The people I call neo-Catholics refuse to admit that the Catholic Church is suffering the worst crisis in her history because of innovations and capitulations approved by the Vatican apparatus itself. For the neo-Catholic, the Vatican can do no wrong — even if the neo-Catholic will condemn at the local level the same conduct exhibited by the Vatican apparatus.

        A perfect example of this is the recent condemnation of Seton Hall University by a group called Priests for Life. It seems Seton Hall bestowed an honorary doctorate on one Dolores Cross, who served on the National Abortion Rights Action League committee in defense of Roe v. Wade.

        Priests for Life quite rightly protested that "Catholic schools bestowing honors on abortion advocates weakens the Church's witness to the sanctity of human life." The organization went on to say that "if Dolores Cross were discovered to be a racist, anti-Semite, or anti-Catholic she would be immediately uninvited. Why don't we have the same reaction to those who deny the rights of pre-born children?" [CWNnews.com, May 9, 2001]

        Everything Father West says is true, and no doubt his pro-life group is a good thing. But how can he and his group fail to mention that the Vatican itself bestows honors on abortion advocates? On June 27, 2000, the day after the Vatican press conference at which the Message of Fatima was consigned to oblivion, there was another Vatican press conference at which one of the world’s leading pro-aborts, none other than Mikhail Gorbachev, was given a seat of honor between Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano (who spearheads the persecution of Father Nicholas Gruner) and Cardinal Achille Silvestrini. The subject of this "press conference" (at which no questions were permitted) was the Ostpolitik of the late Cardinal Casaroli, another Vatican Secretary of State. The Vatican’s policy of refusing to condemn communist repression of Catholics during the Cold War (and even now in still-very-Red China) was lauded by Gorbachev and the two cardinals.

        Gorbachev is promoting a worldwide regime of abortion and contraception through his tax-free foundations, which call for the reduction of the world’s population by four billion people as part of his plans for a New World Order. Yet this atheist leader of the New World Order was given a place of honor between two princes of the Church. Where are the protests from our neo-Catholic brethren?

        Gorbachev was honored by the Vatican again last November at the "Jubilee of Politicians," when the Pope himself (probably in a text prepared by the Vatican Secretary of State) made a special favorable mention of this baby-killing politician: "My greeting also goes to the other distinguished leaders, including Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev, who have spoken in this assembly. I offer a special word of welcome to the Heads of State present." Distinguished leader? Gorbachev has the blood of millions of unborn children on his hands. This is not to mention the blood of all the children whose limbs were blown off by bombs disguised as toys during Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan — which "Gorby" publicly defended and has never repudiated (even if he later presided over the Soviet withdrawal, following the Soviet Union’s slow defeat by the Afghan resistance).

        Now, to quote Father West, doesn’t the honoring of Gorbachev by the Vatican "weaken the Church's witness to the sanctity of human life"? If Dolores Cross should have been "immediately uninvited" to Seton Hall, why was Gorbachev not "immediately uninvited" to the Vatican — along with every other pro-abortion politician who attended the Jubilee of Politicians as a "distinguished leader"? Why, instead, are this man and his fellow pro-abort politicians praised in the Pope’s speech as "distinguished leaders"? (By the way, the same speech states repeatedly that Christian legislators must be pro-life. No, no, NO!! All men, including Gorbachev, must obey God’s law. Thus, no legislator, even an atheist legislator, has the right to legalize abortion. More about this in a later column.)

        The neo-Catholics can talk all they wish about this or that outrage at the local levels of the Church. But until they recognize that the problem begins at the top, in the Vatican bureaucracy, they are doing nothing more than examining a bunion on a patient who is in cardiac arrest.