RU 48/2006 - TURKEY, RUMANIA

- TURKEY: The Holy Father safely returned from his apostolic journey to Turkey, from November 28th to December 1st. Deo gratias. It needed indeed an extraordinary force to project this journey, and especially to maintain it. The proof has been made that Benedict XVI doesn't lack courage. Less sure is if the rare Christians there were satisfied of this visit, because some already wonder why they are complicating their lives while being Christians. If Christians and Moslems adore "together the unique God", if one can pray ostentatiously with them, directed towards Mecca, without even daring to make a sign of the cross, why to persist to frequent dangerously the One, Saint, Catholic and Apostolic Church in a Moslem country in order to obtain one's salvation? Why continue to believe in Christ's holy Words: "I am the Path, the Truth and the Life"? And: "Who rejects Me, rejects my Father who is in Heaven"? Or again: "The one who will blush for Me before men, I shall blush for him before my Father"? - In Vienna, in Austria, young Arabian Catholics, shocked about what they saw on their TV screens, asked to their catechists why they agreed to undergo, while converting, the often very cruel separation from their Muslem families. The catechists themselves wonder why they are giving themselves so much pain to teach Catholic faith. Without speaking of those - millions! - murdered by the Moslem because of their Christian faith. It was a unique opportunity for the pope to announce, broadcasted by world television, to bloodthirsty Islam the only Savior Jesus-Christ. Even our unhappy pope Paul VI het prostrated himself on the ground when he approached, at the time of his visit to Istanbul, the Basilica Hagia Sophia, desecrated under Islam, while creating, by the way, a diplomatic incident. Nothing of all that with Benedict XVI. We waited in vain for another fervent Christ in the Temple, an audacious Saint Peter before the Sanhedrin or a St Paul before the Areopage, a St Athanasius in front of Arius, a Constantin before the Vandals, a Saint Lewis at Jerusalem or a Saint Pius V at Lepante, a Father Kolbe or a cardinal Galen facing the Nazi killers, a cardinal Mindszenty before the Stalinists? Missed! We only got a John-Paul III at Assisi, rewarded by the diplomatic accolades conceded by the very same people who are persecuting the Church, mystical Spouse of Christ. Would there be two types of courage, a natural one and a supernatural one, without one implying necessarily the other one? Pray for our Holy Father, the 263rd successor of St Peter, and let's remain imperturbably patient: better times are approaching, this is the divine message of the Christian Advent. One day we shall have the immense and unmerited grace of a Peter II in Rome. ADVENIAT REGNUM TUUM! - (ru)

- RUMANIA: the passage to the European Union, announced for January 1st, 2007, is requiring the first sacrifices from Christian Rumania to the atheist Molech. The walls of the schools are traditionally decorated in that country by Christian crosses of all kind, in metal, wood, or embroidered by hand, together with holy icons. Two months before the official adherence of Rumania to the E.U., the Public Rumanian Council of Antidiscrimination asked the Ministry of Education "to respect the laic character of the State" while forbidding all display of religious symbols in the schools. "This is a brutal measure that contravenes the religious liberty and the European democracy", protested by a press release the Orthodox Church. Since, the Rumanian intelligentsia is in a turmoil, in a country which has only 22 million people, but of which the big majority (87 %) is orthodox. Frightened, the Ministry of Education decided to transmit the hot potato to the Parliament for a national debate... in a parliament whose rooms are also decorated by holy icons. - There was once a Council that distinguished itself by consecrating "the separation between Church and State", a typical F.M. principle of abominable ambiguity. Of course, this Council (Vatican II) was right to wish a Church independent of State interventionism, but never since this Council, the States mingled themselves as much into matters of the Church and her faithful as today. Of course, the State doesn't have any right over the Church, but it remains true that God has all spiritual power on earth, including over the State and its morals! It was necessary to spell this out, Fathers of the Council! Dear brothers and sisters in Rumania, keep high up your crosses, in and against the European Union ! - (ru; cf. LP Nov. 30)