On the Death of Rodney Stark, "Defender of History Against Centuries of anti-Catholic Lies"

The sociologist of religion Rodney Stark became one of the strongest and most unconventional defenders of the Church, and thus of the history of the West, against a large number of anti-Catholic falsifications of history that were deliberately disseminated.

The American sociologist of religion and outstanding apologist for the role of the Catholic Church in Western history passed away a month ago, shortly after his 88th birthday. On this occasion, we publish an interview with him that he granted to the Italian monthly Tempi in 2016 for the publication of his book "Bearing False Witness" ("Bearing False Witness "), the accusation of "non-Catholics" against the "illustrious fanatics," who pass off certain lies about the Church as history. Here is the post from 2016:

This is how Rodney Stark defended the Church against historical falsification

Paradoxically, the man who is perhaps the most effective living apologist for the role of the Roman Church in Western history is not even a Catholic. On the contrary, as he himself explains in his most recent book, he “grew up in the splendor of the Reformation” and “like all Lutherans” was “enlightened about the perversion of Catholics” every Sunday in the service. If Rodney Stark chose to write Bearing False Witness: Debunking Centuries of Anti-Catholic History, it was not out of a partisan impulse to fly a flag defend that was never his.

"I wrote this book to defend history."

The Crusades in a New Light

The sociologist of religion and professor at Baylor University, a Baptist university in Texas, where he directs the Department of Religious Studies, is the author of dozens of titles that are successful in many countries around the world [only a few of which have been translated into German: Der Sieg des Abendlandes. Christianity and Capitalist Freedom and God's Warriors. The Crusades in a New Light ], is highly praised and dedicated to the "neglected history" that shows how it was despised Christianity that brought about the liberty, progress, and prosperity of our civilization. In Bearing False Witness' he has collected the ten 'anti-Catholic myths' that he has encountered most frequently in the course of his countless studies. Ten lies and false accusations which, according to Stark, "had and have too far-reaching consequences in popular thought to be left to isolated refutation."

• --Anti-Semitism, theologically motivated by the charge of deicide;
• 
  
• --the existence of "enlightened" gospels hushed up and falsified by narrow-minded clergy;
• 
  
• --the extermination of the pagans after the Christian "conquest" of Rome;
• 
  
• --the "dark ages" of the Middle Ages, finally broken through by the rational revolution of the Enlightenment;
• 
  
• --the Crusades as the first bloody act of European colonialism;
• 
  
• --the crimes of the Spanish Inquisition and the witch hunts;
• 
  
• --the case of Galileo as proof of the Church's anti-science;
• the justification of slavery;
• 
  
• --the support of dictatorships against democracy;
• 
  
• --the social and civilized superiority of the Protestant Reformation.

By naming names and quoting dozens of times, Stark in the book dissects in turn what he calls "illustrious fanatics" and fellow scholars who, rather than behaving as such, "eagerly" embraced anti-Catholic shenanigans, being "so convinced of the depravity and stupidity of the Roman Catholic Church that they need seek no further confirmation," let alone evidence, although some of them must have recognized that so many of these stories came "out of nowhere." 

See e.g., there is the legend that Christopher Columbus discovered America while trying to prove by seafaring that the earth is round and not flat, as the Spanish cardinals who opposed his project supposedly “still” believed. A pure fairy tale invented in 1828 by writer Washington Irving, best known for inventing the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow. Nonetheless, it "remained in textbooks and popular culture for decades, even after scientists uncovered its fraudulent origins" (in Austria and West Germany it could still be heard in schools in 2009).

The Pope who is no longer supposed to be Catholic

The animosity of the “illustrious fanatics” towards the Church, according to Stark, goes back a long way.

“The Reformation and the religious wars that followed produced bitter hatreds and false accusations that have persisted through the centuries. Too much of this remains in the collective memory of Protestant countries. In contrast, I am not aware of any comparable vicious anti-Protestant myths in Catholic countries. 

And if in ancient Rome, according to E. Mary Smallwood's thesis taken up in the book, the alleged "exclusivity" of Jews and Christians led to unpopularity and persecution, in past centuries "the antagonism of polytheism to monotheism, which anti-Semitism and anti-Christianity has been replaced by a secular antagonism against all religions, which contain traditional teachings and a claim to truth". Hence the demand that the Pope should stop being Catholic in every respect.

According to Stark, "Voltaire and his colleagues invented the Dark Ages in order to proclaim that they were ridding civilization of religious backwardness."

 

In reality, however, there never was an obscurantist Middle Ages. On the contrary:

“The most important key to the rise of Western civilization has been the devotion of so many brilliant minds to the pursuit of knowledge. Not after illumination. Not after enlightenment. Not for wisdom. For knowledge!”

The Victory of the Occident

For Stark, it makes perfect sense that many of these "brilliant minds" were medieval Christians, because, "Christianity is a theological religion (founded in thinking about God) that is not concerned solely with the scientific endeavors to explain the world agrees but also gave birth to science: Science did not develop elsewhere because religions, which viewed the universe as an impenetrable mystery, made any scientific endeavor seem absurd". However, over time, Voltaire's and Enlightenment views were "converted by some intellectuals who rejected all religions and by many others who mistakenly believed."

There's a reason why "even popular encyclopedias today acknowledge that the Dark Ages were a myth." This means that, at least in the case of this myth, historical science has triumphed over ideology. It happens all the time, but no one notices. In order to debunk the ten anti-Catholic falsifications of history, Stark draws on the "prevailing opinions among qualified experts". It is a pity that these "only ever write for each other and do not make an effort to share their knowledge with the general public", while conversely, the "illustrious fanatics" continue to enjoy amazing credibility, at least in the media. Even if their dishonest theses have already been refuted and they themselves have admitted their hostility to the Church. This is the case reconstructed in the book by John Cornwell, the famous author of "Hitler's Pope " (German edition: " Pius XII - The Pope who has been silent "), a milestone in propaganda against Pius XII, which has been refuted many times and yet has been reprinted by the press or used in other texts, all errors included. The fact is, bitterly, that "the press always likes scandals and bad news."

And: “The media is really biased towards religion”.

If it is true that the "illustrious fanatics" are fomenting an "'informed' anti-Catholicism" that enjoys undeserved media coverage, then how can truth triumph in the clash of ideas? Stark has no doubts:

"Why should I trust 'my' experts more than those with anti-Catholic views? Quite simply: because my opinion is based on the consensus of authoritative and qualified historians, whom I quote carefully, while the anti-Catholic nonsense has no qualified advocates."

Stark's books are very well received by experts and find an exceptionally positive response among readers. Obviously, they will not find their way into the mainstream. This would require a rethink. He wants to contribute to this rethinking with his books.

It certainly requires courage to defend the theses of “Bearing False Witness”. In the very first chapter, the author endeavors to refute the notion that "the persecution of the Jews was justified for centuries in the name of God." A prejudice so ingrained in the collective imagination that even Catholics hardly seem to question it. The Baylor University professoron the other hand, on the basis of historical documents and non-preconceived "papist" positions, states that he found long ago that in reality "Christians who blamed the Jews for the crucifixion also tended to accept secular forms of anti-Semitism,’ from which it follows that hatred of Jews is by no means a Catholic ‘invention’. On the contrary, according to Stark, "what I learned later, in a next step, was the broad extent to which the Church had protected the Jews from violence".

Views like Obama's will be discredited

Even when it comes to current events, Stark has little trouble defying the mainstream. In his book, he writes that the first armed offensives by Catholic civilization (not the Church) against other religions and heresies took place in the 11th century when Christian supremacy was threatened by the spread of Islam. However, it is wrong to conclude that something similar is happening in the West today. 

“The 'Clash of Civilizations' is not the rotten fruit of our 'Islamophobia'. I don't believe that the Christian West is about to become intolerant. Rather, I believe that the non-Christian West is becoming intolerant.”

Also included in the book is a polemical reference to Barack Obama, who in 2015 helped propagate the anti-Catholic reading of the Crusades (Stark's main theme) by declaring that not all religious violence in history has come from Islam and that Christians also "have done terrible deeds in the name of Christ." Stark's comment is dry:

"If terrorism continues, and it will, views like Obama's will be discredited: I am sure we will see a resurgence of support for Christian action."

 And what does Stark, who is not Catholic, not Baptist and no longer Lutheran, believe in?

"I lost my Lutheran faith when I was in my twenties and remained a non-believer until my sixties, but was never an atheist until, after years of writing about religion, I concluded that Christianity was the most plausible explanation for it life offers.”

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Youtube (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Cardinals Expected to be Silent in the Next Consistory

The cardinals of the Church will meet in a consistory next week, but Pope Francis has set unusual rules for them.

In a few days a cardinal consistory will begin in Rome – with special rules

(Rome) A regular Consistory of Cardinals has been convened by Pope Francis for Monday, August 29th. On Monday and Tuesday the Cardinals will gather in Rome to "reflect." Francis used this word on May 29 when he announced the convocation of the consistory at the end of the Regina Cæli. The convocation consists of several parts. In the first, the Extraordinary Consistory, next Saturday, Francis will create new cardinals with the next conclave firmly in view.

What is certain is that the reflections to be undertaken by the cardinals will not be free and open, clear and honest exchanges with parrhesia [freedom of speech], as Francis is wont to say, but on the contrary: none of the cardinals will be able to intervene or even ask questions.

This "detail" was revealed yesterday by the voyeuristic, sleazy website Dagospia, which, however, has surprisingly good contacts in the Church sector.[We'll definitely take that into account!] It also reported that the Cardinals read the “detailed introductory report of Monsignor Marco Mellino, Secretary of the Council of Cardinals [ex C9 Council of Cardinals], on the Roman Curia in the light of the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, with a general presentation, news, times and methods of application.” This report was already mentioned in a report by the Italian press agency ANSA on May 9th, which had as its subject the purpose of a meeting between Francis and the heads of dicasteries at the Roman Curia that took place on that day.

Dagospia published the document in its entirety, that is, the report read by Mellino at that meeting to the dicastery leaders “with laughter and unflattering comments” and then sent to the cardinals around the world who will be gathering at the Vatican in a few days will. Msgr. Mellino prepared them, recte warned them that no interventions or questions from the cardinals were planned.

Those who thought - and this is of course primarily true of the cardinals themselves directly concerned - that the Consistory would be an opportunity to ask Francis for clarifications on, or even to comment on, the curial reform that came into force on June 5th, will have to postpone these expectations. The College of Cardinals is the Senate of the Church and is intended to advise the Pope. But apparently the expectations of the current governing pontiff, who says "think about it" but means silence, are "too high".

According to Dagospia, the text has already drawn criticism from some members of the College of Cardinals, who consider it an idiosyncratic "potpourri of reflections" by Paul VI, John Paul II and Francis. The missing mention of Benedict XVI. is no coincidence.

On Sunday, between the extraordinary consistory on Saturday and the ordinary one beginning on Monday, Pope Francis will pay a pastoral visit to L'Aquila, the old imperial city of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, which was almost leveled by a severe earthquake in 2009. A visit to the tomb of Celestine V, the only pope in church history who voluntarily resigned before 2013, is also planned. 

In 1294 Celestine, who until then had lived as a hermit in the mountains, resigned after just a few months. It was only on this condition that he had consented to his election, after the cardinals had been unable to elect a new pope for two years since the death of his predecessor. The two major factions, Guelfi and Ghibellini, who divided Italy, also balanced each other out in the Church senate. Some were close to the Guelphs and were considered the "papal party", the other to the Waiblingen, meaning the Staufers, i.e. the "imperial party". However, Celestine, now Pietro da Morrone again, was not allowed to return to his hermit life, but was held in honorable custody by his successor - honored, but in prison.

Pope Benedict XVI visited Celestine's grave in 2009. Francis' visit to the tomb sparked speculation and led to the "mistaken reading" that Bergoglian Vaticanists tirelessly assert that Francis also intends to resign and announce his abdication at the forthcoming consistory. 

It remains to be seen how many of the Church's 206 cardinals will be present in Rome in the coming days to be mere extras, now that they know what role they are destined to play. In addition, neither the WHO nor the Vatican, where particularly radical and disproportionate Corona measures were taken, officially declared the “pandemic” to be over, which is why there is a harmless excuse not to make the trip to Rome in the first place.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Vatican.va (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Blame Trump!

At EF, we have always held that the day the Left finally gets around to giving Trump credit for the Covid "vaccine" will signal the beginning of the end to the drive to get everyone jabbed with the cocktail of black baby juice. We remember that before the Dems tried to force the jab on everyone, they said they wouldn't take Trump's vaccine.   We now know that Faux News had been bribed to promote the vaccine.  

So, why are they now letting Tucker speak this way?  From Fauci on down, there's a lot of backpedaling happening.

   

Only a few weeks ago, YouTube wouldn't allow stuff like this.  You had to Rumble.

If you've made it this far, without being jabbed, you deserve an award!

Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you!

EF book recommendation for August.

https://www.amazon.com/Sleepy-Joe-Legend-Corn-Pop/dp/1087888018/

Straight talk from the most popular president ever, a man who calls black kids: roaches

Not too long ago, liberal commendians thought Biden was fair game. Look how much he's declined in a few years. And, in case you think this is all fake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oihV9yrZRHg

House of Saint Peter Found Beneath Byzantine Basilica

Edit: the Catholic snooze agency finally reported something  good!

The site is a tribute of the ravening Mohamedan, who probably burned the church down and built a horse barn over it. 

Could this be a sign of divine favor, or a warning?

 [CNA]A team of archaeologists uncovered evidence this month that may be the “smoking gun” confirming the location of the house of St. Peter.

While excavating a fifth-sixth century Byzantine basilica at the el Araj archaeological site located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in Israel, the team discovered a large Greek mosaic that seems to bolster the theory that the church was built over the home of Ss. Peter and Andrew.

Steven Notley, who leads the dig at what is being called “The Church of the Apostles,” is a professor of the New Testament and Christian Origins at Nyack University. He told CNA in a phone interview that the basilica’s mosaic is the “most definitive archaeological connection [we have] with [St.] Peter.” 

The mosaic is inscribed with a petition that asks for the intercession of St. Peter, who is referred to as “the chief and commander of the heavenly apostles.” 

AMDG

Liturgical Reform and Aberrosexuality — On the Death of Rembert Weakland

Archabbot, Abbot General, Archbishop: The Benedictine Rembert Weakland had a sweeping career.

(New York) The archbishop emeritus of Milwaukee, Msgr. Rembert Weakland, died last night.  He was involved in sex crimes, which promptly brought Jesuit James Martin, the figurehead of the Church gay lobby, to the scene to praise Weakland.

Monsignor Rembert Weakland was born in 1927 in the state of Pennsylvania.  In 1945 he entered the Archabbey of Saint Vincent in Latrobe and became a Benedictine.  In Solesmes he made his solemn vows in 1949 and was then sent to the Pontifical Athenaeum Sant'Anselmo, the Benedictine college in Rome.

Radical Progressive Ideas – Member of the Roman Consilium for Liturgical Reform

Rembert Weakland in the 60's

Ordained a priest in 1951, he continued his studies in various countries, including Germany.  He studied Church music and became a recognized expert on Gregorian chant.  In the course of his studies he discovered the high medieval spiritual drama "Ludus Danielis" in the British Library.

Returning to the USA, he first taught at St. Vincent College at his abbey.  The convention elected Weakland Archabbot and Pope Paul VI in 1963.  drew him in as a consultor to the Second Vatican Council.

In 1965/66 he was President of the Church Music Association of America, a presidency which quickly ended, however, because his ideas on music and dance were so radically progressive that he could not embrace them even in an "open-minded" climate then prevailing.

Paul VI called him for this.  In 1968 to the notorious Consilium for the implementation of the liturgical constitution, which worked out the liturgical reform of 1969 under the de facto leadership of its secretary Msgr. Annibale Bugnini.

The recommendation of Weakland was made by the Swiss Benedictine and Cardinal, Benno Gut when he took over the presidency of the Consilium.  Weakland had already succeeded Gut in 1967 as Abbot General of the Benedictine Order and Grand Chancellor of the Benedictine College of Sant'Anselmo.

Archbishop of Milwaukee

Paul VI  nominated Weakland archbishop of Milwaukee in 1977.  As such, he was criticized for the abuse of liturgy he practiced and tolerated and for the dubious decisions he made when renovating Milwaukee Cathedral.  For his part, he himself attracted attention with harsh criticism of the declaration Dominus Iesus of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is one of the most important documents of the pontificate of John Paul II and the tenure of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as prefect of the CDF.

During his episcopate and after his retirement in 2002, Weakland was repeatedly confronted with the accusation of having covered up sexual abuse by priests on minors, specifically homosexual abuse.  In his autobiography he confessed something astounding: During the first years of his tenure in Milwaukee he "didn't understand" that the sexual abuse of minors was a crime.  He transferred abusive priests from one parish to another without informing the new parish, let alone the police and prosecutors.

Weakland as Archbishop of Milwaukee

The protection of homosexual abusers obviously had a personal background.  Weakland retired on May 24, 2002, having reached the age of 75.  However, his resignation was overshadowed by a scandal.  It was revealed that the archbishop had paid $450,000 from the diocesan treasury to former Marquette University theology student Paul Marcoux.  In 1997, through resourceful lawyers, he entered into negotiations with the archbishop, threatening to accuse him of sexual abuse.  Weakland, on the other hand, claimed he had a long-standing homosexual relationship with Marcoux.

During his studies, Marcoux lived with a priest in a parish where he volunteered.  In 1979, when the pastor invited his archbishop to dinner, Marcoux and Weakland met for the first time.  According to Marcoux, who was 31 at the time, they "got along well straight away".  A few weeks later, Marcoux called the then 52-year-old Archbishop because, by his own account, he had considered entering the seminary.  The archbishop then invited him to dinner and over "several aperitifs and two bottles of wine" they "got closer".  Marcoux, who says he is bisexual and said he had just ended a homosexual affair with a Marquette University professor, was "frozen" because of the alcohol and respect for the office.  There were further "sexualized encounters" with the archbishop.  At some point he, Marcoux, realized that the Archbishop had "sexually abused" him.  The rest is American history.

Fr. James Martin, in play as soon as homosexuality is discussed

In 2009, Weakland, who may have been the victim of a profiteer to some degree, confessed in his memoir, Pilgrims in a Pilgrim Church.  Memoirs of a Catholic Archbishop”  his homosexuality, from which he did not really distance himself.  The German edition was published in spring 2022 under the title "Life Between the Cracks: Memoirs of an Archbishop" in the Four Towers Publishing House of the Benedictine Abbey of Münsterschwarzach.

Weakland's successor as Archbishop of Milwaukee, Monsignor Jerome Edward Listecki, who has been in office since 2010, sees less reason to cherish the memory of his predecessor.  Because of the scandal, he decided to have the Weaklands name removed from the diocesan buildings.

That didn't stop Santa Marta-backed homophile Father James Martin SJ from praising Weakland - while specifically citing his scandalous conduct.  James Martin wrote on Twitter:

 “Archbishop Rembert Weakland has died.  The learned scholar, gifted minister and abbot primate of the Benedictines has had his legacy marred by revelations that he paid money to a man with whom he had a relationship.  I considered him a friend and mourn his loss.  Rest in peace."

 Weakland as Archbishop Emeritus

Reactions to the tweet varied.  One reads, "I hope his last years have been spiritually fruitful for him." Another puts it more bluntly:

 "The man embezzled $450,000 to pay for a secret gay lover and has never been held accountable.  This is clerical corruption at the highest level.  You are talking about clericalism!”

All attempts at justification, which Fr. James Martin found himself prompted by the violent reactions on Twitter, would be more credible - especially in their right approaches - if the impression of an interest-led action to serve the recognition of homosexuality would not overlay everything.

What other decisions, other than covering up sexual abuse by Milwaukee clerics, were made by Rembert Weakland as a result of his homosexual orientation is unknown.  What tolerance, preference or support did he therefore give to whom?  The spread of homo-heresy in the Church, as it took place in the USA in the 1970s in particular, is made up of a large number of hidden decisions.

 After his retirement, Weakland had been invited by two Benedictine abbeys to join them in retirement, his home Abbey of St. Vincent and the Abbey of St. Mary in New Jersey.  Both invitations were turned down by Weakland.

 Requiescat in pace.

 Text: Giuseppe Nardi

 Image: Riposte Catholique/Wikicommons/Youtube

Trans:  Tancred  vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Gun Violence Continues to Reveal the Failure of Diversity

[BBC] A man has died and a woman is in hospital after a shooting at a shopping center in Sweden, police say. 

 People at the Emporia shopping mall in the southern city of Malmo fled in panic after hearing around 20 shots being fired, Swedish outlet TV4 said. 

 Police have arrested a teenage boy [The usual journalistic types with non-European backgrounds, attempt to minimize the seriousness of the crime by focusing on the youth of these rabid beasts] and believe the shooting is related to migrant gang tensions. [The gangs are inspired by a culture of Islamic revenge against the West]

This gun violence inspired by invading Muslims, seeking to rule western nations, comes as Sweden gears up for a general election next month, where gang violence tops voters' concerns.

Sweden still has one of the highest rates of gun killings in Europe even though the country practices heavy-handed gun control. This year shootings have also spread outside the country's main cities, as gang violence - which police say is often related to the shootings - spreads further afield. 

Sweden also has one of the largest immigrant populations in Europe, and its cities are nogo zones for real Swedesz

Poor integration of immigrants, a widening gap between the rich and poor, and increasing drug use are what police say are the root causes of the violence.

“Gun violence fuels anti-immigrant sentiment.”  How is that a problem? Sounds like a natural reaction to us. 

Muslims are killing each other, and real Swedes, in crime wave. The Muslims are filing a vacuum.

AMDG

Is this the halfway point of the ‘Covid Project’

'To not be Adolf Hitler — overnight — is a shocking experience, after being him for two years.'

Rembert Weakland is Dead

 Edit: he spent a lot of money to keep his boyfriend quiet, and was a lot like other evil modern Abbots.

He was the disgraced Archbishop of Milwaukee and presided over decades of decline and promoted sodomy. Let’s not forget he was a favorite of Paul VI.

He was a model prelate of the Spirit of Vatican II.

Creepy Statue of Weakland Grooming Kids

AMDG

The Deep State

Has a Deal Been Struck with Sandinistas for Imprisoned Bishop Rolando Álvarez?

Yesterday the Nicaraguan police, better known as "Ortega militias", stormed the Episcopal Curia of Matagalpa and arrested the bishop and several priests, seminarians and laymen.

(Managua) On Friday, Ortega militias stormed the curia of the Diocese of Matagalpa in Nicaragua and arrested Bishop Rolando Álvarez and eight others. Noters of solidarity come from other Nicaraguan dioceses and from the USA. The secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America announced a statement from Pope Francis for Sunday. Nevertheless, it is becoming apparent that this time there will be no papal condemnation of the persecution of the Church.

In July 2021, Pope Francis retired Msgr. Juan Abelardo Mata Guevara SDB, Bishop of Estelí and Secretary General of the Nicaraguan Bishops' Conference, who had been the most fearless critic of the regime among the bishops up to that point. Bishop Silvio José Báez, who was critical of the regime, had previously been summoned to Rome in 2019 to remove him from the country. Most recently, Msgr. Rolando Álvarez, Bishop of Matagalpa and since last year also Apostolic Administrator of Estelí, has followed in their footsteps.

In May, Bishop Álvarez went on a hunger strike to protest the repression by the Sandinista regime aimed at 'silencing' the Church. Since then, the climate between the regime and the church has intensified. A number of church organizations were banned, and Catholic radio stations closed.

Since August 4, Bishop Álvarez has been effectively held hostage by the regime, which has had the diocesan curia of Matagalpa besieged by the police. The bishop, some priests and seminarians and two laymen stayed in the building. Bishop Álvarez continued to raise his voice through social media.

Yesterday, Ortega stormed the curia and arrested the bishop, and everyone present.

The national police, dubbed the "Ortega militias" in the country, released a statement saying the bishop and his companions had to be taken into custody for their "destabilizing and provocative activities". The bishop was taken to his family home in Managua and placed under house arrest. His eight companions were transferred to the new El Chipote prison, built specifically for the Ortega regime's political prisoners and notorious for reports of torture. Among the eight prisoners are the priests José Luis Díaz and Sadiel Eugarrios, the two vicars of the Episcopal Church of Matagalpa, the priest Ramiro Tijerino, rector of the Catholic Juan Pablo II University, the priest Raúl González, the two seminarians Darvin Leyva and Melkin Sequeira and the layman Sergio Cárdenas.

El Nuevo Chipote, the infamous prison of the Ortega regime

As first became known, Cardinal Leopoldo Brenes, Archbishop of Managua and Primate of Nicaragua, had surprisingly been allowed to visit his fellow bishop at the place of his imprisonment.

"The Pope's silence does not mean inaction"

One of the first reactions came from the secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, Rodrigo Guerra, a staunch Bergoglian who had traveled throughout Latin America for years to defend the controversial post-synodal exhortation Amoris laetitia and the opening of access to Communion. Guerra told Aleteia that Pope Francis would soon give a statement on the situation in Nicaragua. With this allowed at the Angelus are expected on Sunday. So far, Santa Marta has been silent on the Sandinista persecution of the Church - because Francis has great sympathy for socialist regimes. Ortega himself accuses the Church in Nicaragua of preparing a coup d'etat, but calls Pope Francis a "friend".

The euphemistic police communiqué

Rodrigo Guerra stressed that Pope Francis is "well aware of what is happening in Nicaragua". The head of the Church was “very well informed about Nicaragua and his silence does not mean inaction or indecisiveness, no, nothing like that. It means that work is being done on other levels. And of course, if the Holy Father thinks it wise, he will intervene.”

“I wouldn't be surprised if, after the imprisonment of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, the Pope will make a first statement, perhaps on Sunday when he will say the Angelus prayer. That wouldn't surprise me. But that is the external problem. The Holy See works mainly with discreet diplomacy.”

According to Guerra, he himself is involved in the matter, since there is no apostolic nuncio in Nicaragua. Archbishop Waldemar Sommertag had been effectively expelled from the country by the Ortega regime in the spring.

“Yes, they believe that politics is primarily made through speeches and that the absence of a public statement from the Pope means that the Holy See is abandoning the Nicaraguan bishops or becoming an accomplice to the dictatorships. No, it's not like that," says Guerra.

 

Guerra, who is Mexican himself, made a somewhat strange comparison with the Mexican Cristeros a hundred years ago:

"In this regard, we must be very careful, because that is not the most desirable direction: entering into an armed conflict with a government. On the contrary, we must always try to favor peaceful means, even if they are slower but less bloody."

 

It was not the Cristeros who had started an armed conflict with the Masonic government. It was the regime that wanted to brutally strangle and wipe out the Church. The Cristeros were the answer of a desperate people. They were crushed with brutal violence by the officially "liberal" Mexican regime under the indifferent gaze of the US, which otherwise intervened repeatedly throughout Latin America.

A negotiated deal?

Cardinal Brenes published a very low-threshold statement on behalf of the Archdiocese of Managua, in which he expressed his solidarity with "the sister diocese of Matagalpa" but did not mention those arrested - neither Bishop Álvarez nor his companions - nor the storming of the episcopal curia and the arrests.

From this it is concluded that the rumors that Cardinal Brenes, with the support of Santa Marta, negotiated a deal for Bishop Álvarez with the regime are correct. Accordingly, the bishop does not go to prison, but has to leave the country and go into exile. That is also the reason why Cardinal Brenes was surprisingly admitted to Bishop Álvarez: to tell him about the deal and to convince him of it. After Bishop Báez, who has lived in Florida since 2019, Monsignor Álvarez would be the second bishop to have to leave the country to avoid arrest. Nicaragua would lose another leading dissident voice. A victory for the regime. A bishop in exile, see Msgr. Báez, is less dangerous than a bishop in prison. Since Msgr Álvarez is too young to let him become emeritus like Bishop Mata Guevara, harsher measures were resorted to. With the bishop's exile, the Sandinista regime is able to maintain its climate of intimidation and deterrence. 

With that, however, the likelihood of the reaction from Santa Marta promised by Rodrigo Guerra, that Pope Francis would denounce the persecution of the Church and the Ortega dictatorship, has decreased significantly again. Will one price of the deal be that Santa Marta will continue to exercise restraint? You will know tomorrow.

In contrast to the US government, the bishops of the USA showed solidarity with the church in Nicaragua. The American Bishops' Conference noted that "threats to the Catholic Church in Nicaragua are increasing amid the local social and political crisis."

The background

From 1979 to 1990, the Marxist-revolutionary Sandinistas under Daniel Ortega and the Cardenal brothers ruled Nicaragua dictatorially with a mixture of communism and liberation theology. No sooner had the Eastern bloc collapsed than the Sandinista regime fell. 

Due to the quarrels between the bourgeois parties, Daniel Ortega managed to return to power in 2006 with only 38 percent of the votes, this time through a democratic process. Conveniently, before the polls were held, the electoral law had been changed so that someone with 35 percent of the votes could be elected head of state or government. Since then, Ortega and the Sandinistas have been determined not to be ousted from power a second time.

The systematically erected Ortega regime changed the constitution and the electoral law in his favour, abolished the de facto separation of powers, abused the judiciary to fight political competitors and used the police and army mercilessly against its own citizens. Hundreds of people were killed in the crackdown on civil protests in 2018. 

After the Sandinistas eliminated or brutally controlled the opposition, the Church attracted their attention because it was able to retain some leeway. The Church became the only free voice in the country, a situation that is intolerable for the Marxist rulers for reasons of power politics, especially for the superstitious and paranoid Rosario Murillo, Ortega's wife and also his vice president.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Articulo66/Google Maps/Policia Nacional/Curamanagua.org (Screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG