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Putin Talked with Pope Francis About Protection of Christians in Syria
Interfax ^ | 7/5/19

Posted on 07/06/2019 7:06:11 PM PDT by marshmallow

Rome, July 5, Interfax - Russian President Vladimir Putin said that at his meeting with Pope Francis they discussed the protection of Christians in the Middle East and humanitarian assistance for Syria.

"We touched on the topics of protecting the Christian population of the Middle East and humanitarian assistance for Syria," Putin told a press conference after Russian-Italian talks.

The two also discussed the situation in Venezuela and Libya and the development of Russia-Vatican relations, including on trade, education and health care, he said.

"It is important for Russia and Vatican to have consonant positions on the traditional values and the promotion of the inter-religious, cross-civilizational dialogue," Putin said.

"It was a very good discussion of several international issues and of the development of bilateral relations between Russia and Vatican, including the spiritual aspect of this relationship, and humanitarian ties," Putin said.


TOPICS: Catholic; Current Events; Orthodox Christian; Religion & Politics
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1 posted on 07/06/2019 7:06:11 PM PDT by marshmallow
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To: marshmallow

I don’t think Pope Francis cares.


2 posted on 07/06/2019 7:07:30 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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To: marshmallow

Protection from Francis?
Had to ask.


3 posted on 07/06/2019 7:07:53 PM PDT by Ouchthatonehurt
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To: BenLurkin

Strange times indeed, when the head of the former communist Evil Empire - brought down by a REAL Pope - is talking with the communist pretend-head of the Church about protecting Christians...

Yup.. strange days indeed....


4 posted on 07/06/2019 7:16:14 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: marshmallow

What? Does the Pope want Syria to STOP protecting Christians?


5 posted on 07/06/2019 7:22:40 PM PDT by House Atreides (Boycott he NFL 100% — PERMANENTLY)
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To: NFHale

Yep.

I don’t believe Putin believes in God or Christianity.

I believe he KNOWS it is the only thing that can save his country and the west, which he actually needs too keep existing.

He knows the more countries muslims control the more dangerous they are.

He may be a murderer and untrustworthy, but UNLIKE dems, he loves his country and sees the threat in illegals and muslims and lack of Christian values


6 posted on 07/06/2019 7:34:18 PM PDT by dp0622 (Bad, bad company Till the day I die.)
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To: dp0622

“...he loves his country and sees the threat ...”

Boy, now THERE’S a concept, huh??? Whodathunkit... :^)

As far as whether or not he believes in God, well, dunno. Nobody knows another man’s heart or motive. He really just might be the good guy in the white hat over there.

At the very least he’s not an open commie bastard.

And the strangest twist of all - which I never thought I’d see - is that the democrats are more of a threat to this Country of Ours than the Russians are.

How’s THAT for a mind-screw...?

They LOVED the Soviet Union because it was communist; they HATE Putin now because he isn’t.

Twisted, huh?


7 posted on 07/06/2019 7:39:46 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: dp0622
Very insightful!
8 posted on 07/06/2019 7:42:39 PM PDT by pke
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To: NFHale; All
Strange times indeed, when the head of the former communist Evil Empire - brought down by a REAL Pope - is talking with the communist pretend-head of the Church about protecting Christians...

Pope Francis: ‘Liberation Theology Was Good for Latin America’

by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.
Jan 27, 2017

In a controversial interview, Pope Francis has publicly defended Liberation Theology, calling it a “positive thing” in Latin America. ..."

In a striking revelation in 2015, the highest ranking Cold War defector asserted that the KGB had created Liberation Theology, exporting it to Latin America as a means of introducing Marxism into the continent.

Ion Mihai Pacepa, a 3-star general and former head of Communist Romania’s secret police who defected to the United States in 1978, has been called “the Cold War’s most important defector.” During the more than ten years that Pacepa worked with the CIA, he made what the agency described as “an important and unique contribution to the United States.”

He is reported in fact to have given the CIA “the best intelligence ever obtained on communist intelligence networks and internal security services.”

“Liberation theology has been generally understood to be a marriage of Marxism and Christianity. What has not been understood is that it was not the product of Christians who pursued Communism, but of Communists who pursued Christians,” Pacepa said.

In his role as doctrinal watchdog, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger referred to Liberation Theology as a “singular heresy” and a “fundamental threat” to the Church.

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/01/27/pope-francis-liberation-theology-good-latin-america/
____________________________________________

Liberation Theology Activist: Pope Francis Is One of Us

by Stefan Farrar
December 27, 2016

BERLIN (ChurchMilitant.com) - The main figurehead of liberation theology in the 1980s is praising Pope Francis, and criticizing the signatories of the recently sent dubia.

Leonardo Boff, a main proponent for liberation theology in Brazil throughout his life, gave an interview to the German newspaper Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger in Berlin, which was published on Christmas.

Boff entered the Franciscan order in 1959 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1964, where he became a controversial figure with his prominent advocacy of left-wing causes. During his priesthood, he became a vocal critic of capitalism and a strong proponent of liberation theology.

Liberation theology is a religious movement that offers a Marxist understanding of poverty and oppression, and which had its start in South America in the 1960s.

One KGB defector who later converted to Catholicism claimed it was a movement created by the KGB and spread by willing South American bishops. ...”

Lots more at link...

https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/liberation-theology-activist-pope-francis-is-one-of-us

_______________________________________________________

Obama's Church: Gospel of Hate

Kathy Shaidle, FrontPageMag.com
Monday, April 07, 2008

In March of 2007, FOX News host Sean Hannity had engaged Obama's pastor in a heated interview about his Church's teachings. For many viewers, the ensuing shouting match was their first exposure to "Black Liberation Theology"...

Like the pro-communist Liberation Theology that swept Central America in the 1980s and was repeatedly condemned by Pope John Paul II, Black Liberation Theology combines warmed-over 1960s vintage Marxism with carefully distorted biblical passages.

However, in contrast to traditional Marxism, it emphasizes race rather than class. The Christian notion of "salvation" in the afterlife is superseded by "liberation" on earth, courtesy of the establishment of a socialist utopia.

http://web.archive.org/web/20090321190904/http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=30CD9E14-B0C9-4F8C-A0A6-A896F0F44F02

______________________________________________


9 posted on 07/06/2019 8:01:43 PM PDT by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! Newly updated FR Page w/ Table of Contents! Click ETL)
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To: NFHale; All
From David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com/DiscoverTheNetworks.org:

LIBERATION THEOLOGY

“...liberation theology’s real creator was the Soviet Union’s foreign intelligence and domestic security agency, the KGB.

Patriarch Kirill, who today heads Russian Orthodox Church, secretly worked for the KGB under the code name “Mikhailov” and spent some 40 years promoting liberation theology.

Ion Mihai Pacepa, the highest-ranking Soviet-bloc official ever to defect to the West, writes: “Liberation theology has been generally understood to be a marriage of Marxism and Christianity.

What has not been understood is that it was not the product of Christians who pursued Communism, but of Communists who pursued Christians....

Its genesis was part of a highly classified Party/State Disinformation Program, formally approved in 1960 by KGB chairman Aleksandr Shelepin and Politburo member Aleksei Kirichenko, then the second in the party hierarchy after Nikita Khrushchev.”

Adds Pacepa: “In 1971, the KGB sent Kirill — who had just been elevated to the rank of archimandrite — to Geneva as emissary of the Russian Orthodox Church to the World Council of Churches.... Kirill/Mikhailov’s main task was to involve the WCC in spreading the new liberation theology throughout Latin America.

In 1975, the KGB was able to infiltrate Kirill into the Central Committee of the WCC — a position he held until he was “elected” patriarch of Russia, in 2009.

Not long after he joined the Central Committee, Kirill reported to the KGB: ‘Now the agenda of the WCC [World Council of Churches] is also our agenda.’”

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=2990
____________________________________________

August, 2006

Image result for Kim Jong-Il  communist

North Korea Builds an Orthodox Church

The first-ever Russian Orthodox church will open in Pyongyang, North Korea this weekend.

It’s an odd project considering that freedom of religion exists almost exclusively on paper in the closed communist country.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il is supposed to be a communist atheist.

So why has he made promoting the Russia Orthodox Church his latest pet project?

On August 13, the country’s first Orthodox church is to be opened in the capital city of Pyongyang.

Russian Metropolitan Bishop Kyrill, second in command within the Church after the Patriarch, will travel to Pyongyang to christen the new house of worship. ...”

http://www.spiegel.de/international/kim-jong-il-and-religion-north-korea-builds-an-orthodox-church-a-431310.htm

_______________________________________________________

The Russian Orthodox Church is a member of the (communist) World Council of Churches

https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/russian-orthodox-church
____________________________________

From David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com/DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
Profile: WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES (WCC)


10 posted on 07/06/2019 8:02:28 PM PDT by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! Newly updated FR Page w/ Table of Contents! Click ETL)
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To: ETL

Indeed. I’m very familiar with Liberation Theology. Thank you for posting it though, for those not familiar with it.

This current fraud pope is a joke.


11 posted on 07/06/2019 8:06:03 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: NFHale
This current fraud pope is a joke.

As is the Russian Orthodox Church, as evident by the material I provided.

12 posted on 07/06/2019 8:10:02 PM PDT by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! Newly updated FR Page w/ Table of Contents! Click ETL)
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To: NFHale

Agree with ALL of that but if you give him too much bad press in Russia you’re gonna get shot or poisoned with plutonium :)

He’s not wearing a white hat.

Maybe gray and that’s better than the black one he was wearing 20 years ago :)


13 posted on 07/06/2019 8:13:20 PM PDT by dp0622 (Bad, bad company Till the day I die.)
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To: pke

Boy have you got the wrong guy :)

They’re just the only things that make sense at this point..

But thanks


14 posted on 07/06/2019 8:14:56 PM PDT by dp0622 (Bad, bad company Till the day I die.)
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To: dp0622; pke; All
I don’t believe Putin believes in God or Christianity.

Something to consider (just below), as it would tie together beautifully many things we see going on today, including the Dems being in cahoots with the Russians. And not just in their joint attempt to defeat Trump via the ongoing "Trump-Russia Collusion" hoax, but in the many ways the Obama-Biden-Hillary admin significantly helped strengthen the Russians hand militarily while they were in power, by means of Obama's promised and delivered "flexibility" on all-important missile defense systems, his near-treasonous New Start nuclear treaty, the Putin-loving Obama-John Fonda Kerry Iran deal, and of course the Hillary-Obama Uranium One deal, where the O-H admin allowed the Russians to take control of 20% of our uranium production!

Anyway, in light of all this, see if this below makes more sense now than in any time in recent history...

Did Communism Fake Its Own Death in 1991?
American Thinker ^ | January 16, 2010 | Jason McNew

In a [] 1984 book [New Lies for Old], ex-KGB Major Anatoliy Golitsyn predicted the liberalization of the Soviet Bloc and claimed that it would be a strategic deception. ..."

"Golitsyn's argument was that beginning in about 1960, the Soviet Union embarked on a strategy of massive long-range strategic deception which would span several decades and result in the destruction of Western capitalism and the erection of a communist world government."

"Golitsyn published his second book, The Perestroika Deception, after the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991. This book contained further analysis of the liberalization, in addition to previously classified memoranda submitted by Golitsyn to the CIA. The two books must be read together to get a complete picture of Golitsyn's thesis."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/01/did_communism_fake_its_own_dea.html
_______________________________________________

Link to read "New Lies for Old" online:
https://archive.org/details/GolitsynAnatoleTheNewLiesForOldOnes
_______________________________________________

Link to read "The Perestroika Deception" online:
https://archive.org/details/pdfy-TVvzZzfXiMBkMdvD
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

"Gentlemen, Comrades, do not be concerned about all you hear about glasnost and perestroika and democracy in the coming years.

These are primarily for outward consumption.

There will be no significant internal change within the Soviet Union, other than for cosmetic purposes.

Our purpose is to disarm the Americans and let them fall asleep".

-- Mikhial Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union, to the Politburo in November of 1987.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic


America’s Coming Crisis: Prophetic Warnings, Divine Destiny
By David N. Balmforth

15 posted on 07/06/2019 8:32:49 PM PDT by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! Newly updated FR Page w/ Table of Contents! Click ETL)
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To: marshmallow

Putin is more pro-Christian than the Pope. I care less on how he runs his country but he espouses values that America and the Vatican used to have which is incredibly ironic.


16 posted on 07/06/2019 8:39:43 PM PDT by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: shanover
Putin is more pro-Christian than the Pope. I care less on how he runs his country but he espouses values that America and the Vatican used to have

You're very easily deceived, aren't you. Have you always been this way? You have to be careful, there are a lot of con artists out there waiting to pounce on people like you. Be extra careful with your money. ie, don't fall for any of the many fly-by-night schemes that are out there, particularly on the internet!

17 posted on 07/06/2019 8:57:02 PM PDT by ETL (REAL Russia collusion! Newly updated FR Page w/ Table of Contents! Click ETL)
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To: ETL
The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest member church in the WCC..."

And Putin is an enemy of real Christianity.

Russia's Newest Law: No Evangelizing Outside of Church | News ...

Christians are Severely Persecuted in Putin's Russia – But That Could ...

Christian Persecution Increasing in Russia - Christian News Headlines

Report: Non-Orthodox Christians Face 'Strong Discrimination' in Russia

Russia, other former Soviet republics persecuting Christians, new ...

Moscow church destroyed in sign of new Russian repression Posted on Sep 26, 2012 | by Jill Nelson

MOSCOW (BP) -- It was in the early hours of the morning on Sept. 6 when Pastor Vasili Romanyuk's phone rang. A group of men backed by local police were demolishing his Holy Trinity Pentecostal Church, housed in a three-story building nestled in a Moscow suburb. As word spread, congregants arrived at the scene hoping to save the building, but their efforts were futile. By dawn the church was in ruins and some of its most valuable contents were missing.

An isolated incident? A misunderstanding? Analysts watching the current climate in the former Cold War country don't think so: "This destruction of the church is about as concrete of evidence as you can get that something very bad and very troubling is taking place," said Katrina Lantos Swett, chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. "This could not have happened without the backing, support, and implicit blessing of the police."

The incident is just one sign of deteriorating freedoms in Russia, and behind the scenes a cozy relationship between the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church has raised more than a few eyebrows. As President Vladimir Putin digs into his third term, a number of Kremlin crackdowns involving vague interpretations of the country's extremism law and other human-rights abuses are troubling signs that the country has slipped into a familiar, repressive era.

"When you have unknown people backed by the police coming out at midnight to begin tearing down a church, you know something doesn't smell right," Lantos Swett said.

Officials evicted Holy Trinity Church from its original building in 1995 and relocated the church to the eastern Moscow suburb. The congregation used its own funds to construct a new building and repeatedly battled officials over permits. The church demolition and its history reflect an emerging pattern: Authorities confiscate land from non-favored religious communities and force the congregation to relocate to a remote suburb, the religious leaders apply for permits that are subsequently denied, and officials confiscate (once again) or demolish the relocated congregation, citing lack of proper documentation.

Pastor Romanyuk and a small group of the church's 550 congregants arrived on site around 3:30 a.m. as about 45 men claiming to be civil volunteers blocked them from the building and threw stones. "When I arrived, I just burst into tears," 25-year-old Natalya Cherevichinik told The Moscow Times as she surveyed the destruction. "I couldn't believe that something that had been built over several years could be destroyed in a few hours."

Russian Evangelicals Leery of Orthodox Church, Friday, December 30, 2011:

class="adjusted">MOSCOW, Russia -- For decades, the Russian Orthodox Church was persecuted under the Soviet Union's Communist Party.

Since the early 1990s, the church has grown in size and influence as its relationship with the Russian government has improved significantly.

However, that cozy relationship worries the country's evangelicals.

Threats Against Evangelicals

For eight years, Yuri Sipko ran one of the largest Baptist organizations in Russia. Now, 20 years after the fall of Communism, he worries about the growing threats against the country's evangelical movement.

"The collapse of Communism was supposed to usher in an era of greater religious freedom, but I'm concerned we are moving in the wrong direction," Sipko said.

What makes the Russian evangelicals very concerned is an emerging relationship between the Russian government and the Russian Orthodox Church.

"For example, the government recently introduced religious classes based on the principals of the Orthodox Church in public schools," Sipko said.

"Then late last year, the Russian president announced an initiative to appoint Orthodox chaplains to all army units," he said. "Our constitution clearly states no religion can be the state religion."

Russia Church-State Relations

Russia watchers credit two men, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, for elevating the church's prominence. The state media has also played a key role, often showing the leaders attending church services.

Sergey Ryakhovski knows both men well. As head of Russia's Pentecostal Union, he meets regularly with top government and Orthodox Church leaders.

Ryakhovski worries that the Orthodox Church's influence is coming at the expense of religious freedom, especially for minority groups such as Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists.

"There are so many laws and by-laws that regulate religious life in Russia," Ryakhovski said. "For example, evangelical Christians just can't go out and buy a church building or buy a piece of land to build a church."

"Plus, criticizing or challenging the Orthodox Church is not a task for all," he added.

Orthodox Church Revival

The Russian Orthodox Church on the other hand has had it easy in recent times after decades of state persecution.

Church buildings that were destroyed during the Soviet era have been rebuilt with Russian taxpayer money. In the past 20 years, the government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars restoring some 23,000 churches.

Most Russians say they belong to the Orthodox Church. Yet CBN News found mixed reactions on the streets of Moscow to the growing bond between church and state

At Expense of All Others, Putin Picks a Church

By CLIFFORD J. LEVY Published: April 24, 2008

STARY OSKOL, Russia —

It was not long after a Methodist church put down roots here that the troubles began.

First came visits from agents of the F.S.B., a successor to the K.G.B., who evidently saw a threat in a few dozen searching souls who liked to huddle in cramped apartments to read the Bible and, perhaps, drink a little tea. Local officials then labeled the church a “sect.” Finally, last month, they shut it down.

There was a time after the fall of Communism when small Protestant congregations blossomed here in southwestern Russia, when a church was almost as easy to set up as a general store. Today, this industrial region has become emblematic of the suppression of religious freedom under President Vladimir V. Putin.

Just as the government has tightened control over political life, so, too, has it intruded in matters of faith. The Kremlin’s surrogates in many areas have turned the Russian Orthodox Church into a de facto official religion, warding off other Christian denominations that seem to offer the most significant competition for worshipers. They have all but banned proselytizing by Protestants and discouraged Protestant worship through a variety of harassing measures, according to dozens of interviews with government officials and religious leaders across Russia.

Russia's De-Facto State Religion : Persecution : http://www ... www.persecution.org/?p=9350&upm...‎ International Christian Co... Putin frequently appears with the Orthodox head, Patriarch Aleksei II, ... Baptists, evangelicals, Pentecostals and many others who cut Christ's robes like bandits, ...

Government Returning Land to Religious Organizations to Favor Orthodox Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009: An ambitious draft law on the transfer of property of religious significance to religious organisations may reignite a process begun in 1993.

Pentecostal Seminary Targeted for Liquidation

Pentecostal Church Forced to Meet Outside in Moscow Winter

Russia: Governor Orders Church Land Grab

Council of Religious Experts threatens religious freedom

A new Inquisition ?

Russia “You have the law, we have orders

18 posted on 07/07/2019 4:27:49 AM PDT by daniel1212 (Trust the risen Lord Jesus to save you as a damned and destitute sinner + be baptized + follow Him)
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To: ETL

No doubt...

Strange days we’re living in...


19 posted on 07/07/2019 5:46:45 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: dp0622

“...Maybe gray...”

Yeah, I think your description is better, actually. He does tend to deal with adversaries in a not too genteel way, for sure.


20 posted on 07/07/2019 5:48:04 AM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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