Clamping Down on Any Catholic "Expansion" In Russia

by Christopher A. Ferrara

        On March 9, 2001 CWNews.com reported that "Vladimir Zhirinovsky of the Liberal Democrat party and vice-speaker of the Russian Duma has announced plans to investigate Catholic activity in the country and Pope John Paul II's visit to Ukraine." The "Liberal Democrat Party" is one of those names the communists gave themselves after the "fall of communism" in 1991. The "Liberal Democrat" Zhirinovsky is Russia’s foremost "nationalist" - namely, someone who openly seeks to reconstitute the Soviet empire, as compared with those who are doing just that but more quietly, such as Vladimir Putin.

        CWN notes that the RIA Novosti press agency has reported that "the Duma, the Russian parliament - pressured by Zhirinovski - has charged a Committee on International Affairs to request information about measures being taken to prevent the expansion of Catholicism in the territory of Russia . . ." In other words, the Catholic Church, already hemmed in by legal restrictions which prevent it from establishing any real foothold in Russia, is now to come under "investigation" in order to determine how its activities in Russia can be limited even further.

        An interesting related development is Zhirinovski’s request that the Department of External Church Relations of Moscow (the bureaucratic agency charged with the responsibility of keeping the screws on the Catholic Church) organize in the Ukraine "a unique ‘agitation train’ to explain to the Orthodox faithful the error of the autocephalous schism and the importance of fidelity to the canonical hierarchy of the Moscow Patriarchate."

       That is, Zhirinovski and his fellow communists want to be sure not only that the Catholic Church makes no inroads in Russia, but also that the Orthodox remain under the thumb of the Moscow patriarchate, which works hand-in-glove with the communists (or "liberal Democrats" or "nationalists" or whatever else they call themselves these days), just as it has since the time of Stalin. Thus, Moscow will not even permit the "conversion" of Russia to any form of Orthodoxy independent of Moscow’s control.

       Where the Fatima revisionists see a conversion of Russia in these almost daily developments in Moscow remains a mystery. And this is just the news that we are allowed to hear. Who knows what plans are being hatched behind closed doors to prevent "Catholic expansion."

        As the Duma begins its "investigation" of the Catholic Church in Russia, our minds return to the alleged "consecration of Russia" more than 17 years ago. Is this the state of affairs Our Lady of Fatima envisioned when She spoke of the triumph of Her Immaculate Heart - a hopelessly hobbled Church under investigation by the likes of Zhirinovski and the communist-dominated Duma? The vise-grip of Moscow tightens on the Catholic Church, and sooner or later (barring a proper consecration of Russia) there will be overt persecution once again. Just remember that you read it here first - courtesy of Father Nicholas Gruner and the Fatima Center.