The Present-Day Persecution of the Church by Communist Russia Seriously Threatens Your Eternal Salvation

PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - THE SITUATION IN COMMUNIST COUNTRIES TODAY

No Catholic and no part of the Catholic Church existing in the territory of a Communistcontrolled country exists in freedom at all comparable to anywhere in the West. Persecution has not disappeared. Catholic priests are forcibly detained by communist agents on a regular basis simply because they are Catholic priests; loyal Catholic lay/people because they practice their Catholic faith are discriminated against. For example they are unable to work at the jobs and at the pay that they are due; the Church has little freedom in appointing the bishops that it wants to. Besides all this there is also the persecution of the bureaucracy, harassments, restrictions imposed by unlawful regulations, fines and being spied upon by the Communists and their agents. This is a brief but incomplete view of what the Church suffers in those countries under Communist oppression which have negotiated with the Vatican. Apparently Communists in these countries have temporarily lessened some of their fury against the Church which they displayed at the time of Stalin who tortured and murdered millions of Catholics. This apparent lessening of persecution in some communist-controlled countries has been granted in return for some extremely significant concessions given by the Vatican. (In the face of the worst persecution the Catholic Church has ever endured since its foundation by Jesus Christ one can understand why the Vatican diplomats were tempted to give these concessions to the communist tyrants.) But in those Communist-dominated countries which have not been willing to negotiate with the Vatican, there the persecution of Catholics continues to be as ruthless and relentless as anything that existed under Stalin and his kind. For example, in Albania, China, North Korea and Vietnam the Catholic Church suffers open, bold and vicious persecution.

THE DILEMMA OF THE VATICAN

So the Vatican faces a dilemma: where it is unable to negotiate, the people suffer grievously, where it does negotiate it can for a short while make the life of the people a bit better but far from free and at the expense of allowing the Communist regimes to appear as though they are legally and morally acceptable. As a short-term policy it is understandable for Vatican diplomats, but as a long-term policy the Church cannot but denounce as criminal the very purpose, methods and existence of Atheistic Communism. Communism for its part has actively continued its atheistic propaganda war against Catholics in the West and the world over. The 20 years silence by the Vatican regarding the evil nature of communism has given rise to the errors of communism being spread by the communists within the Church - so that now there are people who once were Catholics - who are now ipso facto excommunicated by their adherence to communism - but who still claim to be Catholics they sometimes call themselves Catholic-Marxists or Christian-Marxists. Other Catholics are confused by this silence of the Vatican and thus they do not do their patriotic and religious duty of doing all they can to resist the advance of communist ideas and people. Thus these pro-communists continue to take positions of influence in politics, in labor relations, in the

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military, in the business world, as well as in the mass media and even in the Catholic Church itself. Our Lady of Fatima warned us in 1917 that if mankind did not respond to the very special grace that God has given the world through the message of Fatima - that the world would be punished by the persecution of the Church. This persecution has resulted in the great lessening of the Moral Voice of the Church in this vital matter of the danger of Communism - so that now we even have Marxist bishops in some countries and Marxists who teach their errors and heresies under the title "Liberation Theology" which has fooled a number of Catholics in North and South America. Thus we see the persecution of the Church continues in our day with the Communists attacking the Church from outside by open persecution as well as attacking the Church by sending their subversive agents to destroy the Church from within. The Church is also persecuted by the organized corruption of morals in the Western world by the Militant Atheists of various associations. These atheists, for example, wage the continuous and well-orchestrated propaganda war promoting contraception and abortion. It is this war which continues to kill Catholic bodies and souls as well as many others.

WHAT WE MUST DO
We must respond to this challenge to our faith or we shall lose our faith and our souls. Our Lady of Fatima said that if Her requests were not heeded then Russia would spread its errors throughout the world and Sister Lucy of Fatima has explained if we persist in ignoring Our Lady of Fatima's message then the whole world including the United States will be enslaved by Russian Communists. Furthermore it would seem that not everywhere would the Catholic faith be preserved under worldwide Communist domination, for Our Lady said at Fatima, "In Portugal the doctrine of the faith will always be preserved." She seems to imply that if we do not respond to Her request then whole countries will lose the faith, and if a Catholic loses the faith he cannot but go to Hell forever unless he truly repents before he dies. Let us therefore pray and work for the conversion of Russia to God. Let us do this before the Communists by force of arms enslave us and take away our faith and eternal salvation. Let us petition our bishops to obey Our Lady of Fatima by joining with the Pope in Consecrating Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Sign the "Petition to your Catholic Bishop" in the last issue of The Fatima Crusader and get others to do the same. Send the completed petition forms to The Fatima Crusader. Click Contact below for address information. Above all, pray the Rosary, Consecrate yourself to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart and avoid sin and obey the Message of Fatima.

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