fasting and prayer for peace in Syria, the Middle East, and throughout the world, and I also invite each person, including our fellow Christians, followers of other religions and all men of good will, to participate, in whatever way they can, in this initiative.

On 7 September, in Saint Peter’s Square, here, from 19:00 until 24:00, we will gather in prayer and in a spirit of penance, invoking God’s great gift of peace upon the beloved nation of Syria and upon each situation of conflict and violence around the world. Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace! I ask all the local churches, in addition to fasting, that they gather to pray for this intention.

Let us ask Mary to help us to respond to violence, to conflict and to war, with the power of dialogue, reconciliation and love. She is our mother: may she help us to find peace; all of us are her children! Help us, Mary, to overcome this most difficult moment and to dedicate ourselves each day to building in every situation an authentic culture of encounter and peace.  Queen of Peace, pray for us!

h/t: Vatican Radio 
     Reuters