Catholic President Suggests Ban on Eating Dogs

South Korea’s Catholic leader, President Moon Jae-in, has suggested that the time has come to ban the sale of dog meat in the country.

Around 1 million dogs are slaughtered for food in South Korea each year, but numbers are declining as increasingly Westernised youngsters are shunning the practice.

Moon asked for Koreans to ‘prudently’ consider whether such a ban must now come to an end, with more humane attitudes towards dogs prevailing as more Koreans adopt them as pets.

Recent surveys show that the majority of Koreans do not eat dog meat and most also support a ban on the sale of it.

With a presidential election on the way next year, Moon’s position is one that has been echoed by other potential candidates.

During the last election, he adopted a rescue dog and has unveiled plans to revamp the country’s approach to abandoned animals.

Moon is a Catholic, having been raised in the faith by his mother. His faith has informed his diplomacy efforts with North Korea.

Bodies of Korean Martyrs Recovered After 230 Years

The history of Christianity in Korea is like the history of Christianity in most other countries, full of persecution and those willing to lay down their lives as Our Lord did.

Arriving in the late 18th Century, the Catholic faith had some 10,000 martyrs over the course of the 19th century across Korea, most of them incredible violent.

The Confucian authorities had begun to seize Catholic paraphernalia as early as the 1780s, as a precursor to extensive persecutions.

Yun Ji Chung Paul was from a noble family in Korea, but he quickly became enamoured with the Catholic faith, which was growing in popularity through translations of spiritual books printed from Chinese. After his cousin had taught him about the faith, Paul was baptised in 1787. He quickly began to run afoul of the traditional religion of Korea, by converting his mother who received a Catholic funeral.

He was eventually put on trial alongside his cousin James Kwon Sang-yeon, both of whom were sentence to death. They were beheaded for refusing to perform ancestral rites, leading to the Bishop of Beijing sending a priest to perform the first Mass in the Kingdom of Joseon where the killings had taken place.

When he was being brought to be martyred, records show that he was ‘smiling as if he was on his way to a party’.

His last words were ‘Jesus, Maria’.

Now, DNA testing has matched up three bodies with those of Paul and his brother (who was martyred afterwards) and James.

The Diocese of Jeonju has said, ‘We have found the remains of those who first set the history of martyrdom for our church, which was founded on the blood of the martyrs’.

Despite being a relatively small proportion of the population, around 11%, Korean Catholics have achieved immense successes in recent, years, producing cardinals and missionaries. There have also been two Catholic presidents.

Texas is Now Essentially Abortion Free

In a stunning victory for the right to life, Texas has become the first state in the United States of America to effectively ban abortion.

Under the law, anyone who aids the abortion of another in direct or indirect fashion is culpable for the death of the baby aborted.

The time limit on the law is at 6 weeks pregnancy, which is effectively a total ban on abortion. Those who assist in the controlled destruction of an unborn child at an abortion facility will be liable for €10,000 to any citizen who says that they have been affected in any way by the occurrence of said child being destroyed.

US President Joe Biden, who ordered a drone strike that blew up 7 innocent Afghan children this week, referred to it as ‘outrageous’.

Texas SB8 will impair women's access to health care and, outrageously, deputizes private citizens to sue those they believe helped another person get a banned abortion.

It's a blatant violation of the right established under Roe V. Wade. We will protect and defend that right.

— President Biden (@POTUS) September 1, 2021

The bill will take effect from September. It is likely that there will be challenges to the law, but the pro abortion lobby in the USA are currently embroiled in debates about whether or not women exist and men can get pregnant, so it is unlikely that they will be able to mount an effective enough response.

Imagine if everyone who obsessively brigaded every tweet mentioning “pregnant people” instead campaigned and petitioned and protested and pamphleted for abortion rights in Texas.

— Katelyn Burns (@transscribe) September 1, 2021

Lots of leftists today are insisting that the Texas abortion ban is an attack on women but seem to have forgotten that women don’t exist and literally anyone can get pregnant. You can’t have it both ways, dummies. Pick one lane of crazy or the other.

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 1, 2021

As in the UK, abortion has still continued in large numbers over the course of the past decade in the USA, though prolife campaigners have won several large victories against the barbaric stone age practice, mostly in states where they have engaged heavily in politics.

Fresh from championing President Biden’s efforts in Afghanistan, which included destroying 7 innocent children this week, the American media have employed the usual trope of trying to see today’s events through the lens of Hollywood films that they may have consumed.

CNN’s @AlisynCamerota on Texas’ pro-life law: “The dark dystopian undertones of this just cannot be overstated” pic.twitter.com/xbTS0jb2Q7

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 1, 2021

Today is a great day for Texas, the United States of America and for humanity.

New South Wales Catholics Fight Against Euthanasia

Since the inception of the lockdown crisis in March 2020, the talk of the necessity of saving lives has been undermined in many countries by efforts to legalise euthanasia in countries with severe restrictions.

In Ireland, the poor wording of the contemptibly named ‘Dying with Dignity Bill’ brought about its defeat, alongside virtually unanimous opposition from doctors and thousands of emails expressing concern over the legislation.

Now, in New South Wales, lockdown has coincided with efforts to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide.

In a recent statement, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP has pointed out the sick nature of using a time where elderly people are dying in large numbers to legalise an industry which will see them being pressured into dying:

There’s never a good time to introduce laws that sanction the killing of vulnerable human beings such as the terminally ill, elderly, frail and suffering. But to introduce such a bill in the middle of a pandemic and amidst lockdowns adversely affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions seems especially insensitive.

The people of NSW are currently accepting significant restrictions on their personal autonomy in order to protect those most at risk – particularly the elderly. In response to the latest wave of COVID-19, we’ve had a month of lockdown already and more is likely. Many of us have been unable to visit our elderly parents at home, in hospital or in aged care. Our sick and elderly have already suffered 17 months of increasing isolation and right now that is being intensified. Meanwhile, people are losing their jobs, businesses are going under, families are under the pressures of schooling and working from home, people’s movements are severely restricted, and depression rates are up. The last thing we need to hear from our leaders in this situation is a pro-suicide message or any suggestion that the elderly and dying no longer deserve the resources or protections given to the rest of us.

The NSW Government is rightly focused on getting us safely vaccinated and out of lockdown as soon as possible, and leading the process of social and economic recovery.

The NSW Health System is rightly focused on keeping the elderly and sick safe, and ensuring the system can cope with the increasing pressures upon it. Our health professionals do not want a bruising controversy that will further disrupt their already very pressured work environment.

In the face of our present emergency precious parliamentary time and health resources should not be diverted to other causes, and especially not to a bill that would enable a small group of highly autonomous people to make their doctors complicit in their suicide. The state-sanctioned killing of the sick, elderly and frail of New South Wales is the last thing we need right now! I call on the Government to keep us focused on the present challenges and once they have been met, let us focus on medicine at its best and not its most lethal.

Fisher’s strong words have been mirrored by John Whitehall of the Christian Medical and Dental Fellowship of Australia (CMDFA) has stated that:

The CMDFA agrees with the World Medical Association that the practice of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide is unethical and must be condemned by the medical profession

To date, 7,000 people have signed a petition against euthanasia being introduced in New South Wales. Raise your voice to protect life - Hope Australia (noeuthanasia.org.au)

Tomorrow, a Zoom Conference will take place with Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who is a practicing Catholic. It is being hosted by the University of Technology, Sydney. The title of the conference is ‘Ethics and the Politics of Euthanasia’.

As the culture of death continues to destroy Western Civilisation, perhaps euthanasia will serve as a bridge too far for those countries still holding out on legalising one of the most crass and cruel forms of coercion towards the most vulnerable.

You can read some of our previous articles on euthanasia below.

Catholic Adventurer Evacuated from Aghanistan

There have not been many humorous angles to the Taliban’s victory over the United States Army and NATO in Afghanistan this week.

One story that has given many people a laugh however has been that of Miles Routledge, the English Catholic adventurer who casually took a dark tourist trip to the country, only for the Taliban to take over while he was there. What started off as a bit of fun, ended up with Routledge being airlifted on a cramped military plane out of the country in the middle of the night.

Miles began his public journey with posts on 4chan, Facebook and Twitch. He wrote:

Decided to pop down to Afghanistan for a few days, never been before. Just goofing off and soaking in the sun. Seems more peaceful than London to me.

Some commenters disbelieved his story, yet he posted photographs and time stamps to prove that his story was true.

He then posted a screenshot of his credit card, which held the title ‘Lord Routledge’, evidently because he had convinced the bank of his titular importance. He joked (we assume) that this would help him in convincing the Taliban not to kill him.

He also posted pictures of himself beside guns on the streets of Kabul.

As his story spread and things in Kabul deteriorated, Miles posted photos of himself brandishing a cross and confirmed that he was a Catholic. As violence spread, he stated that he was beginning to grow anxious and was struggling to keep water down. He stated that he was praying every 20 minutes as his situation began to look less like fun and more like a threat to his life.

He stated ‘I’ve seen too many dead people. I’ve just wanted this whole thing to be a little charity thing where I can explore a weird country but I’ve mentally broke down’.

He also wrote:

''I was fully prepared for death, I accepted it. This trip has been a test of God. I'm very religious so I believe I'll be looked after. If I die, I’ll die happy and religious and proud.''

Last night, he was among those on a large RAF military plane who were evacuated to Dubai from Kabul.

The end of the Lord Miles Le-vesconte Routledge in Afghanistan saga. From his Facebook: “The happy ending: landed in Dubai thanks to the brilliant people at the British Army. All safe!” pic.twitter.com/TWyoF9cymD

— ꧁꧂𝐖𝐚𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧’࿆۞ (@Reach4ACopsGun) August 17, 2021

American Media Delights At Cardinal Burke Illness

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke has long been a hate figure for mainstream media, but the levels of depravity that they have stooped to this week are beyond the realms of basic human decency. In a week where the ascent to power of the Taliban has been seen as a victory for barbarity, one has to wonder if even the Taliban would behave like those Western journalists who are taunting Cardinal Burke and spreading lies about him as he lies on a ventilator, fighting for his life.

In a video for CNN, ‘journalist’ Polo Sandoval reported ‘conservative Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, American Cardinal Prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, who spread misinformation about coronavirus vaccines before being hospitalized himself and put on a ventilator’. The nasty and dishonest piece slanders the ill Cardinal Burke by saying, ‘He helped fuel baseless conspiracy theories about the vaccine and spread misinformation about coronavirus’. Polo then criticised Burke for calling Coronavirus ‘The Wuhan Virus’, in apparent outrage that at the suggestion that ‘China was to blame for the outbreak’. The bottom of the screen repeatedly mocked Burke during the video, stating ‘Vaccine skeptic Cardinal now on ventilator: pray for me’. Another message at the bottom of the screen claimed that Burke had implied that Covid vaccines would lead to people being micro chipped.

Burke said no such thing. CNN are spreading misinformation. The cardinal stated that some people want the latter, in accordance with a China like social credit system. In 1999, Polo’s employer were platforming those who wanted to plant microchips under people’s skin. CNN - Is human chip implant wave of the future? - January 14, 1999 In Sweden, micro chipping is already taking place, with around 5-10,000 already chipped. ID, wallet, keys all in your hand: Sweden moves into the future with microchipping (nbcnews.com) Thousands Of Swedes Are Inserting Microchips Under Their Skin : NPR CNN’s dishonesty is blatant in trying to encourage ill will towards the sickly Cardinal Burke, yet their clip of Cardinal Burke actually refutes their own bizarre claim, as he says no such thing.

Other outlets followed their lead. In a poorly written article at The Daily Beast, with the gleeful subheading ‘Divine Intervention’, Barbara Latza Nadeau claimed that:

The 73-year-old cardinal has shown himself to be a COVID-19 denier, publicly scoffing at Italy’s strict lockdown measures during the height of the pandemic and was even seen strolling around Rome mask-free even when face coverings were mandated outside

One Twitter user quickly pointed out that this was patently false.

It’s difficult to believe the rest of the article when the opening sentence is a lie.

This is how I see Cardinal Burke most days strolling down my street in Rome. @washingtonpost @jackiepeiser pic.twitter.com/SdkpToYOEX

— The Catholic Traveler (@MountainButorac) August 16, 2021

Nadeau previously spread an incredibly insane conspiracy theory which claimed that Cardinal Burke was working with Matteo Salvini and Steve Bannon to ‘take down’ Pope Francis. Steve Bannon, Cardinal Burke, Minister Salvini, and the Plot to Take Down Pope Francis (thedailybeast.com)

There are many more articles on this topic, many of them by those who falsely conflate Cardinal Burke’s warnings of technocracy with being a ‘vaccine skeptic’, but once you have come across those two you have read them all.

Cardinal Burke was not, as these outlets claim, a ‘vaccine skeptic’.

You can hear him in the video below, correctly pointing out that ‘certain forces’ who hate family and nations have used the current crisis to ‘advance their evil agenda’.

Cardinal Burke 👏 pic.twitter.com/OeH3sBnlMJ

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) December 20, 2020

In the full video from which that extract comes, Cardinal Burke criticises Marxist materialism and the media.

The latest news regarding Cardinal Burke’s illness is not good, with reports of him now having been placed in an artificial coma. One American celebrated, stating that he hopes that Cardinal Burke ‘enjoys his coma’ before falsely claiming that Cardinal Burke had ‘badmouthed the vaccine’.

Hope he enjoys his coma! Too bad he bad-mouthed the vaccine!

— Steve Lothce (@slothce) August 17, 2021

Meanwhile, as American liberals wax lyrical about the Taliban, perhaps they should look closer to home for savagery, as they taunt and slander a man when he is at his weakest, all because he dared to criticise the mainstream media and make them reflect on their own lives.

Our Lord did warn us that they would hate us as they hated Him.

Revisiting Pope John Paul's Afghanistan Warning

The surreal events of 2001 remain the most haunting and perplexing of the Twentieth Century so far, they may very well remain so until the year 2099. Not only the attacks of September 11th, but so too also the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan. Two years later came the nightmare of the Iraq invasion also.

When 9/11 took place, Pope John Paul II was still in the Vatican.

The day after those events, he stated:

I cannot begin this audience without expressing my profound sorrow at the terrorist attacks which yesterday brought death and destruction to America, causing thousands of victims and injuring countless people. To the President of the United States and to all American citizens I express my heartfelt sorrow. In the face of such unspeakable horror we cannot but be deeply disturbed. I add my voice to all the voices raised in these hours to express indignant condemnation, and I strongly reiterate that the ways of violence will never lead to genuine solutions to humanity’s problems.

Yesterday was a dark day in the history of humanity, a terrible affront to human dignity. After receiving the news, I followed with intense concern the developing situation, with heartfelt prayers to the Lord. How is it possible to commit acts of such savage cruelty? The human heart has depths from which schemes of unheard-of ferocity sometimes emerge, capable of destroying in a moment the normal daily life of a people. But faith comes to our aid at these times when words seem to fail. Christ’s word is the only one that can give a response to the questions which trouble our spirit. Even if the forces of darkness appear to prevail, those who believe in God know that evil and death do not have the final say. Christian hope is based on this truth; at this time our prayerful trust draws strength from it.

With deeply felt sympathy I address myself to the beloved people of the United States in this moment of distress and consternation, when the courage of so many men and women of good will is being sorely tested. In a special way I reach out to the families of the dead and the injured, and assure them of my spiritual closeness. I entrust to the mercy of the Most High the helpless victims of this tragedy, for whom I offered Mass this morning, invoking upon them eternal rest. May God give courage to the survivors; may he sustain the rescue-workers and the many volunteers who are presently making an enormous effort to cope with such an immense emergency. I ask you, dear brothers and sisters, to join me in prayer for them. Let us beg the Lord that the spiral of hatred and violence will not prevail. May the Blessed Virgin, Mother of Mercy, fill the hearts of all with wise thoughts and peaceful intentions.

Today, my heartfelt sympathy is with the American people, subjected yesterday to inhuman terrorist attacks which have taken the lives of thousands of innocent human beings and caused unspeakable sorrow in the hearts of all men and women of good will. Yesterday was indeed a dark day in our history, an appalling offence against peace, a terrible assault against human dignity.

I invite you all to join me in commending the victims of this shocking tragedy to Almighty God' s eternal love. Let us implore his comfort upon the injured, the families involved, all who are doing their utmost to rescue survivors and help those affected.

I ask God to grant the American people the strength and courage they need at this time of sorrow and trial.

The first official death from the 9/11 attacks was an Irish American Catholic priest, Father Michael Fallon Judge, who was killed during duty as a New York City Fire Department chaplain.

Weeks after, promises of a swift war against the Taliban had led to a cautious approach from the Vatican.

Yet within weeks, it was apparent that a serious humanitarian situation was developing.

In early October, Caritas were already warning of a dire catastrophe. On the 23rd of October, they wrote:

Caritas Internationalis, an international confederation of Catholic humanitarian organisations, has appealed for 11 million dollars to aid the people of Afghanistan.
From its headquarters in Vatican City, Caritas has asked its network to provide funds to care for the estimated two million refugees currently in camps in Pakistan and support health and nutrition programmes inside Afghanistan.

As winter approaches, millions of Afghanis on both sides of the border with Pakistan are in desperate need of food and shelter.

The food situation in Afghanistan was already precarious before the current crisis erupted in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, with one out of every four Afghanis dependent on food assistance for survival.

Three consecutive years of drought and 22 years of war have led to economic deprivation and tremendous hardship for the Afghan people, and escalation of fighting has compounded their misery.

Women in particular have suffered greatly. Thousands have been widowed, and many have no means of supporting themselves and their children.

In the wake of Allied bombings across Afghanistan, the United Nations estimates that at least one million more people may attempt to flee across the currently closed border with Pakistan, and over two million more could be internally displaced.

In November of that year, the pope was decrying the unfolding situation:

As we thank God for all that the fields produced this year, we must not forget those brothers and sisters in different parts of the world who are deprived of essential goods, such as food, water, a home and health care. At this time of great international concern, I am thinking especially of the peoples of Afghanistan, who must urgently receive necessary aid. This is a world emergency, which, however, does not allow us to forget that in other parts of the world there continue to be conditions of great and compelling need.

As indiscriminate violence against Afghans rose under Skull and Bones/Fabian Society members George W. Bush and Tony Blair, Pope John Paul II used this World Day of Peace message to speak out against violence that was vengeful and targeted at innocent people.

The World Day of Peace this year is being celebrated in the shadow of the dramatic events of 11 September last. On that day, a terrible crime was committed: in a few brief hours thousands of innocent people of many ethnic backgrounds were slaughtered. Since then, people throughout the world have felt a profound personal vulnerability and a new fear for the future. Addressing this state of mind, the Church testifies to her hope, based on the conviction that evil, the mysterium iniquitatis, does not have the final word in human affairs. The history of salvation, narrated in Sacred Scripture, sheds clear light on the entire history of the world and shows us that human events are always accompanied by the merciful Providence of God, who knows how to touch even the most hardened of hearts and bring good fruits even from what seems utterly barren soil. 

This is the hope which sustains the Church at the beginning of 2002: that, by the grace of God, a world in which the power of evil seems once again to have taken the upper hand will in fact be transformed into a world in which the noblest aspirations of the human heart will triumph, a world in which true peace will prevail. 

  Recent events, including the terrible killings just mentioned, move me to return to a theme which often stirs in the depths of my heart when I remember the events of history which have marked my life, especially my youth. 

The enormous suffering of peoples and individuals, even among my own friends and acquaintances, caused by Nazi and Communist totalitarianism, has never been far from my thoughts and prayers. I have often paused to reflect on the persistent question: how do we restore the moral and social order subjected to such horrific violence? My reasoned conviction, confirmed in turn by biblical revelation, is that the shattered order cannot be fully restored except by a response that combines justice with forgiveness. The pillars of true peace are justice and that form of love which is forgiveness.   

But in the present circumstances, how can we speak of justice and forgiveness as the source and condition of peace? We can and we must, no matter how difficult this may be; a difficulty which often comes from thinking that justice and forgiveness are irreconcilable. But forgiveness is the opposite of resentment and revenge, not of justice. In fact, true peace is “the work of justice” (Is 32:17). As the Second Vatican Council put it, peace is “the fruit of that right ordering of things with which the divine founder has invested human society and which must be actualized by man thirsting for an ever more perfect reign of justice” (Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 78). For more than fifteen hundred years, the Catholic Church has repeated the teaching of Saint Augustine of Hippo on this point. He reminds us that the peace which can and must be built in this world is the peace of right order—tranquillitas ordinis, the tranquillity of order (cf. De Civitate Dei, 19,13). 

True peace therefore is the fruit of justice, that moral virtue and legal guarantee which ensures full respect for rights and responsibilities, and the just distribution of benefits and burdens. But because human justice is always fragile and imperfect, subject as it is to the limitations and egoism of individuals and groups, it must include and, as it were, be completed by the forgiveness which heals and rebuilds troubled human relations from their foundations. This is true in circumstances great and small, at the personal level or on a wider, even international scale. Forgiveness is in no way opposed to justice, as if to forgive meant to overlook the need to right the wrong done. It is rather the fullness of justice, leading to that tranquillity of order which is much more than a fragile and temporary cessation of hostilities, involving as it does the deepest healing of the wounds which fester in human hearts. Justice and forgiveness are both essential to such healing. 

It is these two dimensions of peace that I wish to explore in this message. The World Day of Peace this year offers all humanity, and particularly the leaders of nations, the opportunity to reflect upon the demands of justice and the call to forgiveness in the face of the grave problems which continue to afflict the world, not the least of which is the new level of violence introduced by organized terrorism.  

   It is precisely peace born of justice and forgiveness that is under assault today by international terrorism. In recent years, especially since the end of the Cold War, terrorism has developed into a sophisticated network of political, economic and technical collusion which goes beyond national borders to embrace the whole world. Well-organized terrorist groups can count on huge financial resources and develop wide-ranging strategies, striking innocent people who have nothing to do with the aims pursued by the terrorists. 

When terrorist organizations use their own followers as weapons to be launched against defenceless and unsuspecting people they show clearly the death-wish that feeds them. Terrorism springs from hatred, and it generates isolation, mistrust and closure. Violence is added to violence in a tragic sequence that exasperates successive generations, each one inheriting the hatred which divided those that went before. Terrorism is built on contempt for human life. For this reason, not only does it commit intolerable crimes, but because it resorts to terror as a political and military means it is itself a true crime against humanity.   

Importantly, he wrote:

There exists therefore a right to defend oneself against terrorism, a right which, as always, must be exercised with respect for moral and legal limits in the choice of ends and means. The guilty must be correctly identified, since criminal culpability is always personal and cannot be extended to the nation, ethnic group or religion to which the terrorists may belong. International cooperation in the fight against terrorist activities must also include a courageous and resolute political, diplomatic and economic commitment to relieving situations of oppression and marginalization which facilitate the designs of terrorists. The recruitment of terrorists in fact is easier in situations where rights are trampled upon and injustices tolerated over a long period of time.

It was because of this point that the Washington Post noted in 2002 that:

The Vatican, however, has been reluctant to endorse the U.S. military response to the terrorist assault and pointedly called for the military to exercise care to prevent the harming of civilians. John Paul has declined to declare the fighting in Afghanistan a "just war," an official option open to him.

In his Easter message that year, he prayed:

In how many corners of the world do we hear the cry
of those who implore help, because they are suffering and dying:
from Afghanistan, terribly afflicted in recent months
and now stricken by a disastrous earthquake,
to so many other countries of the world
where social imbalances and rival ambitions still torment
countless numbers of our brothers and sisters.

Over the next number of years, Afghanistan became no less violent, but the world’s attention turned instead to the new nightmare of the Iraq War, which was far more vehemently opposed by the Vatican.

The wars in Afghanistan were unfortunately called a ‘crusade’ by George W. Bush, who was a member of a secret society called Skull and Bones. This perception has all but disappeared today in the West, but it was a powerful one at the time and it was a powerful one in the Islamic world, even though the ghouls of the Bush’s Republican Party and and Blair’s Labour Party, the twin evils of neoconservatism and neoliberalism were as antithetical to Christianity as they were to Islam.

Pope John Paul II’s warning about restraint in seeking justice against terrorism was not listened too unfortunately.

The tortures of innocent Afghan civilians by American soldiers at Bagram prison are comparable to any stories from Concentration Camps or Gulags in the Twentieth Century.

645 prisoners had been held there in total over a number of years. A report in the New York Times (which must bear some responsibility for the crimes they are reporting on) stated:

(W)hat happened at Abu Ghraib was no aberration, but part of a widespread pattern. It showed the tragic impact of the initial decision by Mr. Bush and his top advisers that they were not going to follow the Geneva Conventions, or indeed American law, for prisoners taken in antiterrorist operations. The investigative file on Bagram, obtained by The Times, showed that the mistreatment of prisoners was routine: shackling them to the ceilings of their cells, depriving them of sleep, kicking and hitting them, sexually humiliating them and threatening them with guard dogs -- the very same behavior later repeated in Iraq

Two of the prisoners at Bagram were innocent Afghanis who were brutally murdered in a sadistic style that that Taliban would flinch at.

One of them, Mullah Habibullah, was killed from a pulmonary embolism thanks to repeated blows to his legs.

Another, Dilawar of Yakubi, was an innocent taxi man who was imprisoned because of false information provided to avail of a bounty. This is a sketch of his torture.

His cause of death was something you would scarcely see in a film like Schindler’s List. They included, a black hood pulled over his head limiting his ability to breathe, knee strikes to the abdomen, Over 100 peroneal strikes (a nerve behind the kneecap), being shoved against a wall, being pulled by his beard, having his bare feet stepped on, kicks to the groin, being chained to the ceiling for extended hours, slammed his chest into a table front. Female soldier Sergeant Selena Salcedo admitted to mistreating Dilawar and received a rap on the knuckles for it.

Dilawar’s brutalised legs

The New York Times wrote:

On the day of his death, Dilawar had been chained by the wrists to the top of his cell for much of the previous four days. A guard tried to force the young man to his knees. But his legs, which had been pummeled by guards for several days, could no longer bend. An interrogator told Mr. Dilawar that he could see a doctor after they finished with him. When he was finally sent back to his cell, though, the guards were instructed only to chain the prisoner back to the ceiling. "Leave him up," one of the guards quoted Specialist Claus as saying. Several hours passed before an emergency room doctor finally saw Mr. Dilawar. By then he was dead, his body beginning to stiffen. It would be many months before Army investigators learned that most of the interrogators had in fact believed Mr. Dilawar to be an innocent man who simply drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time.

During torture, he would scream ‘Allah’ which elicited laughter from the American soldiers, who delivered more peroneal strikes in order to hear the screams again. This lasted for 24 hours.

Dilawar

NATO soldiers who served in Afghanistan will recall that they followed orders and most did what was asked of them, but with defeat after 20 years, Pope John Paul II’s words ring true. An entire nation was targeted for the crimes of the few (who had Saudi, not Afghan passports).

It is not easy, but forgiveness and desire for peace is always the least injurious course of action, not only towards others, but also towards ourselves.

But what does forgiveness actually mean? And why should we forgive? A reflection on forgiveness cannot avoid these questions. Returning to what I wrote in my Message for the 1997 World Day of Peace (“Offer Forgiveness and Receive Peace”), I would reaffirm that forgiveness inhabits people's hearts before it becomes a social reality. Only to the degree that an ethics and a culture of forgiveness prevail can we hope for a “politics” of forgiveness, expressed in society's attitudes and laws, so that through them justice takes on a more human character. 

Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against the natural instinct to pay back evil with evil. The measure of such a decision is the love of God who draws us to himself in spite of our sin. It has its perfect exemplar in the forgiveness of Christ, who on the Cross prayed: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). 

Forgiveness therefore has a divine source and criterion. This does not mean that its significance cannot also be grasped in the light of human reasoning; and this, in the first place, on the basis of what people experience when they do wrong. They experience their human weakness, and they want others to deal leniently with them. Why not therefore do towards others what we want them to do towards us? All human beings cherish the hope of being able to start all over again, and not remain for ever shut up in their own mistakes and guilt. They all want to raise their eyes to the future and to discover new possibilities of trust and commitment.   

9. Forgiveness therefore, as a fully human act, is above all a personal initiative. But individuals are essentially social beings, situated within a pattern of relationships through which they express themselves in ways both good and bad. Consequently, society too is absolutely in need of forgiveness. Families, groups, societies, States and the international community itself need forgiveness in order to renew ties that have been sundered, go beyond sterile situations of mutual condemnation and overcome the temptation to discriminate against others without appeal. The ability to forgive lies at the very basis of the idea of a future society marked by justice and solidarity. 

By contrast, the failure to forgive, especially when it serves to prolong conflict, is extremely costly in terms of human development. Resources are used for weapons rather than for development, peace and justice. What sufferings are inflicted on humanity because of the failure to reconcile! What delays in progress because of the failure to forgive! Peace is essential for development, but true peace is made possible only through forgiveness.

Forgiveness is not a proposal that can be immediately understood or easily accepted; in many ways it is a paradoxical message. Forgiveness in fact always involves an apparent short-term loss for a real long-term gain. Violence is the exact opposite; opting as it does for an apparent short‑term gain, it involves a real and permanent loss. Forgiveness may seem like weakness, but it demands great spiritual strength and moral courage, both in granting it and in accepting it. It may seem in some way to diminish us, but in fact it leads us to a fuller and richer humanity, more radiant with the splendour of the Creator. 

My ministry at the service of the Gospel obliges me, and at the same time gives me the strength, to insist upon the necessity of forgiveness. I do so again today in the hope of stirring serious and mature thinking on this theme, with a view to a far-reaching resurgence of the human spirit in individual hearts and in relations between the peoples of the world.   

The Defeat of Tenochtitlan and the End of Aztec Human Sacrifice

Few civilisations in history embody violence and cruelty as did the Aztecs.

Although many interpret terms like ‘Aztec’ to indicate all indigenous peoples of Central America, it ignores the fact that the Aztec Empire was run by animalistic bullies, who used their opulent wealth and power to enslave, massacre and abuse other indigenous peoples.

The Tlaxcaltecs and other native groups eagerly assisted Hernán Cortés and his Spanish forces in the Battle of Tenochtitlan, wishing for an end to the wicked Aztec Empire.

The idea that all natives were opposed to the Spanish is one misconception, but another one is that which seems to think that the treatment of natives in the Americas was worse than if they had been left alone. The same people who argue that, invariably do so on the assumption of the truth of allegations of ‘mass murders’ by the church against natives, even as recently as the early 20th Century. Ironically, the church did no such thing, but the pagan Aztecs did.

Atop Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan, innocent people would be sacrificed to the gods in gruesome fashion. Cortes’s men witnessed this upon their arrivals, they saw the priests slicing open the chests of sacrificial victims and offering their hearts to their gods. They would then dispose of the body down the steps of the Templo Mayor.

Recently discovered towers of skulls in Mexico

One of the conquistadors, Andres de Tapia, described how he had seen large constructions with thousands of skulls embedded. Recent excavations have shown that this was indeed true. It is remarkable that we still have to listen to exaggerations surrounding the Spanish Inquisition, when the numbers of deaths were minimal, while these genocides in the name of indigenous gods are overlooked, even denied or dismissed.

Why did the Aztecs do this? The practical reason was to rule by fear. The cosmological reason was that they believed in Huitzilopochtli, the god who opposed the darkness and who needed to be supplanted and satisfied with constant sacrifices of humans.

The human sacrifice element is obviously the one that still captures much of people’s imagination, but slavery and war on behalf of the Aztecs was equally as much a part of their corrosive influence on the region.

In November 2020, the Mexican government sought an apology from the Catholic Church for its role in helping to end the evil Aztec Empire. They should be given no such thing.

On August 13th 1521, Cortes and his men took victory against the Aztecs and finally conquered Tenochtitlan.

Less than 20 years later, Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in a land plagued by human sacrifice and enslavement to demons masquerading as gods. Within a decade, Mexico was Catholic.

Always pray and hope, with the expectation and realisation that it can move mountains and that the Holy Spirit works in the world.

Writing on the United States and its abortion culture, Dr. Peter Kreeft has written the following, which must give us pause for thought in our own times.

About 500 years ago, a strikingly similar culture of death reigned in Aztec Mexico. Some historians estimate that one out of every three children . . . were ritually sacrificed to their bloodthirsty and demanding god . . . exactly the same proportion of children conceived in America who are aborted today...

New Film on Latin Mass Highlights its Beauty

With current debates over the liturgy raging within the church, a new film is set to be released at the most apt time.

Mass of the Ages will offer a look into the Latin Mass communities of the United States of America, with cinematography that highlights the beautiful aesthetics. The makers of the film have stated that it

strives to reclaim the extraordinary mystery of Christ’s presence in the liturgy in the manner it has been celebrated for nearly 1600 years.

Rather than getting caught up in current debates:

Mass of the Ages approaches the debate by letting the beauty of the TLM stand on its own, so that it might be appreciated and understood by every Catholic.  The film project was undertaken by a group of professional Catholic filmmakers two years ago in response to the staggering statistics of disaffiliation in the Church among young Catholics, gradual decline in the priesthood, and degradation of the family unit over the past 50 years.  It also stems from the perspective that the TLM offers a solid foundation at a time when the world is in chaos and many Catholics are doubtful of Christ’s True Presence in the Eucharist. 

Many Latin Mass Communities in Europe and North America will note that their membership transcends overall trends wherein young people have less the faith, Director and Producer Cameron O’Hearn states:

Millions have left the Church, but many flock to the Traditional Latin Mass which weathered the sweeping changes of the 1960s and retains its traditions. Families are rising up to be a part of it, and it isn’t what you’d expect. When you think of a ‘Traditional Catholic, you probably have someone very specific in mind. But the characters in Mass of the Ages will surprise you--messy families, courageous priests, and deaths that forge a strong faith.

Despite claims to the contrary made about Traditionalists in liberal Catholic media in recent weeks, the ‘filmmakers affirm the validity of both the Novus Ordo and TLM and do so in a spirit of reverence’.

Rather, in a timely fashion, they state:

Our main priority is to showcase the beauty of the Mass of the Saints--where Heaven touches Earth--and make it accessible to the average Catholic. Mass of the Ages will give you a deep appreciation for your Catholic faith, and we cannot wait to share it with you

There are significant reasons as to why Traditional Latin Masses have surged in attendance over the past 14 years. When people attend them, specifically young people, they find that it transmits beauty, reverence and piety with an immediacy that is not always readily present in the inconsistent nature of the presentation of liturgies within some local parishes. In its silence, majesty and heredity it stands as a portal to not just deeper Eucharistic comprehension but also to aspects of theology and history that they have been alienated from.

The Latin Mass might not be the solution to every problem within the church, but it is a solution to one, that is the loss of reverence for the Eucharist. Hopefully this film with be received with a spirit of charity by those hostile to the Latin Mass and its attendees.

Costa Rica Catholics Pray for End to Latin Mass Ban

Last week, Catholic Arena were among the first to report on the complete ban on the Traditional Latin Mass in Costa Rica.

Today, those Traditional Catholics who were shut out from their right to the Latin Mass have gathered at the residence of their Apostolic Nuncio to pray for mercy and for its return. Carrying photographs of Pope Francis and the Vatican flag, they knelt and prayed the Rosary as they begged their powerful clerics to exercise kindness in allowing the Latin Mass to return.

Their Facebook page stated:

We want to reiterate that tomorrow's event IS NOT A PROTEST, it is a day of prayer or public ′′ vigil ′′ that we will make Costa Ricans faithful in absolute communion visible with Pope Francis and our Bishops, on the basis of Canon 212 § 3:

They have the right, and sometimes even the duty, on their own knowledge, competence and prestige, to express to the holy pastors their opinion about what belongs to the good of the Church and to manifest to others faithful, saving always integrity of faith and customs, reverence toward Pastors, and given the common usefulness and dignity of the people.

After their bishops banned the Latin Mass in their entire country, Costa Rica Traditional Catholics gathered outside their residence today and prayed for mercy while holding images of Pope Francis and the Vatican flag pic.twitter.com/RBjvQdO7qj

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) July 31, 2021

Hopefully the Nuncio can return to Rome with a message that relays their faith and desire for mercy.

Canadian Terrorists Behead Statue of Baby Jesus

Canada is a rogue state that refuses to address, even encourages, terrorists within its borders.

These terrorists have been emboldened in recent months by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's refusal to condemn, let alone stop, their atrocities. So far these attacks have included arson, vandalism and desecration. Trudeau's former adviser Gerald Butts also came out and stated that he ‘understands’ why the terrorists are attacking Catholics. The terrorists are essentially blaming the Catholic church for burying bodies that the secular authorities refused to pay to repatriate from Residential Schools. They are also attempting to deflect from Secular Canada's ‘Sixties Scoop’, where secular Canadians stole indigenous kids between the 60s and 80s, using mainstream media to run a campaign of encouraging rehoming thousands of native children with woke secular parents instead.

In the latest attack, a statue of the baby Jesus was DECAPITATED at Sainte-Anne-Des-Pins Catholic Church in Sudbury.

With the escalation and frequency of terror attacks, Canada is now fast approaching the persecution levels of certain countries in Africa and Asia, with the red martyrdom of being murdered for the faith now looking like a realistic imminent threat for Canadian Catholics. The terrorists know that their Prime Minister will not take action against them, they know that his advisers ‘understand’ their terrorism, so why wouldn’t they escalate it?

The Canadian media, who encouraged secular people to ‘scoop’ indigenous peoples into their homes during the 60s, 70s and 80s, have been encouraging these attacks from day one. They are also falsely claiming that these terrorist attacks are being committed by indigenous Canadians when in fact, they are being committed by Antifa, feminists and woke secularists.

The global church needs to speak out as it would against similar attacks in Nigeria, China or elsewhere. This violence is only escalating under Justin Trudeau, Catholics need to call on their governments to expel Canadian ambassadors, people need to boycott Canadian businesses and Canadian churches need to to start protecting themselves since the police seem to have no interest in doing so.

Antifa Threaten Terror Attacks Against American Catholics

North America has become one of the worst places for anti Catholic terrorism, indeed anti Christian terrorism against all denominations including Orthodox and Protestant, in 2021.

Most of these acts of terrorism have been concentrated in Canada, egged on by the Anglo Secularist Canadian media, who have been working hard to make people forget their mistreatment of the indigenous Canadians by the secular state. From the 1960s to the 1980s, secular Canadians rehomed thousands of indigenous children with non indigenous families in an event known as the ‘Sixties Scoop’, an event which occurred in living memory and which was facilitated with the help of Canadian mainstream journalists, who ran propaganda pieces encouraging people to adopt these children.

The Canadian media have presented the Residential Schools as a Catholic invention, with their portrayal of the accompanying cemeteries as synonymous with mass murder. One thing that they have refused to inform their audience of however, is the fact that part of the reason as to why they were not returned to their families to be buried was that the state refused to pay to have their bodies repatriated to their families, hence the responsibility fell on the schools to bury them.

No wonder men like Justin Trudeau and his friend Gerald Butts have been so reluctant to implicate the Canadian State, with Butts stating that he ‘understood’ why people were carrying out terror attacks on Catholic churches.

Images have now emerged showing Antifa in Portland threatening terror attacks against Catholic churches there.

Journalist Drew Hernandez wrote on Twitter:

BREAKING: Portland ANTIFA has now begun to vandalize churches They vandalized church doors with a threatening #hotchurchsummer Reports of gasoline being poured on church steps as a threat Holy Redeemer Catholic Church and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church both targeted

Journalist Andy NGO wrote:

Antifa have been vandalizing Christian houses of worship in Portland (& elsewhere) for months. They’ve done it without condemnation from local & national officials. Any other religion that experienced hate crime targeting like this would be treated differently.

The violence brings to mind the worst behaviours of the Ku Klux Klan, who were also inclined to intimidate Catholics and to set their churches on fire in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Evidently, they also believe that the Anglo Protestant United States which wiped out the Native Americans and which maligned Catholics is somehow synonymous with Catholicism itself.

The level of anti Catholic violence in North America has gone without reply from either Joe Biden or Justin Trudeau, this cannot continue. The countries are on the verge of violence that will soon turn towards priests, nuns and laity if something is not done to bring those committing it to justice.

Catholic Arena

Archbishop Fisher And Others To Keep Latin Mass

Pope Francis's Motu Proprio Traditione Custodianes has been, by any objective measure, something of a disaster.

It has been criticised for being poorly written, it has been criticised for being divisive while claiming to be unifying, it has been criticised for claiming to have consulted bishops, while most of them have now claimed that they will essentially ignore it, citing the surprise of the news as a reason.

Almost a week has passed since the document was released, with the Vatican making no follow up statements to repair the damage done. This has been a complete PR disaster, yet no one in the Vatican seems to be aware, or at the least to care.

A growing chorus of high profile prelates are now rejecting what was essentially a call to suppress the Traditional Latin Mass. We could give the document the benefit of the doubt and state that it simply meant to afford the bishops more involvement with the decision to allow the TLM in their area, but the tone of the document suggests no such benignity.

In the United States, high profile prelates such as Cardinal Chaput have said they will be allowing Traditional Latin Mass communities to continue as normal. Even prelates in Germany have announced that they will be continuing as normal.

One of the most interesting replies has been from Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher OP, who warned that to use the liturgy as a ‘weapon’ would ‘factionalist’ the church. He pointed out that there was a reference to the glib celebrations of the Novus Ordo in Traditione Custodianes, but only ‘in passing’.

Like any good Dominican, he explains the situation from a rational beginning, by pointing out that there are ‘24 Catholic Churches in full Communion with the Pope and with each other. 23 Eastern and One Western (Latin)’. Archbishop Fisher then explains the liturgical variety in each, stating: ‘Each has its particular liturgical rites, customs and spiritual traditions, and there are also varieties within each tradition. So, while we share one faith, we are a very ritually diverse Church! That is part of our richness’.

He then explains how with the Latin Rite, there are still countless diverse elements, the Dominican Rite being one, he writes ‘While we share one rite, Western Catholics are also ritually diverse’.

With more and more bishops expressing an appreciation for the Latin Mass in their dioceses, it may soon become the case that this Motu Proprio has strengthened rather than weakened the availability of the TLM and the fondness for it.

You can read the full text of Archbishop Fisher’s letter below:

Statues of St. Therese and Our Lady Destroyed by New York Thug

While terror attacks in Canada have been attracting headlines across the world, another epidemic of anti Catholic terrorism has been taking place slightly further south, in New York.

Over the past 12 months, we’ve reported on a number of attacks that have taken place in New York, stretching from Queens to the Bronx, with Catholic statues in particular a target for terrorists.

Now, another attack has taken place, this time with a statue of Our Lady and one of St. Therese of Lisieux being smashed to pieces at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Queens.

The terrorist appears to have arrived at the church three days earlier and thrown them to the ground, only to fail to smash them. This time, they returned and dragged the statues 180 feet before smashing them with a hammer.

The terrorist may have chosen the path of demonic anti Catholic bigotry, but the parishioners have taken the right path in putting a sign that says ‘Please pray for the person who did this’.

A video has been released of the disturbed individual carrying out the hate crime, an attack which has deeply upset Catholics in a parish that had those statues outside them since 1937.

It is not yet known if the terrorism is linked to media lies about ‘mass murders’ in Canada, but Catholics need to start calling out these attacks for what they are: terrorism.

Ken Moore

BLM Express Support for Cuban Crackdown that Led to Priest Arrest

In the past year, many people in the West have become convinced that it is impossible to oppose racism without being affiliated with American extremist group ‘Black Lives Matter’. Despite the fact that the Marxists have declared that one of their stated goals is to destroy the nuclear family, or perhaps because of it, many media outlets, sporting organisations and corporate entities have put forth the idea that a refusal to engage with the group was an embrace of racism itself.

Now, the controversial group has posted a rambling deranged message with seems to blame the United States government’s embargoes for anti Communist protests gripping the island.

According to the crazed statement, ‘the people of Cuba are being punished by the US government’. Yes you read that right, not by their own Communist government which is unleashing military and armed police onto the streets to brutally beat its own people, instead the USA are to blame because they won’t trade with the Cubans.

The BLM statement is a ringing endorsement of these tactics, choosing to see the protestors as pawns of the United States rather than people sick of living under a Communist regime.

Happening right now! Cuban government shooting at unarmed protesters! Police and military wearing civilian clothes throwing rocks! Where are you @JoeBiden? Innocent people are being murdered in the streets!! #SOSCuba #VivaCubaLibre pic.twitter.com/CX2YcJCTg4

— Dirt Gambino (@_DirtGambino) July 15, 2021

Here is video of Ariel Falcon being detained by Cuban police on Sunday. He is one of ~one hundred protestors who hasn't been seen by family or friends since.

I talked to Ariel's brother for my recent piece for The Record, and to Ariel a few months back for another story... https://t.co/IvlFC2Rvsn

— John Sakellariadis (@johnnysaks130) July 15, 2021

It makes no mention of the viciousness of the beatings there, of the mass arrests nor of the priest who was dragged through the streets and beaten for praying in public this week.

Cubans carried a statue of Our Lady as they protested against Communism yesterday. pic.twitter.com/gla64Xxj0g

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) July 12, 2021

This is what football fans were told to take the knee for during Euro 2020, not anti racism. They were taking the knee in order to increase the international standing of a group that supports totalitarianism and violence against citizens. BLM is the product not of Africa, not of the developing world, but of the richest country in the world.

There is a notable anti Catholic element to BLM also, one of their prominent Protestant Pastor members led calls for attacks on Catholic churches last year, which led to several arson attacks and statue destructions also.

Do not forget, Our Lady of Fatima’s warning about Communism didn’t become irrelevant when the Berlin Wall fell. Much of the world’s population now lives under nominal or full Communism.

Ken Moore

Cuban Priest Arrested After Defying Communism With Public Prayers

Cubans have taken to the streets in large numbers this week, protesting against the country’s Communist rulers.

According to some media outlets, Covid has played a role in these protests, that is yet to be confirmed. It is believed however, that problems with food and power have been the instigators of such an unprecedented outpouring of peoples onto the streets of Havana and other cities on the island.

The protestors have chanted ‘Libertad’ and ‘Patria y vida’, ‘freedom’ and ‘fatherland or death’.

Some in Western media have claimed that the protests have been engineered by the United States, while this is always plausible, it would be strange for the indifferent Biden administration to take effective action on anything, let alone Cuba. That does not mean that there could not be some other US intervention in events, but perhaps this really is a relatively organic revolt against Communist rule in Cuba. Nonetheless, it seems inevitable that a ‘free’ Cuba will not be far away from being told to allow large US corporations and banks to take root, but perhaps the people will be able to resist that.

In the midst of the protests however, a priest was seen carrying Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre (Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre), Patron Saint of Cuba. The large crowd can be seen praying and venerating the statue.

Cubans carried a statue of Our Lady as they protested against Communism yesterday. pic.twitter.com/gla64Xxj0g

— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) July 12, 2021

Later social media reports claimed that the priest, Padre Castor José Álvarez Devesa, had been arrested.

A Spanish priest claimed that Communists based in Spain were using social media to slander Fr. Devesa.

Los comunistas cubanos siguen reteniendo ilegalmente al sacerdote @CastorPadre, mientras sus camaradas en España activan la propaganda que blanquea a los totalitarios.

Recemos por la paz y la libertad en Cuba.#SOSCuba #LibertadPadreCastor 🙏🏻🇪🇸🇨🇺✝️ pic.twitter.com/TU6T8byNUd

— P. Juan Manuel Góngora 🇪🇸🇨🇺 (@patergongora) July 12, 2021

There were images on social media of protestors being brutally attacked by the Cuban police, others of them being rounded up and arrested.

La respuesta del gobierno cubano a las protestas del pueblo ha sido clara: reprimirlas con violencia.

Estamos ya reportando muertes, crímenes que tienen responsable : Miguel Díaz Canel @DiazCanelB #11JCuba #13JCuba #Dictadura #Cuba #LaHabana #SOSCUBA #patriayvida #comunismo pic.twitter.com/L9YKbHz2y6

— Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos (@observacuba) July 13, 2021

💣Armas, palos, piedras, puños y violencia, mucha violencia.

Es lo que @DiazCanelB no quiere que veas hoy #12JCuba pic.twitter.com/cWlwD5kykZ

— Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos (@observacuba) July 12, 2021

It is now being reported that social media is being blamed for the protests and that there is a brutal crackdown under way, rest assured that Catholics will suffer under this coming repression. Please pray for the people of Cuba.

Trudeau Ally Calls Anti Catholic Terrorism 'Understandable'

With international disgust growing in relation to the Canadian establishment’s failure to tackle anti Catholic terrorism, an ally of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the former Principal Secretary to him, Gerald Butts has referred to the terror attacks as ‘understandable’.

His comments on Twitter have added criticism to the Trudeau regime’s failure to confront anti Catholic terrorists, who blame the Catholic Church for the failures of Canadian society to take care of Indigenous Canadians.

He wrote:

Look buddy, I'm not going to break the Crash Davis rule, and will ignore the personal insult. But I was an altar boy in a small Atlantic Canadian parish in the early 1980s. I can understand why someone would want to burn down a church, though I do not condone it.

When asked if he was defending burning the churches, he stated:

No Terry, it is not. Though it may be understandable.

— Gerald Butts (@gmbutts) July 6, 2021

No Terry, it is not. Though it may be understandable.

The sarcastic Butts also replied to others stating that he could understand why people think that the terror attacks against Catholics would be believed as acceptable.

I agree. But I can also understand how people could believe otherwise.

— Gerald Butts (@gmbutts) July 6, 2021

The Ayatollah does not tweet like this.

Had he Twitter, even Kim Jong Un would not tweet like this.

Because Mr. Butts is bland and associated with the Dictatorship of Blandness that Justin Trudeau embodies he gets away with it?

Some of the limp replies state ‘Would he say this about a Mosque or a Synagogue?’ You already know the answer, so why ask?

Catholics in Canada are allowing terrorism against them to become normalised, it starts with the fires of the buildings, soon it will be with people inside them. With the 5th anniversary of Father Jacques Hamyl approaching, Catholics should be wary of how hatred fosters.

The first seven stages of genocide are: classification, symbolisation, discrimination, dehumanisation, organisation, polarisation, preparation. The church in Canada is now on the precipice of the eighth stage, persecution, where lists are drawn up and violence takes place. If someone told you a year ago that preachers would be having their churches invaded and Catholics would have their churches burnt down with allies of Trudeau calling it ‘understandable’, would you have believed it? If we said to you that in one year’s time, things will be much worse unless Catholics defend their churches, would you disagree?

Ken Moore

Sinners, Penitents and the Holy Eucharist

There is a hot theological debate raging in the United States of America as to whether or not Joe Biden should receive the Holy Eucharist and be considered to be in Communion with the Catholic Church.

The reason is that Joe is using his position as President of the United States of America to promote genocidal-levels of abortion: not just in America but throughout the world. The media and politicians are happy to stoke the fires but there are 2 main Catholic positions.

Liberal Catholics think that Joe should receive the Holy Eucharist because he is a “devout Catholic” and because receiving Communion is “a personal matter.”

Conservative Catholics — pejoratively dubbed as “traditional” Catholics — follow the Catechism and the Canon of the Catholic Church. They believe a Catholic should be penitent when presenting themselves for Communion. (Centrist Catholics are less involved in this debate because they want both a Pro-Life Church and a forgiving, inclusive Church.)

Lamb

Several articles on this topic have caught my eye. First was “What lies at the heart of the battle over Biden and communion” by Christopher Lamb (The Tablet, 24 June 2021.) Lamb, who is a Vatican affairs reporter, curiously notes “abortion rights” without any caveat:

“Even if it does not mention any names, it is expected to implicitly reprimand Catholic politicians, such as President Joe Biden, who support abortion rights.” 

He mentions the Catholic position:

“On the other hand, we have the belief that clear teaching guides who can and cannot receive Communion. The rules are black and white. If that makes it impossible for a politician to be a practising Catholic and to support abortion rights for women, then so be it.”

to immediately negate it so we can be “all-embracing and universal”!

“A Church of the “pure” runs counter to the definition of Catholicism as all-embracing and universal, and that faith is a journey where the starting point is not perfection.”

He goes on to imply that he has some specific knowledge of the Pope’s personal opinion on the matter!

“He [Pope Francis] wants the Church to pitch its tent among the messy realities of the world, and to build the Kingdom of God in the imperfect here and now, rather than to seek out islands of doctrinal purity.”

Lamb over represents the meaning of the sensible cautions sent by the Vatican through Archbishop Christophe Pierre and by doing so undermines their authority.

“We are not a Church of the perfect but a pilgrim church in need of the mercy offered generously by Christ.”

The cautions from the Vatican / the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith encourage the American Bishops to review all secular, religious and political consequences before considering a reprimand of any Head of State. I bet it would not go well for Catholics in China if the Church criticized Chairman Xi Jinping.

And Lamb finished with the outrageous question:

“Rather than Germany, isn’t the real threat to church unity coming from the Communion-denying bishops in the United States?”

Some of the American Bishops are looking to enforce existing parts of the Canon of the Catholic Church. Those are our rules.

O’Reilly

Then came “The Real Threat to American Catholicism” by Mollie Wilson O'Reilly (The Atlantic: June 27, 2021.) Sadly, the majority of Mollie’s argument pivoted on “whataboutisms” such as “What about Trump?” and “What about Bill Barr?”

“The fact that Trump is not a Catholic doesn’t make his policies any less a violation of human dignity. “

Her repeated comparisons highlight her severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome! Like Lamb, she goes on to suggest that the ‘worthy observation’ of the requirements for Communion is a ‘private matter.’ 

“The Church has many rules about what Catholics should or should not do to receive Communion worthily, but observing them is typically a private matter. Denying Communion to Biden or other public figures as a means of correcting their errors would be claiming the right to overrule their conscience.”

O’Reilly seems to believe that the Church may not “overrule” anyone’s individual conscience. She does not even consider that there can be a poorly informed conscience — or a complete lack of conscience!  

O’Reilly repeatedly denigrates the American Bishops:

“But they [the American Bishops] are as diverse and divided as the rest of us Catholics, though they rarely admit it directly.”

“Disunity and disagreement are not the biggest obstacles to the Church’s moral leadership; unchallenged hypocrisy and blindness are.”

“In the aftermath of Trump, and of a deadly and demoralizing pandemic, I no longer look to America’s bishops expecting moral or ideological coherence.”

Then even links the American Bishops with her TDS and insults every single Trump-supporting Catholic — all in one sentence!

“They [American Bishops] have been particularly bad at reckoning honestly with the ugliness and devastation of President Trump’s four years in office and the scandal of Catholics who supported him.”

O’Reilly is correct saying every death is important, but she emphasizes 13 death penalties while avoiding the ~ 60 MILLION U.S. DEATHS from abortion since Roe v. Wade. She has lost all perspective  —  or is just partisan.   

Lewis

The third article was “When pro-lifers fight, rather than unite” by Mike Lewis, editor of Where Peter Is. (Where Peter Is: June 23, 2021)

The first third of Lewis’ long article rails against the diversity he perceives in the Pro-Life Movement. His antipathy taints his more insightful comments on the Biden/USCCB issue which are buried deep in this essay. [Please reference my article on the energetic Pro-Life Movement: “The Human Rights Movement of Our Time.”]  

Lewis used his view of the Pro-Life Movement to lead into the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the question of Biden receiving Communion. He provided fascinating background information about a 2004 letter from (then) Cardinal Ratzinger to the USCCB via Cardinal McCarrick, who apparently selectively edited the letter before presenting it to the Bishops.

Lewis notes the relevant section of the Canon of the Catholic Church (Canon 915):

“Those who have been excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to holy communion”

Late in the article he confirms his personal view:

“I have no interest in defending President Biden’s decision to receive communion while supporting policies that increase access to abortion and fund abortion procedures”

but then provides Biden the usual “out” through the ‘personal-decision’ option, adding that the Church should “propose, rather than impose”:

“The real question at stake is whether the decision should be left to individual Catholics, or if Church authorities should make the decision for them. Since the second Vatican Council, the approach of the Church, even before Francis became pope, has been to propose, rather than impose.” 

“When someone is weak, a sinner, the approach of the Church is to accompany, to encourage, and to guide. While it might seem odd to describe the leader of the free world as weak, it seems that President Biden’s political evolution on the issue of abortion has been a manifestation of weakness.”

Lewis did remind us of the most important thing all of us should be doing for this situation:

“My prayer is for the restoration of his [Biden’s] conscience and confidence, and for a rediscovery of these principles he’s decided to ignore.”

Paulsen

A further article worth reading is about a case coming before the Supreme Court of the United States in the Fall which involves the original Roe v. Wade decision. The article highlights many of the fascinating legal questions involved. “Repudiating Roe (Part I): The Most Important Abortion Case in Thirty Years”  by Michael Stokes Paulsen (Public Discourse: June 28, 2021.) Watch for Part II!

 Serwach:  Communion and the Holy Eucharist

A very helpful and simple article on this concept is  “Who Gets Jesus? Meaning of Communion and Eucharist”  by Joseph Serwach (The Catholic Way Home: Dec 7, 2019)

“Communion is the verb (being a part of Communion or being in Communion with the saints) while the Eucharist is the noun (the person of Jesus Christ).

Communion refers to the Sacrament of Holy Communion, celebrated at every Mass. Communion comes from the Latin word “communionem,’’ meaning “fellowship’’ or sharing something together. We are in communion as a community joining with God. We believe the Church is His Body and He is the head.”

Even some Catholics miss the subtleties here. When a Catholic receives the Holy Eucharist they receive the Body & Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. When we “go to Communion” we are in communion with the Saints and the Church as a whole. Serwach explains:

“Because of that belief in the Real Presence, taking this portion of the Bible literally, Catholics don’t believe anyone is ready and able to experience the Eucharist unprepared.”

St. John (The Bible): Penitence

The Biden debate reminded me of the story of Jesus and the Woman caught in Adultery.

“Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”  She replied, “No one, sir.”

Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin anymore.”            

[John 8:10-11]

An essential component of receiving the Holy Eucharist / “going to Communion” is being penitent: that includes us doing our very best to “not sin anymore.” For many of us, that can be done privately. Biden openly supports genocide through abortion so it is nigh impossible for him to be truly penitent without doing something publicly to “not sin anymore.” That is on him.

God is forgiving if Biden’s extremism has arisen from some cognitive impairment or external manipulation. If it is indeed his own conscious decision, we must pray for his salvation. As Jesus said, it is not for us to condemn him (though we must still oppose abortion.) It does fall to the Magisterium to decide whether he may be “in Communion” with the Church while actively supporting the mass murder of innocents.

Forgive my paraphrasing of the Holy Father’s words:

“The Eucharist is not the reward of saints, but the bread of penitents.”

Dr. Kevin Hay.

Kevin is a UCD grad and a Family Doctor in rural Alberta, Canada.

You can follow him on Twitter @kevinhay77

Editor’s Note: We here at Catholic Arena would like to offer our sincere condolences to Mike Lewis on the recent loss of his sister, Katie. Please pray for Mike, Katie and the Lewis family.

Native Canadians Call for Stop to Anti Catholic Terror Attacks

Canada has become a hotbed of anti Catholic terrorism in 2021, with attacks on churches being cheered on by politicians, human rights groups and the media. None of that should make any sense, considering Canada’s longstanding image of being a beacon of tolerance and decency, yet it now an undeniable reality.

Liberals and Antifa have sought to conflate the high mortality rates of early 20th Century Residential Schools with conspiracies surrounding ‘mass murders’, allegedly by the Catholic Church. The short explanation for this, is that it has been merely a pretext to carry out terror attacks against Catholic churches.

Considering that they still make up 90% of Canadian homeless people and their men have a life expectancy of 64, the Indigenous peoples of Canada (commonly referred to as ‘First Nations’) have not been impressed by the feigned concern of Canadian lefties.

They are now speaking out.

One pointed out that many Residential School survivors are Catholic, it was their churches that were torched.

First Nations leaders and members have repeatedly denounced the vandalism and burning of churches in Canada

Many of the churches were places of worship FN community members and now they've been robed of those as wellhttps://t.co/2ZYthLOrSI pic.twitter.com/risUiapKTS

— Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) July 5, 2021

Another stated: ‘If you think you are out there burning churches down on our behalf. It isn't helping. That isn't allyship. It isn't support. It isn't the kind of support we need. What it is - is evil’.

A request to stop vandalizing churches in Canada from First Nations members.

"If you think you are out there burning churches down on our behalf. It isn't helping. That isn't allyship. It isn't support. It isn't the kind of support we need. What it is - is evil." pic.twitter.com/iy70NeLJZk

— Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) July 5, 2021

The alleged altruism of the terrorists is easily disproved by the fact that they set fire to a church for African Refugees.

One of the vandalized churches is an African Evangelical Church

The congregation was made up entirely of former refugees who fled countries where churches are often vandalised and burned down https://t.co/bJr9MJdceE

— Natasha Fatah (@NatashaFatah) July 6, 2021

If Canada does not apprehend these terrorists, the international community should come under pressure to consider the appropriateness of allowing Canadian diplomats to remain until they acknowledge the severity of what is close to becoming a full blown terrorism crisis, with a persecution of people of faith that is no different from what is taking place in Nigeria, China or elsewhere.

The contrasts between how the international community responded to Poland and Hungary (even hijacking Euro 2020 to attack the two countries) and how they have turned a blind eye to Canada is very telling about its sincerity when it comes to how citizens are treated.

Ken Moore

Canada Has A Serious Terrorism Problem

When Oliver Cromwell landed in Ireland in 1649, he embarked upon one of the worst campaigns of ethno religious cruelty in history.

It is very easy to castigate such figures as being motivated by simplistic malevolence. Epithets such as ‘sociopath’ and ‘psychopath’ might be true of one individual, but they do not explain why some of the places that he attacked have names like ‘Scarlet Street’, because of the high volumes of blood that filled their paths as his soldiers rampaged. How did they become convinced of the necessity of torturing, raping and murdering to many Irish people? How did they lock nuns in convents and set them on fire? How did they set fire to churches with people inside of them? How did they put babies up on spikes?

The simple fact of it, was that they had been told that this is what the Gaelic Catholic Irish had done to Protestants years previous. Cromwell’s men were familiar with tales of similar brutality, by believing them they were radicalised into doing similar to Irish Catholics once they arrived on the shores of Drogheda and Wexford and other places. They had heard stories of Protestant babies being put on spikes in 1641 and of ‘massacres’ of Protestants during the efforts to liberate Catholics of cruel and brutal English Protestant rule. You can see these images today, they still adorn the banners of the anti Catholic Orange Order.

This same psychological trick is being used in Canada.

A Residential Home’s ‘mass grave’, which may very well include the nuns who died there also, has now become ‘a mass grave of murdered children’. Is there evidence that children were murdered there? No. Is there evidence that children were abused there? In a home that was maintained for a century or so with thousands present there at a time, it statistically impossible that some were not. Did the church orchestrate the mass killings of children in a concentration camp style execution? No.

Yet that latter narrative is now taking off.

It is an insult to natives to simplify their struggles as being the fault of the Catholic Church, which did as it always did and tried to help children who had no other assistance. The mortality rates of such poor children, the destitute conditions and the quick spread of disease in confined spaces with shared sanitation, they are all issues apart from whatever institutional abuse may have occurred as they do in any place that houses such large numbers of children.

The Canadian media are now doing what their Anglo Protestant counterparts in Ireland and the United States have also done, blaming the Catholic Chuch for the problems exacerbated by the British Empire. Christopher Columbus gets the blame for the mistreatment of Native Americans, despite the fact that they became a displaced class under the Anglo Protestant United States in the 19th Century, not before. Many Anglo Protestant public figures in Ireland and elsewhere might do such things as call Columbus a ‘murderer’, whilst not even being aware of the Trail of Tears and other such genocidal initiatives. In Ireland, many might not be aware that the Mother and Baby Homes were a Protestant invention, not to mention those who voted for abortion because of the certainty that 800 babies were ‘found dumped in a septic tank’, when no such discovery has ever been made, as a recent official report confirmed.

90% of Canada’s homeless in 2021 are natives, it is implausible to consider that Canadians have suddenly grown enough of a conscience to want the best for them.

What is actually taking place is that Canadian leftists and members of Antifa have hijacked the cause of the natives, in this very specific instance (forgetting that many Residential Schools were run by Protestants too) in order to use it as an excuse to carry out terrorist attacks on Catholic Churches. Boko Haram or ISIS do not convince people to kill Christians out of any simplistic cruelty, they have woven lies into truth over and over again in order to do so. Take for example the European country that has dealt with the highest volume of anti Catholic terrorism in recent years, France. Despite France’s brave opposition to the criminal Iraq War, France has suffered the most from Islamist terror, with Catholics being beheaded at Mass, even a priest having had this done to him. The truth, the war in Iraq killed many Muslims. The lie, that the Catholic Church was somehow involved (it opposed it more than anyone), that France was involved (it opposed it more than anyone) or that Christianity benefited (82% of Iraqi Christians were expelled or killed).

Canada’s terrorists are no less terrorists just because they are from a wealthy country or just because they speak English. They employ the same tactics that others do. It is time for Canadian Catholics to start calling for an end to this terrorism.

They can begin by calling these people what they are, ‘terrorists’.

Ken Moore