(This post was originally published on 24th Feb 2025)

“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness; rather, expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly, but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.” (Ephesians 5:11 to 13)

Prologue 

This essay examines the relation between the Vatican, the USCCB (The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) and the government & current administration of America, led by President Trump. This essay will attempt to present a high-level summary of the last few months of political changes and their impact, along with a summarized background of various facets, both in the Vatican and in America, that have led to the current face-off between the Vatican and the Trump administration. While there is charity & respect intended to the Holy Father in keeping with Ephesians 5:11, necessity demands that the actions taken by the USCCB and Pope Francis be spelled out for what they are. I maintain a similar stance as Christine Niles, who is a seasoned Catholic journalist/reporter, who summarized her position (which I fully endorse. Watch her ‘Forward Boldly’ episode here from 1.45 to 4.21 minutes into the video).  

Section 1: America in the post-World War II period  

It is fair to say that America has commandeered itself into a super power status since that fateful day that the then President Truman approved deploying ‘Little Boy’ & ‘Fat Man’ on Hiroshima & Nagasaki respectively during the 2nd World War (WW2).   

Since the culmination of WW2, America was probably one of the quickest to recover from the effects, transforming itself into a highly enterprising country that was at the forefront of technology, finance, industry, medicine, services, etc., America has indeed been a land of pioneers and a country that the rest of the world takes its cues from, be it the Federal Reserve (The Fed) that dictates interest & repo rates or be it cultural tides and fashions. It is rightly said that ‘if America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold’.  

What is not that well known however is America’s enormous debt which in 2025 has swelled up since the 1980’s to almost 35+ Trillion (with a capital T – click here or watch this video for more information of the looming debt crisis). Without a plan to tackle the exponential debt, the world may have a Global Financial Crisis (version 2.0) on its hands very soon.   

Section 2: Globalism and the rise of Woke Liberalism  

It is no secret that since the ascendency of globalist-liberal leaders such as President Obama (America) in 2009, Prime Minister Trudeau (Canada) from 2015 onwards, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar (Ireland) in 2017, and President Emmanuel Macron (France) from 2017 onwards, an ugly form of liberalism reared its head globally (click here for a good video on liberalism). This liberalism was nicknamed ‘woke’ or ‘wokeism’ (click here for more on ‘woke’). This liberalism was demonstrated in gradations of extremism by those who were on the far or extreme left, by trademark activism and identity politics typically in issues related to perceived racial injustice (with organizations and movements such as Black Lives Matter aka BLM), perceived sexual and gender rights (through the notorious and tyrannical LGBTQ+ group), perceived pro-choice rights by demanding abortion for women (through Planned Parenthood), feminism (through the organizations such as NOW), and even the rise of radical woke activism for Islamophobia & anti-Israeli causes (click here and here). This led to a push of various radical ideologies such as gay/lesbian marriages/acceptance in the culture, increase in gender reassignment surgeries, increase in grotesque topics (lesbian, gay, bisexual orientation, masturbation, transgenderism, etc.) introduced as sex education very early to young children (click here), abortion on demand and late term abortions right until the 9th month (click here), arresting those who protest & campaign against the practice of abortion (click here), and preventing free speech of the opposition (even the then President of the USA) to the above ideologies and policies considered sacred to liberals (click here).   

With the outbreak of war in 2022 between Ukraine and Russia, the ‘woke’ liberal voices across the globe emphatically moved in support of Ukraine and President Zelenskyy, and when the Palestine backed terrorist entity Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, the same hyper democrat voices shifted towards support of the perceived plight of Gaza.   

Another area of global-liberal interference was the problem of refugees.  Wars and unrest in various parts of the world such as Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, Venezuela, Africa, etc. which led to an increase of refugees have increased the liberal-woke demand for the resettlement of those affected, in especially western countries. World leaders, including Pope Francis, had all pipped in, flooding the media with various initiatives to resettle refugees. The USA is said to have allowed nearly 280,000 asylum seekers into the country from 2012 to 2021 (source here). This was in addition to illegal entrants streaming into America across the southern border from countries such as Honduras, Cuba, Haiti, Colombia, Mexico and even from the northeast border through Canada. However, with the Biden-Harris administration, the number of migrant encounters at the southern American border was estimated to be 2.3 million than that of FY 2022 (source here) & during the FY of 2023, approximately sixty thousand refugees were admitted to the United States. This is a significant increase from the fiscal year of 2022, when approximately twenty five thousand refugees were admitted into the United States (source here).  

Section 3: The Vatican since the millennium – Political upheavals 

Without getting into the origins of the issue, it suffices to say that the successive moderate and fairly conservative papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI had inherited a Vatican that was rife with problems. Beginning within the Jesuit order, which since the time of Pope Paul VI (from the council of Vatican II) had already begun demanding for a more progressive theology towards moral issues (homosexuality, divorced and remarried couples, etc.) Concerning broader social problems such as poverty and economic disparity, Jesuits using the Marxist and Soviet inspired Liberation Theology, took up activism for poverty and economic differences in various South American countries by taking a sabbatical from priestly duties and joining the government or the revolutionary guerilla fighters. The Cardenal brothers (Ernesto and Fernando) in Nicaragua, were prime examples of such discord within the Vatican (click here).   

For those unfamiliar with both Liberation Theology and Socialism, we need to understand that both these system of thoughts and political ideologies stem from Marxism/Communism. Liberation Theology essentially interprets the Bible through the lens of the oppressed, viewing Jesus as a ‘liberator’ against poverty and injustice – which is completely inconsistent with the Gospel message and the history of the Church, Fathers and Saints. Socialism is a political or economic system that seeks to create greater ‘equality’ by ‘distributing’ wealth more ‘equally’ in a society. Both these concepts are against the free market economics of Capitalism, that is prevalent generally in western countries, especially the USA, and which is seen as the enemy by Socialism and Liberation Theology. Which is why, during the papacy of Pope Francis, you may often come across or hear an unusual emphasis on the ‘poor and marginalized’, ‘refugees’, ‘migrants’, ‘social justice’, ‘reaching out to the peripheries’, ‘dignity’, etc. While Pope Francis and his loyal biographers have often tried to dissociate him from Liberation Theology, his views and messages seem to indicate very strong influences of Liberation Theology & Socialism. In the context of American politics, Pope Francis has advocated that western developed countries should do more for the poor and the marginalized; and one of those ways, according to the Pope, was an ‘open border’ policy. Towards socialism, communism, and liberation theology, I highly recommend readers to the YouTube videos by Dr. Taylor Marshall and Michael Hichborn from The Lepanto Institute, for a more detailed analysis, which will benefit greatly in having a more developed understanding on the subject(s) – click here and here).  

Section 4: The Vatican since the millennium – The sex abuse scandal  

What was also getting repetitive attention in the media were cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests especially, reported since the 1980s (click here for just the trend in the UK). These abuses incidents spanned between the period of 1950 to even as late as the late 2000s, with no indicators of a stop in this trend. Thousands of children were sexually abused by priests and prelates; what is worse is that these acts were covered up Bishops and Cardinals in the know of things, by transferring the guilty priests from one parish to another when the issue was identified. Not only was the priest(s) therefore protected and given a free pass to continue their troubling behaviour, but the Vatican was found to have paid large out of court settlements or compensations to the affected victims and their parents/guardians, which ran to the tune of billions of dollars. It was also identified that this was a global malady, with thousands of priests being implicated, many from different countries, found guilty of sexual abuse of minors. The emotional and moral trauma to victims aside, some of whom took their own lives, this not only turned out to be a huge moral embarrassment for the Vatican and Catholics at large, but also a financial drain on churches, diocese, and the Vatican, who all seemed to rush to the defense of the ‘dear’ priest or prelate who was involved.  

The moral outrage expressed by Catholics, especially by those Catholics who attended Mass, meant that the collections from the boxes were evidently lower(click here & here). This was apart from the direct impact of money paid by the Vatican towards legal & hush money, which in any case would have been a huge drain on Vatican finances, and which usually are the direct result of the Sunday obligation collection and other donations collected by the Church/Diocese for varied intentions around the year. The bankruptcy of various churches, which began closing across Europe, Canada, and America, soon resulted.   

This was followed by the Ted McCarrick abuse scandal in 2018 (referring to the infamous Cardinal Theodore McCarrick aka Ted McCarrick, who was removed from ministry at the direction of the Vatican, after an investigation by the Archdiocese of New York found credible a charge that he sexually abused a teenager – click here). The defrocking of Cardinal McCarrick raised important questions about the reports that Pope Benedict XVI had imposed penalties on Cardinal McCarrick because of the reports of abuse, but these penalties and curfews were later revoked by Pope Francis during his papacy, with one outlet describing it as follows:

“Francis chose to rehabilitate him, ‘cover’ for him and elevate him to be a ‘’trusted counselor’.” (Click here).

 

It is worth noting here that McCarrick was also a high-profile deal negotiator for the Vatican, who was involved with securing funding for the Vatican from USAID since 2007 according to reports (click here). There is also news being reported, that McCarrick may have also been the Obama administrations go-between or emissary to the Vatican and was therefore involved in policies that resulted in an increase in financial aid to the Vatican since 2009, apart from perhaps escalating the cogs of illegal migration in America. There is also belief in allegations that the Obama administration, in conjunction with liberal factions in the Vatican that were against Pope Benedict XVI, such as the Saint Gallen group (click here), was involved in the conclave that elected Pope Francis & having Pope Benedict XVI resign (click here). How credible these questions are, remains to be seen, but with almost all things Vatican these days, it is almost likely to be true.  

Section 5: The Vatican since the millennium – Financial & political scandal  

While the sex abuse crisis was relatively widespread and out in the open for all & sundry to see, one of the aspects that sprung up, that was in the media-space for a relatively shorter time, was that of the problems pertaining to financial mismanagement of its money, which raised severe questions related to corruption, financial negligence & money laundering. From accusations of money laundering through the Italian Mafia and Banco Ambrosiano (click here), to the role of Cardinal Angelo Becciu in a London real estate investment that cost the Vatican $200 million (click here), the Vatileaks scandal revealed a politically divided Vatican, with the then Pope Benedict XVI warning of “corruption and abuse of power in Vatican finances, including millions of dollars in padded contracts.” (click here).  

While this mess was soon magically swept under the rug after Jorge Bergoglio became Pope, in 2018 what followed was another murky and secretive political manoeuvre which was akin to selling Catholics in China to the communist state for almost (an unofficial) $2 billion a year (click here). In 2024, this deal was renewed by the Holy See for a period of four years (click here), with Pope Francis reported to have said in 2022 that this deal “is going well”; Going well for whom? One may as well ask. Meanwhile in China, most Chinese Catholics are forced to attend underground churches in homes and other private locations risking the wrath of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), imprisonment and severe penalties if identified.   

And these are only the major incidents of financial-political corruption and abuse in the Vatican since 2013 until date.  

Section 6: America in 2024: an outside perspective  

The below is a summary of high-level events that has followed since November of 2024.  

1. Donald Trump was elected as the 47th  President in November 2024.  
2. The Presidential swearing in ceremony took place on the 20th of January 2025, and since then began a flurry of executive orders signed by President Trump, the notable of which was, (1) ending birth right citizenship for illegal aliens in the country, (2) realigning the US’s refugee admission program, (3) securing the US’s borders & (4) protecting the American people against invasion (the relevance of the executive orders are limited to the context of this article/post).  
3. As part of the invective to also reduce costs, spending, and to root out corruption, Trump after being elected as President, had already named his electoral ally Elon Musk to spearhead a department titled DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) to bring in efficiencies of cost and scale in the US government.   
4. As part of the review and investigation undertaken by Musk and the DOGE team, the major and immediate finding was the role of USAID (United States Agency for Internal Development) in the influx of illegal migrants and refugees from countries such as Mexico, South America, Africa, Middle East & Asia.  
5. USAID, an agency which was founded in 1961, was the recipient of almost 60% of all the foreign aid that was meant to be distributed in 2023 (see section on ‘who distributes U.S. foreign aid?’ here) indicating that the amount was in the vicinity of $40+ Billion.  
6. USAID, apart from funding a few charitable initiatives, was majorly found sponsoring far-left and liberal causes (shown below) especially in unusual countries such as Serbia, Nepal, Colombia, etc:
   DEI initiatives (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion), 
   a) LGBTQ+ initiatives, 
   b) Funding to the Taliban & other likely terrorist funding, 
   c) Population control initiatives, 
   d) Research by agencies at Wuhan involved in the Covid-19 pandemic, and 
   e) Illegal immigration among other controversial topics (click here & here for more information).

   Since the time of the investigations launched by the Trump administration, USAID’s website, and the official X & Instagram accounts were taken down.  

7. What was additionally identified by DOGE amidst subsequent investigations was that a large part of the funding from USAID went to charities such as CRS (Catholic Relief Services), Caritas, JRS (Jesuit Relief Services) and other such Catholic NGOs that have been given billions of dollars for humanitarian aid, especially to resettle immigrants in America, most of whom were found to be illegal. It was reported by Forbes, that the total amount provided to CRS itself was to the tune of $4.6 billion between the period of 2013 to 2022 (click here. Note: this number may likely to increase if one takes into account years 2023 to 2024, the last couple of years of the Biden-Harris administration).

   Accordingly, President Trump took the decision to revoke any further funding to USAID for a period of 90 days. 

As can be seen from above, there are two things seemingly being done by the current President, Trump & team: (1) there seems to be a clear & urgent plan to reduce Government spending by the initiation of the DOGE team & (2) Trump has boasted at the swearing in ceremony that he believes that his oil and gas policy could reduce energy prices and make America more energy independent. (Click here). That, in conjunction with tariffs, which will benefit the steel and aluminum industries, and indirectly the auto manufacturing industry, is expected to be a broad plan by Team Trump to rein in the debt crisis.  

The above plans and promises made by President Trump can be expected to work to some degree, provided the Government spending is drastically reduced in a ruthless manner. Trump seems to have found the right person for this job in Elon Musk. The Space X mogul and billionaire has already demonstrated his accomplishments in successfully running several organizations such as Tesla, Space X, and later even Twitter (or X, as it is now known) by reducing cost and spending. However, when one is talking about reducing the spending of a government/country, this matter takes on a different hue altogether. One can only imagine the bureaucratic and other assorted obstinate arterial blocks that have accumulated over the years, not to mention the amount of heavy lifting that will be needed to have Trump & team achieve their ambitious plans. With such great plans, there is also a tendency to great opposition, and team Trump have opposition in spades in the form of the Democratic party. There has already been a failed attempt to assassinate Trump during his presidential campaign in Pennsylvania in 2024 (no insinuations are made here to indicate that the Democratic party was involved). With the plans announced by team Trump to shake up the entire system and shut down corrupt bureaucracy and reduce unnecessary wasteful spending, it is easy to see how much more wound-up Trump’s opposition and enemies are to possibly try again, either in inciting rebellion as happened after the George Floyd incident protests by the BLM and the notorious extreme left-wing group Antifa in 2020 (click here), or maybe, God forbid, there could be another attempt at the life of President Trump. The left controlled media in the west like CNN, MSNBC and others spin Trump to be some kind of monster like Idi Amin, Saddam Hussain, or worse, like Hitler; when the truth is not even close to such yarns.  

Taking a cue from the measures undertaken by Trump and team, pious voices within Catholic circles, especially the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) raised an outcry against the perceived injustice and lack of ‘compassion’ or ‘dignity’ towards migrants and refugees (click here & here & here) after the shutdown of funding to USAID.  

Section 7: The intersection of Church and State: The Vatican versus America  

After the Trump administration was sworn into office, the American Vice President, J.D. Vance (who is a practicing Catholic) in an interview in context to the mass deportation of illegal immigrants made a mention of the principle of Ordo Amoris (by Thomas Aquinas, meaning: The Order of Love, click here from approximately 0.5 to 0.40 minutes into the video for V.P. J.D. Vance’s interview clip) talking about President Trump’s perspective on the recently announced executive orders. To me, it is just plain common sense to agree that a President (or leader) who decides to focus on putting the interest of his country first (ahead of the interest of other interests) is the most logical & practical thing that anyone can bring to the argument. Instead, on the 12th February 2025 (letter dated 10th February 2025), as a seeming retort to the Vice President and President of America, Pope Francis lent his support to the cause of the migrants, refugees, and mass deportation by having an official Vatican letter sent to the Catholic Bishops in America on the subject (click here). But was the migration/refugee issue the real reason for Pope Francis to address an issue a letter and try to provoke the issue?  

As mentioned above (in section 6, points 4, 5 & 6), the real issue here may not be deportation or the shelter of refugees, as proclaimed from the rooftops by the virtue-signalling left-leaning bishops, the Pope, and the Vatican media/press or independent Catholic media outlets. With doomsday apocalyptic headlines such as, “Pope Francis tells US bishops Trump’s immigration policy ‘will end badly‘” (from Reuters) & “Closure of USAID Foreign Aid will kill millions” (from Caritas), or the left leaning activist Bishop from the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Mariann Budde, who lectured the President during a homily she hijacked while President Trump and his family attended service (click here) who talked about how the specifically homosexuals, lesbians, & transgendered were ‘afraid’ and living in ‘fear’.    

The Catholic and secular medias opposition to deportation (in reality the opposition is to the disruption of the funding through USAID), is likely to continue. The direct result of the disruption to the funding has led to many USAID employees either being put on leave or losing their jobs (click here). Similarly, Catholic charities such as CRS (whose CEO, Sean Callahan, was being paid a whopping six figure amount of $ 640,000 a year!) & the USCCB have also taken cognizance of the situation and pre-emptively reduced their workforce (click here) in an immediate expectation of the drying up of the free-flowing funds that was received since the Obama and Biden administration. The unregulated, autonomous, & shadowy nature of USAID had made previous governments seemingly oblivious to its actual purpose. In fact, it is clear that, in all likelihood, the Obama, and very definitely the Biden administration, weaponized USAID to fund shady, agendized, and clearly political causes that were not in the interest of the American taxpayer, whose taxes were being inadvertently redirected for their own pet causes, instead of addressing more obvious national causes (like the debt crisis). Therefore the ‘common sense’ rationale to stop the funding was a decision which did not require a rocket scientist like Musk to point out.  

In context with the letter from Pope Francis to the Bishops of the USCCB, many commentators and Catholics in fact called out the obvious hypocrisy of the Bishops of the USCCB, including that of the Pope. Almost all the traditional or conservative voices that matter, pointed out the sheer audacity of a Pope and Bishops that vociferously came out in support of migrants and refugees, regardless of if they were legal or illegal, & which began hardly had the dust settled on Trump’s swearing in ceremony. But these same Bishops and Pope were evidently silent during the sham of a Presidency of Joe Biden, who although a supposed ‘Catholic’, endorsed great support for abortion ‘rights’ of women and championed the woke agenda of the LGBTQ+ including transgender mutilation for children. Where were these virtue-signalling upholders and bastions of ‘social justice’ during the Presidency of Joe Biden, one wonders. That apart, Joe Biden, after his presidency term, was shown by one of the worst enemies of the Catholic Church, the Freemasons, as a Master Mason (click here). Note that being accepted as a Master Mason, implies that Biden was very likely having ties to Freemasonry from a prior period. I do not recall the Pope or the Bishops of the USCCB coming down hard in a collective voice when the news of Biden being a Freemason was broadcast, as was done after Trump shut the faucet to the billion-dollar pipeline of USAID. In fact, it is a known fact that the previous President, Joe Biden and his democrat crony, Nancy Pelosi, who are Catholics in Name Only (CINO), are great buddies with Pope Francis, who invited them to mass at the Vatican and personally offer them communion, even though a few morally righteous bishops in America had refused them the sacrament (click here). Imagine the morale and motivation of these Bishops who had refused communion to Biden and Pelosi, only to find that their(our) ‘virtuous’ leader, had personally gone out of his way to offer these very same leaders communion, thereby severely undermining these Bishops’ authority and decision.   

Pope Francis and the USCCB Bishops have also made much about the issue by resorting to scripture, where they rather eisegetically compare the state of refugees and aliens to the Holy Family who took refuge in Egypt at the time of the persecution by King Herod, or even the Israelites who travelled from Egypt into the promised land.  It’s as though no other Catholic or Biblical teaching matters, except for migration & refugees. Dr. Taylor  Marshall in his YouTube video, pointed out rightly that this was only because it profits the USCCB and the Vatican, and it is because it puts money in their pockets. (click here, at approximately the 07:30 to 07:55 mark into the video). Meaning, no other issue is as ‘lucrative’ as the refugee resettlement program to these so-called Bishops, Catholic charities, and NGOs. And I honestly thought the Catholic mission was about the salvation of souls. Yes, there are charitable works conducted by Catholic charitable organizations, NGOs, etc. over the years in various countries. But Catholics have always (until now, it seems) operated from the premise of charity and poverty, never profiting and profiteering from the causes. What is happening with the ‘demands’ from the Catholic Bishops in the USCCB (and sadly our Pope) is that the Catholic Church is turning into a ‘glorified NGO’ (as Dr. Anthony Stine, a Catholic commentator put it) and a shameless and desperate money hungry Judas. In defence of Judas Iscariot, I opine that he was better than the current lot of those in power in the Vatican. At least Judas did not sue the Pharisees to ensure a perennial stream of monthly income stream of silver, unlike the USCCB who now want to sue Trump and his administration for denying them ‘their’ money (click here).  

Another aspect that most commentators rightly pointed out was the silly duplicity of the Vatican over open borders. The Vatican has huge walls around their premises in Italy, and has recently enacted laws for violations of illegal entry, making the charade by the Pope and Bishops of the USCCB even more laughable (click here). In fact, the American Border Czar appointed by President Trump, Mr. Tom Hooman, who is another practicing Catholic by the way, made the blunt retort that the Pope should focus on the problems in the Catholic Church so that they can be fixed, and leave law enforcement to him and others in America elected to do the job (paraphrased. click here for the video). To add to Mr. Hooman, the real problem is not that the Pope is making a casual flippant comment on the state of American politics. The problem is that the Pope knows fully well that Trump may have dealt a severe blow (if not a knockout) to the plans of him and his globalist pals (the George Soros, Klaus Schwab, and Jeffrey Sachs and others).  

The letter from Pope Francis also emphasized a rather repetitive reference to ‘dignity’ (at least ten mentions in the letter), which again in the political landscape since Vatican II has become an equivocated, weaponized, and loaded code word of sorts, where a lot is implied in a single word by being completely ambiguous on the real intent of the word. There have been documents devoted to the cause of ‘dignity’, such as the Vatican II document titled Dignitatis Humanae (which was a document on religious freedom) & Dignitas Infinita (a document by Pope Francis & Cardinal Fernandez, the prefect of the DDF, which championed the case for dignity based on scenarios in today’s world). Suffice to say that ‘dignity’ was becoming another code word by the Vatican to smuggle in their key agendas. Even the apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis titled ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ had a lot to say about the ‘dignity’ of the ‘people of God’. The bland virtue-signalling ramblings about Infinite ‘Dignity’, ‘Ordo Amoris’, its interpretations, and how they tie into the mass deportation objections by the USCCB and the Vatican, have been explained by Dr.Taylor Marshall in this video (click here from 27:03 to 29:30 minutes, 38:20 to 40:39 minutes, and from 42:47 to 51:55 minutes. I also recommend the video by the Catholic Esquire on his YouTube channel which provides a short and descriptive idea of this emphasis on ‘dignity (click here from 1.45) and how since Vatican II, the emphasis of ‘dignity’ is linked to ‘liberty’ and one’s ‘conscience’ – accordingly it seems the man is free to obey his ‘conscience’, without recourse to the legal system of the country or government in place. To add to these distinguished gentlemen, especially in context with the Catholic Esquire who rightly points out the reeking of humanism that this idea of ‘dignity’ brings (6.35 into the video), it should also be noted what Pope Pius XII states:

“And if men, using their personal liberty, were to deny all dependence on a superior Authority possessing coercive power, they could by this very fact cut the ground from under their own dignity and liberty — by violating, that is, the absolute order of beings and purposes. 

As they are established on this same foundation, the person, the state, the government, with their respective rights. are so bound together that they stand or fall together.”  (source: encyclical: ‘Democracy and a lasting peace’, paragraphs 37 & 38 click here) 

Therefore, the notion of ‘dignity’ is not disconnected from the laws of the state or country/nation. It should also be noted that this view of ‘dignity’ from a socialist perspective is very different, where ‘dignity’ is now supposed to be understood to be related to the human conditions on earth (war, famine, poverty, strife, living conditions, etc.) and a presupposed ‘limitless’ dignity to these conditions. In a socialist construct of theology, it seems that because of the horrific conditions of war, famine, poverty, etc. the rationale for ‘helping those in need’ is the presupposed ‘dignity’, with a utopian ideal in mind; one which imagines that the human will and spirit (of those trying to help these people) can lift up the situation and make heaven meet earth – an idealised condition where all human beings are treated equally, with equal resources. But this is utopianism, one which is not grounded in reality. This false notion of earthly utopian ideals of ‘peace’, ‘dignity’, etc. can never be achieved by man and can only be delivered by God, through Christ, at His appointed time. It does not mean that men do not pursue justice and the upliftment of the poor. It means that the emphasis is ill placed and should be directed by the church towards the salvation of souls first. This perspective is seemingly completely lost in the cries for ‘dignity’ and other what nots of socialism.  

The Via Sacra ahead: Closing comments and scenarios likely in the next phase of the Catholic Church  

As pointed out in sections 3, 4, & 5 of this essay, the defenders of the Catholic faith, namely the religious priests, Bishops, Cardinals, etc. have let the Catholic Church deteriorate spiritually, morally and financially since the 1960s. It is no secret that vocations to the faith have dwindled, mass attendance is at a point of the faith being obscure in some places, with Churches sold to the highest bidder to make way for restaurants, malls or mosques, Catholic catechesis and seminary formations are adulterated skeletal versions of their purer and stronger phases, leadership is reticent, hesitant, cowardly, clueless, and unwilling to swim against the culturally modern tide, and the laity malnourished and bankrupt of spiritual direction, true fervour, zeal, and love for the faith.   

The fact that the Bishops of the USCCB, seemingly emboldened by the letter from Pope Francis, have decided to go the distance with suing the US government (for all we know, the letter circulated by Pope Francis may have been written by one of the Bishops of the USCCB itself; we know that Francis has been unwell lately, and it is possible that the letter had his feeble & tired approval, rather than coming from his own pen and person). As mentioned above, Pope Francis warned that the Trump administration’s plan to deport migrants (mass deportations) “will end badly”. The problem is I don’t think the Pope and the USCCB realize for whom the situation “will end badly”, as it very well could end badly for the Vatican. This could be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. From losses suffered from the sexual abuse scandal & the financial scandal, the lawsuit is a seemingly last resort action taken by the USCCB, and they are grasping at straws. If the lawsuit does not go their way, which it probably will not, the Vatican could risk adding salt to existing wounds caused by the other scandals mentioned (at the time of writing this essay, it now learnt that the lawsuit has not gone the way the USCCB expected – click here). The Vatican receives most of their funding from America (if one does not account for China) with America probably one of the richest episcopates. The lawsuit was a desperate last throw of the dice by the USCCB. It remains to see what course of action the USCCB decides to take next. Will they fall in line with President Trump’s executive orders and further slashes of funding, thereby being a lot poorer? Very likely. They will have to eat humble pie soon, but they will continue to stoke and foment dissent through their liberal discourses, media, and other channels available to them, lying low and probably scheming with the next best ally who can offer them their ‘precious’ aid back in the distant future.  

What could this mean for Catholics all over the world and in America? It is possible that as funding through federal channels, such as USAID dries up, the Vatican will be forced to turn to other more potentially risky donors, who attach strings to the deal to grind their own axe through the reach and power of the Catholic Church and the Pope. In the absence of such clandestine and notorious donors, the Vatican may be forced to go before the Chinese government with a begging bowl in hand. This could have extremely harsh consequences, especially if China provides the Vatican further funding with fine print terms & conditions, thereby dictating terms to the Vatican, especially to alter its teachings and doctrines to meet communist and atheistic goals.  

In one sense, Francis & other such revolutionary & socialist deviants such as Hélder Dom Camara, who was known for the Catacomb Pact, wanted a ‘poor’ church for the poor (click here for the Catacombs Pact , here to read about Hélder Dom Camara). Cardinal Walter Kasper, an ally of Pope Francis, in speaking of the Pontiff mentioned in his book titled ‘Mercy’ that “His (Francis’s) program is to a high degree what the Catacomb Pact was”.  However, the contradictions that are front loaded into liberalism float to the surface like bilge, in the ever-contradictory socialist ideal of desiring poverty; that is, until the money stops coming in. Of course, the dear ‘popesplainer’ will say that the money is meant to help the poor and not the Vatican, but as I have pointed in sections 3 to 5, the Vatican has eroded laity trust in spades in such consideration. The money is plainly going to rescue paedophilic-homosexually abusive priests, cover up for them, pay their legal expenses, then host ‘pride’ masses that cater to soothe the conscience of the gay mafia in the Vatican, act as a ‘bridge’ for homosexuals, lesbians, queers, transgenders and other assorted deviants; the money also gets laundered through banks & shady mafia characters like Roberto Calvi, apart from also getting squandered in investment deals, and now it is being learnt that the vast amount of federal funds allocated to Catholic Charities is being spent on ‘illegal’ migration.  

A lot will also depend on the next Pope. Francis is 88 and at the time of writing this essay, a lot of ink has been spent by commentators on his hospitalization and health. It remains to be seen how much longer divine providence allows him to continue as the Pope. If a conclave is convened while the USCCB is still bitterly embroiled in fighting with the American government, there may be a likelihood that the next Pope could be someone who shares a similar ‘sentiment’ as the USCCB and is seen as a savvy negotiator to broker deals with the American government for grants and aid (as was done by the defrocked McCarrick).  

Needless to say, we need to pray for Pope Francis, his health, his conversion, for the grace of final perseverance to him, and for the Church and it’s future. We are likely at a crossroad in Catholic Church history. It is possible that as Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) once said (prophesized?)

“From the crisis of today the Church of tomorrow will emerge—a Church that has lost much. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity.” 

Perhaps we are at the cusp of history where the Catholic Church will have to rediscover the faith of the fathers, the faith that was once and for all handed down to us. It may have to become a Church that again convenes in secret and whose faithful are persecuted day and night, it will be a Church without splendour, pomp and fame, a church of the poor and for the poor – not in the socialist sense, but in the sense of the great saints like St. Francis of Assisi. As predicted by our Lord, the gates of Hell will not prevail against the church established by Him. Until then, let us continue to pray for the Church, and perhaps even the next Pontiff, as we continue praying for the current Pope.  

Ave Maria.  

A Concerned Catholic