Posted on 03/06/2020 8:24:33 PM PST by ebb tide
ROME, Italy, March 6, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Pope Francis encouraged Chinese Catholics in the communist-run country to be “good citizens” and not to engage in “proselytism.”
“The Church wants Chinese Christians to be truly Christians, and to be good citizens,” Pope Francis said. “They should promote the Gospel, but without engaging in proselytism, and they need to achieve the unity of the divided Catholic community,” he said, likely referring to the distinction between an official state-sanctioned church and the underground church.
The Pope claimed that the Church in China “looks to the future with hope.” The remarks of the Holy Father come as part of a video presenting his prayer intentions for the month of March.
He concluded the brief video by asking for prayer “that the Church in China may persevere in its faithfulness to the Gospel and grow in unity.”
In 2018, the Vatican and the Chinese government made a deal on the latter’s role in Church affairs. The details of that deal are not public. Since the 1950s, the Vatican had supported the underground church, which is still being persecuted by the Chinese government today. The Vatican-China deal seemingly legitimized the Communist-organized Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), despite its allegiance to the pro-abortion, pro-contraception Chinese government over the Church.
Accordingly, while Pope Francis thinks “the Church in China looks to the future with hope,” the situation on the ground looks rather grim.
Only recently, the human rights magazine Bitter Winter reported “believers were offered monetary rewards if they agreed to ask the priests’ relatives and friends to put pressure on them to join the CPCA.”
This took place in the Diocese of Mindong in the southeastern province of Fujian. Refusing to join the CPCA, those priests are exposed to “threats, coercion, and suppression.”
READ: ‘Intense’ spike in Christian persecution after China’s secret deal with Vatican: US gov’t report
The local government in a part of the diocese had invited Catholics to a meeting, telling them that priests who refuse to join the state-sanctioned “church” – for instance, Bishop Guo Xijin, an auxiliary bishop in the diocese – need to be “transformed.”
“They promised that churches would function normally as long as the priests joined” the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Then, Catholics were offered bribes to help with integrating priests of the underground church into the state-sanctioned “church.”
“Moreover, the participants were asked to create compromising situations, for example, pretend to be giving money to priests or have women pose as if they are involved with them, and take photos, which would later be used to intimidate them,” Bitter Winter continued.
As a last step, priests who continue to resist “will be put under house arrest, and their power and water supply would be cut off. They will be pressured ‘until they break down, go insane, or even commit suicide.’”
Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen has been the most prominent and outspoken critic of the secret deal between the Vatican and China.
In February, Zen told LifeSiteNews in an exclusive video interview that the CPCA “has always been objectively schismatic” and remains that way, “but with the blessing from the Holy See.”
As he had done before, Zen attacked Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, as “not acting for the faith.”
“I’m sorry to say, he is not a man of faith because he despises the heroes of faith,” Zen said about the cardinal who is, to a large extent, responsible for the deal between the Vatican and China.
Commenting on the deal, Zen warned that communists “never accept compromise. They want full surrender. And so now we are at the bottom. They finished the operation selling the Church.”
Vatican letter criticizes Cardinal Zen, says Chinese ‘patriotic’ church is no longer ‘independent’
Fake pope
Ah, Pope Francis.
Making the question, “Is the Pope Catholic” totally without merit.
I think the new rhetorical question should no longer be, “Is the Pope Catholic?”. It should be,”Is the Pope evil?”
Seems like the exact opposite of what we are taught by our Lord.
Frankie The Red strikes again.
Way to abandon all those Christians, Frankie. Yer a true inspiration.
#NotMyPope
Gee... I remember a REAL Pope... a Polish guy named John Paul... that actually helped Reagan and Thatcher FIGHT communists.
It’s amazing that the testicles of both his Islamic Masters and his Chinese Masters fit in his mouth at the same time...
I think the rumors about Tim Kaine loaning Poop Francois his “Candy Van” for “weekend fun” are true...
I am not a Biblical scholar but, I distinctly remember reading in the New Testament the Lord Jesus directing his disciples to go and preach the Gospel and if they are rejected to shake the dust from their feet at those towns/villages and move on to preach the Gospel again to other towns/villages.
I also remember the Lord Jesus telling his disciples to remember before they hated you they hated Me.
I have read numerous articles years ago when this Pope was newly consecrated that his Biblical education/knowledge was very much lacking and his viewpoint very much tainted with an affinity for Socialism/Communism and that his very liberal POV is his primary world view and his lack of grounding in Biblical principles was well known before he was consecrated to his position as Pope. Many worried that he is a Socialist in his world view First and Foremost.
Nothing about him in all these years dispels these early fears. In fact, his actions prove those fears to be well warranted.
Be a good government tool and don’t tell anyone about Jesus. Yeah, that’s what a Pope should say.
That’s why he’s called Francis the Red.
Pope Soros.
Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV2011)
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.
18 On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.
19 But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say,
20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.
22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
24 “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master.
25 It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!
26 “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.
27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.
28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.
30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.
34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I have come to turn “ ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.
42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
This isn’t the first time Francis has said this. He also said it in Morocco. It sounds like he wants the Catholic Church to die out, with each generation smaller than the previous.
He probably wonders about all the fuss we protestants make about that “Great Commission” thing.
Evil
Pope
Commies are TERRIFIED OF JESUS
AS THEY SHOULD BE
Hide it under a bushel no! I’m gonna let it shine- let it shine let it shine let it shine!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.