The Present-Day Persecution of the Church by Communist
Russia Seriously Threatens Your Eternal Salvation
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - THE SITUATION IN
COMMUNIST COUNTRIES TODAY
No Catholic and no part of the Catholic Church existing in the
territory of a Communist-controlled country exists in freedom at all comparable
to anywhere in the West. Persecution has not disappeared. Catholic priests are
forcibly detained by communist agents on a regular basis simply because they
are Catholic priests; loyal Catholic lay/people because they practice their
Catholic faith are discriminated against. For example they are unable to work
at the jobs and at the pay that they are due; the Church has little freedom in
appointing the bishops that it wants to. Besides all this there is also the
persecution of the bureaucracy, harassments, restrictions imposed by unlawful
regulations, fines and being spied upon by the Communists and their agents.
This is a brief but incomplete view of what the Church suffers in those
countries under Communist oppression which have negotiated with the Vatican.
Apparently Communists in these countries have temporarily lessened some of
their fury against the Church which they displayed at the time of Stalin who
tortured and murdered millions of Catholics. This apparent lessening of
persecution in some communist-controlled countries has been granted in return
for some extremely significant concessions given by the Vatican. (In the face
of the worst persecution the Catholic Church has ever endured since its
foundation by Jesus Christ one can understand why the Vatican diplomats were
tempted to give these concessions to the communist tyrants.)
But in those Communist-dominated countries which have not been
willing to negotiate with the Vatican, there the persecution of Catholics
continues to be as ruthless and relentless as anything that existed under
Stalin and his kind. For example, in Albania, China, North Korea and Vietnam
the Catholic Church suffers open, bold and vicious persecution.
THE DILEMMA OF THE VATICAN
So the Vatican faces a dilemma: where it is unable to negotiate,
the people suffer grievously, where it does negotiate it can for a short while
make the life of the people a bit better but far from free and at the expense
of allowing the Communist regimes to appear as though they are legally and
morally acceptable. As a short-term policy it is understandable for Vatican
diplomats, but as a long-term policy the Church cannot but denounce as criminal
the very purpose, methods and existence of Atheistic Communism. Communism for
its part has actively continued its atheistic propaganda war against Catholics
in the West and the world over.
The 20 years silence by the Vatican regarding the evil nature of
communism has given rise to the errors of communism being spread by the
communists within the Church - so that now there are people who once were
Catholics - who are now ipso facto excommunicated by their adherence to
communism - but who still claim to be Catholics - they sometimes call
themselves Catholic-Marxists or Christian-Marxists. Other Catholics are
confused by this silence of the Vatican and thus they do not do their patriotic
and religious duty of doing all they can to resist the advance of communist
ideas and people. Thus these pro-communists continue to take positions of
influence in politics, in labor relations, in the military, in the business
world, as well as in the mass media and even in the Catholic Church itself.
Our Lady of Fatima warned us in 1917 that if mankind did not
respond to the very special grace that God has given the world through the
message of Fatima - that the world would be punished by the persecution of the
Church. This persecution has resulted in the great lessening of the Moral Voice
of the Church in this vital matter of the danger of Communism - so that now we
even have Marxist bishops in some countries and Marxists who teach their errors
and heresies under the title "Liberation Theology" which has fooled a number of
Catholics in North and South America. Thus we see the persecution of the Church
continues in our day with the Communists attacking the Church from outside by
open persecution as well as attacking the Church by sending their subversive
agents to destroy the Church from within. The Church is also persecuted by the
organized corruption of morals in the Western world by the Militant Atheists of
various associations. These atheists, for example, wage the continuous and
well-orchestrated propaganda war promoting contraception and abortion. It is
this war which continues to kill Catholic bodies and souls as well as many
others.
WHAT WE MUST DO
We must respond to this challenge to our faith or we shall lose
our faith and our souls. Our Lady of Fatima said that if Her requests were not
heeded then Russia would spread its errors throughout the world and Sister Lucy
of Fatima has explained if we persist in ignoring Our Lady of Fatima's message
then the whole world including the United States will be enslaved by Russian
Communists.
Furthermore it would seem that not everywhere would the Catholic
faith be preserved under worldwide Communist domination, for Our Lady said at
Fatima, "In Portugal the doctrine of the faith will always be preserved." She
seems to imply that if we do not respond to Her request then whole countries
will lose the faith, and if a Catholic loses the faith he cannot but go to Hell
forever unless he truly repents before he dies. Let us therefore pray and work
for the conversion of Russia to God. Let us do this before the Communists by
force of arms enslave us and take away our faith and eternal salvation. Let us
petition our bishops to obey Our Lady of Fatima by joining with the Pope in
Consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Sign the "Petition to your
Catholic Bishop" in the last issue of The Fatima Crusader and get others to do
the same. Send the completed petition forms to The Fatima Crusader. Click
Contact below for address information. Above all, pray the Rosary, Consecrate
yourself to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart and avoid sin and obey the Message of Fatima.
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