Pope Francis to Meet With Radical Leftist Podemos-Chief Pablo Iglesias -- First Denied, Now Confirmed

Podemos Chief Pablo Iglesias

(Madrid) While verbal and physical attacks against churches and religious leaders accumulate in the heated election climate in Spain, Pope Francis will meet  Pablo Iglesias, the current irrepressible leader of the radical left Spain in September. With this meeting Pope Francis continues his unilateral contacts with representatives of the radical left.

Acts of vandalism against churches and religious institutions, but also verbal attacks against high church officials, have characterized the time before the early Spanish general elections which are to take place on 26 June.

One of the most prominent victims of the attacks is Antonio Cardinal Cañizares, Archbishop of Valencia and former Cardinal Prefect of the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship. In mid-May he had defended the natural family of a man and a woman with children against gender ideology. The cardinal had called "the family founded on marriage," a "precious asset" which need to be defended against attacks.  At the same time he criticized the gender ideology as "the most insidious that there has been in the whole of human history."

Since then representatives of the Left parties  have romped against the leading church representative.The attacks and the anti-Church propaganda are of such hardness that observers see it as a test run, for those who want to muzzle the Church and silence it. At the same time the same parties are pandering to the followers of Islam.

Among the attackers, there are representatives of the socialist PSOE, which last ruled from 2004-2011 Spain and during this time one of the most liberal abortion laws, which introduced "gay marriage" and muzzling laws that allow freedom of expression was restricted.

The sharpest attacks came from the ranks of the new radical left party Podemos by Pablo Iglesias. The architect of the Party founded in 2014, Juan Carlos Monedero, insulted Cardinal Cañizares as a "Monster" and mocked him by belittling his attitude as "repressed homosexuality". Monedero is a professor at the Pontifical University of Comillas and thus employee of the Church, which make the attacks particularly explosive.

Vatican spokesman has denied meeting with Podemos boss

In the parliamentary elections in December 2015 Podemos  with 20.7 percent was straightaway the third strongest. Since formation of a government failed, early elections will be held on 26 June. Podemos has formed part of  a list combined with the traditional radical left around the Communist Party of Spain (PCE). Under the name Unidos Podemos,  Podemos  is forming part of the United Left and Green as a radical leftist united front with the aim, if not then at least to be the strongest force in the country, to be strongest left force before the PSOE, which looks realistic according to opinion polls.

When rumors were circulated that Podemos boss Pablo Iglesias would be received by Pope Francis, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi SJ denied it. It was a denial with a quick expiration date. Directly from the Pope's circle,   InfoVaticana has received confirmation that Iglesias, "as planned", will be received next September by Pope Francis.

The incident with the wrong denial further undermines the already fragile authority of Vatican Spokesman, Father Lombardi in this pontificate.

Podemos represents - like the entire radical left -  positions to the field of "non-negotiable values" that are in open contradiction to the teaching of the Church. They represent on the subject abortion, artificial insemination, contraception, euthanasia, homosexuality particularly open and radically, a "culture of death".

Point 17 in the party program of Podemos is:

"Abortion. Podemos promises that the abortion in the public health system will be guaranteed. Likewise, all women will have access to all contraceptive methods. Artificial insemination is available to all women without restriction. "

This deadly opposition to the teaching of the Church and the nature of man does not seem to be disturbing to the Church's head. The precondition for the alliance forged with the radical left was the extensive disposal of "non-negotiable values" in the storeroom of the papal programmatic. It was declared by Pope Francis in September 2013, and so it has since been maintained the Church leader.

Contact by Pope confidant Gustavo Vera

Pope Francis with Gustavo Vera

According InfoVaticana contacts between Iglesias and the Vatican were prepared by Argentine deputies Gustavo Vera, a close friend of Pope Francis. The social activist Vera belonged to 2014 the now broken left-liberal Frente Amplio UNEN . Two years ago he founded the party Bien Común (Common Good). The choice of name go, according to his own account, back to a quote attributed to Pope Francis:

"The power is common good. If it is self-interest, it is corruption."

Vera represents his party in the city council of Buenos Aires.

He met recently with Íñigo Errejón, the Group Chairman of Podemos in the Spanish Congress of Deputies, to discuss the last details for the meeting with Pope Francis.

Errejón's father, José Antonio Errejón, was active in the Maoist Workers Party of Spain  (PTE), belonging to the founders of the Greens in the mid-80s and in the mid-90s among the founders of the Anti-Capitalist Left . This leftist group belonged, until 2007 to the Communist led United Left (IU). In 2014 he joined the new radical left party Podemos where his son made ​​a brilliant career.

Sanchez Sorondo: Architect of the Pope's radical left axis

The fine work of the meeting between Podemos boss Iglesias and the pope was accomplished by the Argentine Curial Bishop, Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, who met a few weeks ago with the Mayor of Madrid since June 2015, Manuela Carmena. Carmena belonged to the party which was only legal  until after the end of Franco's rule, the Communist Party of Spain (PCE). As a lawyer her membership was dormant until she got a job as a judge in the 80s under the PSOE government of Felipe Gonzalez. In 2015 she was the victorious top candidate of the left electoral alliance Ahora Madrid between Podemos and the PSOE.

With the reception of Pablo Inglesias, Pope Francis continues his intensive international contacts with representatives of the radical left, while ignoring representatives of the political center and right. The architect of the contacts is the Pope's close confidant and Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo.

Sorondo applauded with obvious satisfaction, as the radical left, gay, Italian philosopher, Gianni Vattimo on 13 March 2015 Teatro Cervantes in Buenos Aires in front of all the prominent left radical figures,  to form a new Communist International, which he dubbed the  "Papal International" because was supposed to be led by Pope Francis.Vattimo said at the time:

"Pope Francis is the only one who is capable of a political, cultural and religious revolution to lead against the superior power of money in the Civil War, which is already raging in the world, and is disguised as 'the fight against terrorism' , but in reality is the class struggle of the 21st century against the large number of the critics of capitalism."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: InfoVaticana / La Alameda (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.clom
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

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China: Wife of an Underground Protestant Pastor Buried Alive During Demolition of Church

  (Beijing) Ding Cumei is the wife of Protestant underground pastor Li Jiangog.  The couple was desperate to prevent the destruction of their official Church in the People's Republic of China. One of the workers had been given instructions: "Bury them. I'll take responsibility."  The pastor's wife died under the rubble of the church demolished by demolition excavators. Her husband was still able to get out of the rubble.

The gruesome murder took place last April 14 in Zhumadian, Henan Province. Local police arrested two construction workers. Details were not disclosed. The authorities seem to want to avoid any "damaged image" by a cover-up of the bloody incident.

Pastor Li Jiangong and his wife Ding saw the excavator roll in, which had been commissioned by the government to tear down their church. An investor had expressed an interest for the land on which the church stood.

The couple stood against the demolition excavators. A worker  ordered his team "to bury" them. .According to eyewitnesses, the backhoe operator had pushed the couple into a pit which was then filled with demolition material and earth. Pastor Li was able to free himself, but could not come to the rescue of his wife. 

Ever since the Communist authorities launched an anti-Christianity campaign in 2013 of "urban cleansing" and "economic improvement", 1,700 Christian symbols and dozens of churches have been destroyed just in Zhejiang Province. Church destruction also occurred in the provinces of Hebei, Hubei and Henan. In spring 2013 Xia Baolong, the Communist Party Secretary of Zhejiang Province, declared that there are "too many crosses."

Christians see a Kulturkampf of the communist regime against Christianity which has  experienced significant growth by conversions in the region.

Text: Asianews / Giuseppe Nardi 
Image: Difesa del Popolo (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

LInk to Katholisches....

AMDG

1,000 Missionaries of Mercy -- The Snag of the Unauthorized Bishops of China

(Rome) On Wednesday Pope Francis celebrated a liturgy for the 1,000 Missionaries of Mercy during the Ash Wednesday. They will go out into the world with the power of being able to forgive those grave sins whose forgiveness is reserved only to the.

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Church law provides for the following offenses:

Canon 1367: Whoever throws away the consecrated sacrament or for a sacrilegious purpose, steals them or keeps them, incurs latae sententiae excommunication reserved to thethe  Holy See: a cleric, moreover, must be subject to a further punishment, the dismissal from the clerical state is not excluded.

Canon 1370.1: A person who uses physical force against the Roman Pontiff incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See; if the offender is a cleric, another penalty, not excluding dismissal from the clerical state, may be added according to the gravity of the crime..

Canon 1378.1: A priest who acts against the prescription of Can. 977 incurs a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See..

Canon 977: The absolution of an accomplice in a sin against the sixth commandment of the Decalogue is invalid except in danger of death..

Canon 1382: A bishop who consecrates someone without pontifical mandate to bishop, as well as he who receives the consecration from him, excommunication reserved incurs a latae sententiae reserved by the Holy See.

Canon 1388.1: A confessor who violates the seal of confession directly incurs latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Holy See; but he who violates it only indirectly, he shall be punished according to the gravity of the offense.

Pope Benedict XVI. added with the Motu proprio Norma nonnullas of 22 February, 2013   another crime. The  excommunication is  latae sententiae, reserved by the Holy See,   to anyone who breaks the secrecy of the conclave.

In addition, there are other offenses, of which the individual priest can not absolve, but only the Holy See or the diocesan bishop. This includes the crime of abortion.

Whoever commits any of these offenses, is automatically excommunicated. He himself is excluded by the fact from  communion with the Church and is not admitted to the sacraments. That is, he may not even go to confession. If he does so, then the priest must deny him absolution and refer him to the bishop or the Pope. Would the priest nevertheless grant him absolution, this would  be null and void.

In order to obtain the possibility of absolution from sin, excommunication must be set aside previously.This can in some cases be accomplished by the competent diocesan bishop, in other cases, only the Pope.

Now Pope Francis with the Missionaries of Charity has issued an authorization to more than a thousand priests around the world, during the Holy Year of Mercy to annul these excommunications, as a condition for re-admission to confession and thus to reconciliation with the Church.

What happens to the seven illicitly consecrated bishops in China?

The Vatican expert Sandro Magister points to a very special case in which the matter may "not be so simple"...  "at least for a sin". It involves illicit episcopal ordinations, which were carried out in the PRC.To control the Catholic Church, the communist regime has created a Catholic organization obedient to the regime called the Patriotic Association. The CP has demanded that the bishops and priests renounce Rome and are required  to pledge their loyalty to the regime, while loyalty to the Pope and the Church is persecuted as "subservience to a foreign power."

The Beijing government, therefore,  officially determines who are  bishops in mainland China. Although these appointments are not recognized by  Rome, the regime allows the episcopal ordinations , mostly bishops of the regime, while bishops loyal  to Rome are forced to participate.

Currently, there are at least seven such bishops who were ordained without papal permission. They have undertaken more illicit ordinations. Anyone who participates in such an illicit ordination is automatically excommunicated.

This includes:

• Zhan Silu, bishop of Mindong (Fujian), consecrated in 2000
• Ma Yinglin, Bishop of Kunming (Yunnan) and President of the Chinese Bishops' Council, the variant of the Episcopal Conference loyal to the regime, consecrated in 2006
• Liu Xinhong, Bishop of Wuhu (Anhui), consecrated in 2006
• Guo Jincai, Bishop of Chengde (Hebei), consecrated 2010
• Lei Shiyin, Bishop of Leshan (Sichuan), consecrated in 2011
• Huang Bingzhang, Bishop of Shantou (Guangdong), consecrated in 2011
• Yue Fusheng, Bishop of Harbin (Heilongjiang), consecrated in 2012

Among the more than 1,000 Missionaries of Mercy  there is only one Chinese officially notified: Father Luigi Bonalumi from Hong Kong of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME). However, he only speaks the Cantonese spoken mainly in southern China, not Mandarin. Cantonese is only spoken by about six percent of Chinese. He will also, according to the official statement, exercise his authority only in the Diocese of Hong Kong.

Lifting of the excommunication of illicit episcopal ordinations remains reserved to the pope

On February 9  Curial Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization and coordinator of the Holy Year has given the Missionaries of Charity written instructions. They show that they can forgive all sins mentioned in the Pope's name, except one: the forgiveness of an illicit episcopal ordination remains exclusively reserved for the Pope in the Holy Year.

Father Bernardo Cervellera, PIME, the chief of the press portal AsiaNews , has recalled how such cases have proceeded so far. The Holy See demanded of excommunicated bishops that they send a letter to the Pope,  setting out their situation, including an admission of guilt  by recognizing the responsibility of any wrongdoing, and asking for forgiveness.

Then the Holy See asks of the bishops, to make a public gesture and ask the faithful for forgiveness for the scandal they have caused them.

Dilemma of visible reconciliation

This was particularly true for those bishops who were more or less forced to take part in illicit episcopal ordinations. More problematic is the reintegration of illicitly consecrated bishops themselves. It is difficult to say they have been forced to episcopal dignity.

They are also exposed at a reconciliation with Rome to an even higher probability of reprisals   and persecution. Quitting the Patriotic Association is a mandatory step and is understood by the Communist Party as an attack on their authority. The Beijing regime would, as it has  so often accused the Vatican in the past, of "interference in internal affairs".

For the situation of such a bishop in the Patriotic Association, the faithful have had reason to doubt the sincerity of his reconciliation.

The Holy Year of Mercy should probably have initially no effect on the painful question of episcopal ordinations in the People's Republic of China. Pope Francis attempted a  " rapprochment" of a different kind a few days ago by offering flowers to the Beijing regime and  excluded the question of episcopal appointments, the Underground Church, the persecution of Christians and human rights. Reactions from Beijing are not yet known.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Vatican.va/OR (Screenshot)

The Hermeneutic of Communism? Pope Francis' "Beatification" of Marxist Jesuit

(Rome) On the return flight to Rome Pope Francis answered a few questions for the accompanying journalists on the plane. The Catholic Church leader was asked also to explain the provocative gift made the Pope of the hammer and sickle with Christ from the Bolivian President Evo Morales. Vatican Radio published the questions and complete answers in the original language.

Aura Vistas Miguel (Portugal Vaticanist): "Holiness, how did you feel when you saw the gift of President Morales with sickle and hammer with Christ? What became of this subject?"

Pope Francis: "I - it is strange - did not know that and did not know that Father Espinal was a sculptor and a poet. I have learned that during  these days. I've seen it and it was a surprise for me. Secondly: It can qualify as a genre of protest art. For example, there was an exhibition by a brave, creative Argentine sculptor  in Buenos Aires a few years ago. There was protest art, and I remember a work that showed a crucified Christ on a bomber coming down. This was a critique of Christianity, which is allied with imperialism, represented as a bomber. 

First point: So I knew nothing about it; Second point: I qualify it as protest art that can be offensive in some cases. In some cases. Third, for this particular case: Father Espinal was killed in 1980. That was a time when the liberation theology had many different currents, one of them was the Marxist analysis of reality, and Fr. Espinal belonged to this. I knew because I was at that time Rector of the Faculty of Theology and they talked a lot about it, and who their representatives were in the different currents. In the same year  the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Father Arrupe, wrote a letter to the whole society about the Marxist analysis of reality in the theology that he stopped a little, saying, No, you can not. These are different things, you can not do that, that's not right. And four years later, in 1984, the CDF published the first small volume, the first statement of the Liberation Theology, which criticized it. 

Then came the second, which was more open to the Christian outlook. I simplify, of course. Let's take a hermeneutics of that era.   Espinal is an enthusiast of this Marxist analysis, as well as theology, for which he used Marxism. Hence comes this.  The poems of Espinal belong to this genre of protest, but it was his life, it was his way of thinking, he was a special man with a lot of human genius, and who fought in good faith. As I have done such a hermeneutics, I understand this. For me it was not an insult. But I had to make this hermeneutics, and I say this to you, so that no false opinions arise. This object is with me now, it's coming with me. You may have heard that President Morales wanted to give me two honors, the highest award of Bolivia and then the Order of Fr. Espinal, a new order. Well, I have never accepted a ceremony that does not suit me. But he did it with a lot of good will and the desire to do me favor. And I thought that that comes from the people of Bolivia - I've been praying for it and I thought: If I bring it to the Vatican, where it goes to  a museum and no one sees it. So I thought to offer it to the Virgin of Copacabana, the Bolivian Mother, so that it goes to the Sanctuary: The work will be in the Sanctuary of Copacabana, together with the two awards that I received. Christ, however, I take with. Thanks. "

Translation if: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Vatican Insider

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

3 Billion in Reparations Paid to Church for Damages Caused by Communism

WARSAW, Poland – A Czech cardinal welcomed final court approval of government plans to pay billions of dollars to churches in compensation for their losses under communist rule.

On June 3, the Constitutional Court cleared the way for the implementation of a 2012 law that says 56 percent of assets, valued at $3.8 billion, will be returned to Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and Jewish communities, with $3 billion paid out over a 30-year period as compensation for the rest of the properties. During that same period, annual government grants to churches will also be phased out.

“This ruling on the law for property settlements closes one of the infamous chapters in our history,” said Cardinal Dominik Duka of Prague. “Our society can congratulate itself (that) it has finally resolved this problem and remedied the damage done to churches under communism.”

Link...

Will Catholic Church be Sold to Freemasons? -- Vierzon: Instead of Muslims, Freemasons?

Edit: the church doesn’t look like it will require much renovation to become a Lodge.  She’s a bewt!  Unlike the United States, the local people are actually concerned that their church, which could have been purchased by a Catholic religious order, is likely going to be sold to Freemasons.

(Paris) The Catholic Church Saint Eloi in Vierzon was sold as the responsible Pastor, Alain Krauth, confirmed. To whom it was sold, the priest does not want to make known.

In October 2012 Pastor Krauth had announced that pastoral care team, pastoral council and parish finance committee had agreed to sell Vierzon, which belongs to the parish church of St Eloi. The beautiful church dates from 1950 and is located in a district which declining Catholics and Muslims increasingly share. An Islamic community was also the first prospective for the purchase of the church, to convert it into a mosque. Pastor Krauth had no objection to such a sale. Because it was time, said Abbé Krauth, to "forget about" the conflicts of the past. [Are they really in the past, considering the last 5 years, especially?] Today it is about "social justice" and "mutual understanding," said the priest in a press release that was distributed by the competent press office of the Archdiocese of Bourges. Krauth defended his position  by referring to  the Second Vatican Council and the Assisi meeting of 1986. The only concern of the pastor is to "prevent" that the Church “is not sold” to a community or group  "with radical ideas, no matter to what religion they belong” .

The secrecy is a source of speculation, which received new sustenance  by an article in the daily newspaper Le Berry Republicain.  The newspaper wrote: "A Communist mayor who buys a church in order to resell them to a Masonic Lodge is truly an exceptional scenario."

In the new parish paper, the diocese of Bourges confirmed the sale of the Church only with the simple words:  "The time has come to part with it."  The name of the buyer was not disclosed. The last Holy Mass is, according to Parish Journal, celebrated in the church on the 22nd of June.

When asked by Le Berry Republicain Patrick Lemaréchal, the financial officer of the diocese, confirmed that the church was sold to the community of Vierzon. The city has a right of first refusal and was interested in the construction of a multipurpose hall, said the Finance Officer.

The excitement in the previous year about a possible purchase by the Muslims and the conversion into a mosque died down after the interested Muslim group had withdrawn their offer.

Since then, a Catholic group showed interest in buying the church, to keep them in Christian hands. It is the Confrerie de Saint Eloi , which is  active mainly in France, Belgium and the Rhineland. The newspaper writes of an "obscure brotherhood" that is collecting the money to maintain the church. In contrast, Pastor Krauth was up in arms, fearing that it could be a traditionalist or right-wing group. Olivier Bidou, the deputy chairman of the Brotherhood declined to comment.

In April, Communist-run government of the 30,000-inhabitant city decided in the interest of the “communal amity,” to buy the church, to smooth the tensions associated with the sale.

Mayor Nicolas Sansu, projecting a list of a leftist candidates, even declared that  "no purchase agreement has been signed." He also announced that the city had a potential buyer for the church. You just waiting for the meeting with the Archbishop to discuss the purchase.

The opposition is skeptical.  It suspects that behind the "potential buyer” is the local Masonic Lodge Amis de la liberté of the Grand Orient of France from the Rue Marcel-Etiennne. The person sitting one the Council who is a Freemason is said to have arranged the matter. The mayor has, maintains the opposition, a close contact with the Lodge of Vierzon in recent months. The lodge is on the search for a new headquarters for their temple. Even the church of Saint Eloi seems to be an option.

The mayor is excited about the media interest. Le Berry Republicain quoted him as saying: “they can talk about Freemasonry all they want, but for the moment nothing is certain and nothing is decided yet."

At the Grand Orient, it means you know nothing. The Grand Lodge stresses that “there is nothing illegal about the possibility that Freemasons buy a public building."

In the next few days some decisions will be made and then the public will have to be informed in detail about the sale and the buyer.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Confrerie de Saint Eli

Link to katholisches... contact: vekron99@hotmail.com AMGD

Pentagon: Christians Are Enemies of the People

Edit: Christians who prosylitize are enemies of the proletariat. Of course this is a slight exaggeration. Breitbart reports:

The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: "Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense...Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis...”.

The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith.
(From our earlier report: Weinstein is the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and says Christians--including chaplains--sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military are guilty of “treason,” and of committing an act of “spiritual rape” as serious a crime as “sexual assault.”

He also asserted that Christians sharing their faith in the military are “enemies of the Constitution.”)

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/05/01/Breaking-Pentagon-Confirms-Will-Court-Martial-Soldiers-Who-Share-Christian-Faith

Excommunicated Bishops Members of Chi-Com Parliament

Beijing (AsiaNews) - At least four illegitimate bishops - and some officially excommunicated - have been appointed or re-appointed members of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the two most important political structures of the People's Republic. Both summits, with thousands of participants are underway in the capital: the NPC began this morning, the CPPCC began on March 3.

The bishop of Shantou, Huang Bingzhang, illegitimately ordained and officially excommunicated by the Holy See in 2011, was appointed as a new member of the NPA.

Three other illegitimate bishops were chosen for the CPPCC: Ma Yinglin of Kunmin, president of the so-called "Chinese Bishops 'Conference" [not recognized by the Holy See]; Zhan Silu of Mindong, Vice-President of the Conference itself; Lei Shiyin of Leshan, vice-president of' Patriotic Association. Lei was also officially excommunicated by the Holy See in 2011.

Link to Asia News...

Bulgarian Metropolitan Commemorates Clergy Martyred by the Communists

[Pravmir.com] Bulgaria’s Christian Orthodox Church commemorated for the first time the victims of communist repression on Friday, 23 years after the toppling of the regime.

A special memorial service was held at Sofia’s Alexander Nevski cathedral by Varna metropolitan and interim patriarch Kiril, joined by a number of other Church dignitaries.

“This is the first time that the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has held nationwide commemoration services for the victims of the repressions,” Kiril told AFP.

Addressing the congregation after the mass, he said the Church had identified 152 priests who were persecuted after the communist regime seized power in 1944: 13 were sentenced to death and another 13 were jailed for life.

The Holy Synod, the Church’s top body, is now considering whether to canonise some of them, he said.

“This stance is a crack in the wall of indifference of the Orthodox Church,” former political prisoner Fredy Foscolo said after the service.

In 2011, parliament designated February 1 as a permanent special day of remembrance for the over 7,000 people who were executed or jailed as “fascists” by the communists during their 45-year rule between 1944 and 1989.

These included three former prime ministers, dozens of ministers and lawmakers, royal regents and advisors, teachers, priests, civil servants, prominent writers and journalists.

The regime did not go as far as to close churches but imposed atheism, did not tolerate churchgoing and controlled the priests’ rise in Church hierarchy.

The opening of the former communist police archives revealed that 11 of the 15 Holy Synod members were former secret police agents who collaborated with the communist regime.

Bulgaria’s late patriarch Maxim, who died on November 6, was not on the list, but Kiril was.

A Church Council is due to choose Bulgaria’s next patriarch on February 24.

"Silent Heroes" -- Museum for the Crimes and Victims of Communism in Bratislava

(Bratislava) In Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, in what was once the old Pressburg,   the Museum of the Crimes and Victims of Communism was opened.  It follows in important part of the "puzzle of remembrance", which several cities of the former East Bloc include.

The museum project can be approached as Slovakia deals with its recent past.  The old Communist cadres and their late adepts are still active also after 23 years since the end of their power.  The museum project was publicly proposed  by Silent Heroes an organization of former political prisoners and in 2010 by a forum of Christian societies.  The project was supported by the Slovakian Minister Iveta Radicova.  The Christian Democrat stood for parliamentary elections in March of 2012.  She wanted the museum to be built even by the government, in order to lend it a formal and visible status.  In the election, the center-left parties won and the museum had to stand on its own feet without government funding.

Christians Keep Alive the Memory of the Real Crimes of Socialism


On 16 November, the symbolic date which is reminiscent for the Slovaks of the non-violent "revolution" of 1989, marked the "temporary" opening of the museum. The official opening is planned for March 2013. The premises for the museum were provided by the University of Health and Work, whose Rector Vladimir Krčméry, a nephew of Silvester Krčméry, was one of the leading figures of the underground church during the Communist dictatorship where work could only be done under the most difficult conditions in secret, in "silence".

Rector Krčméry presented the museum which supports the vast attic of the building is available, which formerly housed the nursing school where the Blessed Sister Zdenka Scheling had been trained. Schelingová was entered into the long line of those who fell victim to Communism.

"We will endeavor to get a bigger space, but until then we will make the best possible use of the space available to us," said museum director Frantisek Neupauer, who is also chairman of the Association Silent Heroes. Neupauer was already an employee of the Slovak Institute of National Remembrance. Neupauer is constantly on tour for his museum collection. At the end of an interview the journalist of Czech Radio even gets out his wallet and gives Neupauer a donation.

The Museum is Concerned with the Communist Coup of 1948 to the End of the East Bloc of 1989

In the museum the period is represented by the communist coup in 1948 until the collapse of the communist dictatorship in 1989.  It focuses on the personal stories of many "Silent Heroes" who served the resistance to the dictatorship. It looks way through the city leading to the sites of oppression. In the archive of the Association Silent Heroes the cases of 70,000 "silent" victims are documented, whose names are hardly known today, "but which were characterized by their human greatness because of their sense of justice and the totalitarian regime they resisted. Each of them has helped that we have returned to democracy," said Neupauer. The medium-term goal of the museum is to document and totalitarian regimes outside Europe such as Cambodia.

In showcases, original pieces are seen, which were made by political prisoners in detention. For example, a puppet of the Good Soldier Svejk was made by prisoners in the uranium mines in northern Bohemia from wood chips and bread. The Federation of Former Political Prisoners, whose chairman Anton Srholec support the museum project with great commitment represents, more objects.

New Left-wing Government  won't give a cent for Museums, because there are "already quite a lot" of Museums

There is quite a different sound coming from the new left-wing government. Culture Minister Marek Maďarič, a former Communist, which occurs today in the Communist successor SMER stated already that the new government will notgive the museum "a penny" because in Slovakia "already are a lot of museums."

The memory of the Communist dictatorship and its perpetrators is not wanted by the new government. The attempt to cover up the suffering of decades, oppose the club Silent Heroes and the federal government of former political prisoners. They have left the Catholic tradition, where memory is more important than an abstract desire to be "emancipated" constantly from something. Each according to the requirements of his own past, where emancipation will be mere forgetfulness and coverup.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: muzeumkomunizmu.sk

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Woman Defies One Child Policy And Faces Hard Labor

Mao Hengfeng, given hard labour again for challenging one child law The dissident, one of the most famous in the country, was sentenced to 18 months of "re-education through labour". Her husband denounces: "she disappeared on 20 September and I just got news of her now". The sentence issued on the sidelines of the Communist Congress, ready to elect the new leadership.

Beijing (AsiaNews) -Beijing police have arrested and sentenced Mao Hengfeng to hard labour for the third time, one of the "champions" of the battle against the one child law and forced abortions in China. Her husband Wu Xuewei has denounced this latest arrest and reports that the woman was kidnapped by public security agents last Sept. 20 in the capital, where she had gone to seek justice for abuses suffered during her second imprisonment. The activist was reduced to a wheelchair as a result of police violence.

After this long period of detention, last week the authorities sentenced her to 18 months of "re-education through labour" for having "disturbed social order". The judgment was pronounced against the opening of the 18th Communist Party Congress, which opens tomorrow and is preparing to crown the "fifth generation" of Communist leaders.

Wu received notification but believes his wife innocence: "she is not guilty and has never violated any law. They fabricated allegations and evidence to imprison innocent people ". At the moment, her place of detention is unknown: she served her last sentence in the detention centre of Yangpu district, near Shanghai, where the couple lives.
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China's Church is "true" and Prays For an End to "Infidelity" in Other Countries -- Letter to Bishops' Synod

(Vatican) The Church int he Peoples' Republic of China is "living, true and devoted despite 50 years of persecution."  The Bishops' Synod began with this witness by the Chinese Bishops on Monday.  Msgr. Nikola Eterovic, the General Secretary of the Synod introduced the opening of the congress to the writings of Msgr. Lucas Li Jingeng, the Bishop of Fengxiang, who was refused participation in the Synod by the Communist Regime.  The 90 year old Bishop has spent more than 20 years in the concentration camps of the CCP.  After the Communist grab for power he was imprisoned, he was first released in the 70s with severe restrictions.

"I greet you who are able to participate in the Synod and venerate the tomb of St. Peter," wrote Bishop Li Jingfeng in his message. "It pains me very much that your voice could not be heard in the Chinese Church."  The Peking regime is now allowing the participation of any Bishop in the Synod, neither those loyal to the regime, nor those who are true to Rome Bishops, of the underground Bishops are not to be discussed.  "I will tell you that our Church in China, especially the laity,  has shown the piety and uprightness of the early Christians since the beginning of 50 years of persecution."  The Bishop of Fengxiang continued with a view to the situation in the Church in other parts of the world: "I pray fervently and constantly to the almighty God, that our piety, our faithfulness, our persistence may heal the tepidity, the infidelity and worldliness, which is the situation of dissipating openness and freedom abroad.  In the year of faith you may be able to fathom why our faith in China has preserve red with such purity in your debates in the Synod.  It is as the great Chinese philosopher Lao Tse said:  "As disaster brings new flowering, thus disaster is hidden in tepidity.'  The Church outside of China is infected with inertia, infidelity and the secularization of the Faith even of many clergy.   In the Church in China, the laity are as pious as the clergy", said Bishop Li Jingfeng in his letter to the Synod.

Bishop Lucas Li Jinfeng has presided over the only Diocese in the Peoples' Republic of China for several years, which is the only Diocese associated to the underground Church loyal to Rome.  In 2004 Msgr. Li Jingfeng was officially recognized by the regime in a moment of relaxation of relations between Rome and Peking without signing the infamous act of submission and joining the regime's Bishops.  His Diocese has experienced several waves of persecution since then, in which priests were abducted, cloisters stormed and dissolved.  The last incarceration Bishop Li Jingfeng has suffered was in Autumn 2001.

Text: Asianews/Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Asianews


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Polish Church Launches Magazine on Exorcism

(Warsaw) In Poland, the world's first magazine was published on exorcism, which is at news stands. The monthly magazine titled Egzorcysta (Exorcist), whose first edition was printed in an edition of 15,000 copies, has 62 pages.

Some Polish Catholic priests were brought together by a publisher to launch the magazine project, according reports by the Agence France Presse. The magazine costs 10 zloty, which works out at approximately 2, 3 Euros. The headlines of the first edition are "Satan, a Reality" and "New Age, the Spiritual Vacuum". Poland currently has 120 priests who are officially appointed as exorcists, as the priest Aleksander Posacki, professor of philosophy and theology, a demonologist and exorcist, explained on Monday at a press conference, in which the magazine was presented.

15 years ago there were only four official exorcists in Poland, says Posacki. This large increase was put in context by the priest that has tried in one of the most Catholic countries in Europe to expel Godless Communism with turbo-capitalism after 1989. Capitalism creates a market of opportunities and with it the opportunity to make the occult shops.

Aleksander Posacki is a member of an international Exorcist Commission of the Catholic Church. At the press conference he pointed out the inability of the various schools of psychology and psychiatry to deal with the phenomenon of possession and Umsessenheit because conventional treatments do not help.

Another Exorcist and staff of the new journal, the priest Andryej Grefkowicz, said that there were so many requests that the waiting time in Warsaw amounts to three months. The priests work with psychiatrists to first rule out the possibility of a mental illness. "I always consult a psychiatrist, if I have doubts then we often come together to the conclusion that it is a mental illness and not a form of obsession," said Grefkowicz.

In contrast to swindlers or providers of occult practices who may even be the cause of an obsession, who are paid substantial amounts by gullible or desperate persons, there is the offer of help from the Church through prayer, confession, forgiveness, or by exorcism, which is completely free, say the two priests.
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Communist Officials Oblivious to Disappearing Children

Man arrested in Yunnan cannibalism-murder case accused of selling victims' flesh

Police arrest Zhang Yongming, a 56-year-old farmer. They find human flesh and eyeballs in his house. He is accused of killing teenagers and then selling their flesh. Local Communist officials are suspended for ignoring residents' complaints.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - Police in Yunnan arrested Zhang Yongming, a 56-year-old farmer, for murder and cannibalism. He is accused of killing about 20 teenagers in Jinning County and then eating them. Residents blame Communist authorities for ignoring their complaints that young people were going missing.

Zhang Yongming was detained two weeks ago in Nanmen village in Yunnan province but police entered his home only today where they found human flesh, eyeballs and bottles with blood, Hong Kong's The Standard newspaper reported.

Zhang had previously served 18 years in jail for murder. The victims' bodies were usually dismembered, the Guangxi News website reported on Friday.

Media and residents are blaming Communist authorities for ignoring repeated complaints.

Two top county officials, Da Qiming and Zhao Huiyun, were suspended for failing to take action to solve the "vicious" crime, it was reported.

Kunming-based Chuncheng Evening News reported three weeks ago eight possible victims, males aged from 12 to 19. The Shanghai-based Dongfang Daily reported that the number of people missing had reached 17. Internet users have speculated that the final count could be at least 20.

However, none of these reports has been confirmed.

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