Cardinal Once Jailed by Communists Criticizes Vatican’s ‘Silence’ About China’s Persecution of Catholics
PRAGUE (LifeSiteNews) — A Czech cardinal who was once imprisoned by communists publicly criticized the Vatican under Pope Francis for ignoring Communist China’s human rights abuses and persecution of Catholics.
“Just as silence and complicity with the communist regime damaged my country and made it easier for the government to imprison dissidents, the Church’s silence in the face of human rights abuses by Communist China harms Catholic life in China,” Cardinal Dominik Duka, O.P, the archbishop emeritus of Prague, said in a recent article.
“Hudson Institute scholar Nina Shea has documented that eight Catholic bishops are now believed to be detained indefinitely without trial in China,” he noted. “We know that the great Cardinal Joseph Zen was arrested in 2022 and is now being watched and monitored by the state.”
READ: Pope refuses to defend Cdl. Zen ahead of trial in Communist China, calls for ‘dialogue’
“Jimmy Lai, a Catholic convert and newspaper owner, has been held in solitary confinement in Hong Kong for more than three years,” the cardinal added.
“Václav Havel (the famous Czech writer and statesman), with whom I once shared a cell, wrote that the only way to fight totalitarian power is for each of us to have the courage to choose to live the truth in our own lives, no matter what,” he continued. “Today, we are again facing totalitarian dictatorships and ideologies. Once again, courageous individuals are paying the price for standing up to them.”
“Strengthened by such modern witnesses, whether known or unknown, Vatican diplomacy must regain and raise its voice to join them in defending the human person and in defending the Gospel. The time of courage has come once again,” he declared.
Cardinal Duka, ordained a priest in 1970, was banned from ministering as a priest by the communist government of what was then Czechoslovakia, though he continued secretly preaching and teaching seminarians. In 1981, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison for “religious activities.”
The prelate compared the Vatican’s diplomacy with China under Francis to the policy of Ostpolitik employed by Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, in which “the struggle for freedom and human dignity had begun to be set aside in favor of the politics of détente, which was mainly supported by the political left and communist states.”
The “quiet diplomacy” of Ostpolitik “was skillfully overcome under Pope St. John Paul II, who strengthened underground and dissident information networks to raise his voice and extend his reach,” Cardinal Duka recalled. “He insisted that the Gospel of Jesus Christ be made public, no matter what.”
The Czech cardinal also criticized “attempts to exclude the Church — and the truths of the human person — far from the public square” across the West, as well as threats against schools and teachers who resist transgenderism and the firing of people for upholding “the good of marriage and the value of all human life.”
Pope Francis and China
Pope Francis, and the Vatican during his papacy, have faced widespread criticism for their lenient – and even admiring – approach to totalitarian left-wing regimes, particularly China.
China’s Communist government has oppressed the Catholic Church for decades but has significantly intensified its persecution of Catholics and other religious groups under current dictator Xi Jinping.
In recent years, Chinese Communists have arrested and tortured Catholics and other Christians, demolished Catholics shrines, and implemented a surveillance system for clergy. Human rights organizations and Chinese Christian leaders have called the wave of persecution the worst attack on religion in the country since the Cultural Revolution.
Since 2014, the Chinese government has also interned more than one million ethnic and religious minorities in China’s Xinjiang province, reportedly killing some prisoners and subjecting thousands of women to forced abortions, systematic sexual abuse, and involuntary sterilization.
However, despite his normal outspokenness, Pope Francis has rarely mentioned China’s abuses and has downplayed religious oppression in the country, saying that, “In China, the churches are full.”
READ: Vatican silent as Chinese communists arrest Catholic publisher in Hong Kong
Pope Francis has also been heavily criticized for his Vatican-China deal, which experts and human rights organizations, including the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, have said has exacerbated the persecution of Chinese Catholics.
The secretive agreement, signed in 2018 and renewed in 2020 and 2022, is understood to allow the Chinese Communist government to select bishops and reportedly recognizes the Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA), the schismatic, state-backed Catholic “church” in China. As part of the deal, the Vatican recognized seven illegitimate “bishops” installed by the CPA and pushed two bishops of the faithful underground Chinese Church out of their dioceses, replacing them with CPA “bishops.”
Cardinal Zen, the revered former bishop of Hong Kong, has condemned the Vatican-China deal as a “complete surrender” and called for the resignation of Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin over the agreement.
Pope Francis himself has admitted that underground Catholics “will suffer” under the deal. “There is always suffering in an agreement,” he said in 2018.
But the Argentine pope, who has expressed sympathy for communists, has nevertheless described the deal as “going well,” and Parolin has announced that the Vatican and China intend to renew it again this fall.
MSNBC’s Joy Reid Compares Biden Getting COVID to Trump Being Nearly Assassinated
MSNBC’s Joy Reid says Joe Biden getting COVID is just as bad as Trump surviving an assassination attempt. The White House announced yesterday that fully jabbed Biden has contracted the virus and was suffering with […]
The post MSNBC’s Joy Reid Compares Biden Getting COVID to Trump Being Nearly Assassinated appeared first on The People’s Voice.
Democrats Introduce ‘Climate Murder’ Charges for People Who Deny Global Warming Narrative
Democrats have introduced new legislation that will allow authorities to charge people who deny the man-made global warming narrative with ‘climate murder.’ As part of an attempt to completely end the oil industry, Democrats want […]
The post Democrats Introduce ‘Climate Murder’ Charges for People Who Deny Global Warming Narrative appeared first on The People’s Voice.
Joe Biden Says He Is Preparing To ‘Pass the Baton’ to Kamala Harris
Joe Biden has admitted that he is preparing to ‘pass the baton’ of being the Democratic Presidential nominee to Kamala Harris. According to CNN, Biden is “being receptive” to calls for him to step aside […]
The post Joe Biden Says He Is Preparing To ‘Pass the Baton’ to Kamala Harris appeared first on The People’s Voice.
Senior Biden Staffer Says Elite Must ‘Turn Their Fire’ on Trump Following Failed Assassination
A senior Biden White House staffer has declared that the global elite must “turn their fire” on former President Donald Trump following his assassination attempt on Saturday. CNN contributor and former Biden White House communications […]
The post Senior Biden Staffer Says Elite Must ‘Turn Their Fire’ on Trump Following Failed Assassination appeared first on The People’s Voice.
Snipers INSIDE Building Used by Failed Trump Assassin did Nothing to Stop the Attack, says Local Cop
A local law enforcement officer with “direct knowledge” of the situation told CBS News anchor Anna Schecter this week that not one, not two, but three snipers from Beaver County, Penn., were present inside the building where shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks reportedly tried to assassinate Donald Trump.
One of the snipers who was stationed on the second floor of the American Glass Research building saw Crooks standing outside and looking up at the roof before climbing to the top to do the deed. Crooks reportedly walked away, returned, and “whipped out his phone” after the sniper snapped a couple pictures of him.
Crooks then proceeded to take out a rangefinder, prompting the sniper to radio a command post. Crooks disappeared after that only to return a third time with a backpack in tow, prompting the snipers to call the command post a second time to report what they saw.
By the time local law enforcement arrived on the scene for backup, Crooks had already climbed to the top of the building where he positioned himself behind the view of the snipers inside the building.
“Two other officers who heard the sniper’s call tried to get onto the roof,” CBS News reported, “but by that time, a Secret Service sniper had already killed Crooks,” according to the officer on scene.
(Related: Remember when Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson publicly stated to MSNBC that he wanted someone to put a “bullet” into Trump?)
What really happened in Butler?
Take note of the fact that local law enforcement snipers had their eyes on Crooks the entire time, having taken pictures of him and even notifying their command post of his movements. And yet they did nothing about it, allowing Crooks to shoot at Trump, “at which point Secret Service snipers returned fire and killed him,” to quote one media source.
It almost seems as though Beaver County’s police officers were told to stand down while Crooks positioned himself and opened fire. Then and only then did anyone intervene, and at that point it was federal Secret Service rather than the snipers who were inside the building to keep an eye on the situation.
The blame game has since commenced with Secret Service blaming local law enforcement in Butler for the fiasco, and vice versa. Neither group is willing to admit that it dropped the ball in keeping the rally orderly and shooting-free.
“There was [sic] local police in that building,” commented Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle, a close friend of the Biden Crime Family. “There was [sic] local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building.”
A former Secret Service agent spoke out against Cheatle for saying this, arguing that Secret Service “is responsible for everything, not just the inner perimeter.”
“They should make sure all of this is covered,” the former agent added. “Officers inside a building: that’s not mitigating a high-ground vulnerability.
Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, argued back that none of this is the snipers’ fault even though they were stationed inside the building to protect the former president.
“Whatever happened in Butler, this was not a failure of the local, state or federal officers on the ground who responded to the shots fired at former President Trump,” Yoes said. “They acted heroically and put their lives on the line to protect everyone at the event and we must recognize that.”
“This is a failure at the management or command level who failed to secure an obvious weakness in the security of this event.”
The latest news about Trump and the election this fall can be found at Trump.news.