Mass for U.S. military personnel at a forward operating base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Dec. 23, 2001. / U.S. Navy photo by chief photographer’s mate Johnny Bivera (Public Domain).
Rome Newsroom, Aug 3, 2021 / 04:30 am (CNA).
As the U.S. is winding down its operations in Afghanistan after 20 years, there is much concern about the situation of the Church in the country. There is only one Catholic church in Afghanistan, located in the Italian embassy in Kabul, and consequently shut down as long as the embassy remained closed during the pandemic.
Afghanistan’s 2004 constitution defined the country as an Islamic republic. It is forbidden to preach the Gospel in public or to convert to Christianity.
This is the reason why missionaries and Catholics in Afghanistan rarely speak on the record: they apply some necessary prudence in a challenging environment. CNA spoke with them and agreed to their requests for anonymity.
In 2002, Pope John Paul II established a mission sui iuris, or independent mission, in Afghanistan serving some 210 Catholics with three priests.
But there are other missionaries in Afghanistan. The Jesuits entered the country in 2004 and set education as one of their primary goals. The Missionaries of Charity came that same year to provide humanitarian assistance in the war-torn country.
The U.S. decision to leave Afghanistan opens the way for the return of the Taliban, posing new challenges for the country’s Christians.
According to local sources, it isn’t easy to describe the current situation in Afghanistan. But sources say that “beyond the waged war, there is seemingly an information war. Both of the conflicting parties claim their successes, and in both cases, it is hard to assess them.”
The sources note that Western media tend to say that the Taliban are regaining territory and influence. At the same time, Afghan government officials claim that all the districts that fell into the Taliban’s hands were rescued.
Yet the Catholic community will not leave unless it is “obliged to.” Local Catholics underscore that their mission in the territory began long before U.S. troops arrived in Afghanistan.
For example, the Barnabite Fathers went to Afghanistan in 1934, and this is why it was natural to entrust the mission sui iuris to them. They will certainly stay in the country as long as they are permitted to, looking out any for possible openings
One of these openings might be the Taliban’s reported intention to ask for and accept the help of everyone to rebuild Afghanistan, NGOs included. This would not exclude Catholic NGOs, which would be a sign of hope.
But the most problematic scenario is that Afghanistan will get trapped in civil war. The scenario is furtherly complicated by as yet unverified rumors that foreign jihadists are moving to the country.
Local Catholics have no other hope than that the neighboring countries — Russia, China, Pakistan, India, and Iran — will help Afghanistan in its transition, as “it is their interest that Afghanistan remains peaceful.”
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“Reportedly”? If true, then we might be reminded of the communal kiss of Judas and, then later on the road to Calvary, the smiley folks at the periphery who refrained from calling for blood, but who also discretely remained silent. The lukewarm and useless.
One possibly rational explanation for the reported event might be what has traditionally been understood as “invincible ignorance.” Is Pelosi a cretin and totally beyond reach in dealing with elementary moral contradictions, and so defective as to be possibly not morally responsible?
Or, perhaps this reported event is a synodally inclusive symbol to the effect that the Eucharist is so fluidly universal that it even includes unrepentant Aztec practitioners (in addition to Pachamama).
But, then, there’s the scandal thing and the warning from Christ (!) about the millstone…
In a more complete report, we find that Communion was distributed by priests who likely would not even recognize Pelosi.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGpGdnzggzkHwVhNcJfsnLZCDWS
As to that particular explanation, prudence might counsel that it strains credulity.
Sorry, there is only one way to interpret these (repeated) gestures, but the usual spinmeisters will quickly show up to explain it all away for us. Thank goodness we have Catholic (or at least papal) apologists to prevent us from sinning by drawing some obvious conclusions! When Francis compares abortion to hiring a hitman to solve a problem, it is not at all apparent to me that he means to condemn the practice.
As to general attempts to explain away this new stunt by Pontiff Francis, I offer the suggestion that while Jesus called his followers his sheep, he didn’t call us to act like cattle.
St. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians that “whoever…eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.”
‘ Dickson recalled to LifeSiteNews how at one point during the Amarillo hearings, interestingly, the Lilith Fund attorney clarified to the judge that their lawsuit did not take issue with a reference by Dickson to Lilith, the mythological figure for which the group is named, as “a demon that preys on women and children.”
“I thought that was kind of funny because Lilith is a demon that preys on women and children,” Dickson told LifeSiteNews, adding that he sees the fund as just that. He pointed to his 2019 comment, “Perhaps they have a desire to live up to their name.”
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https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pro-life-activist-sued-for-calling-abortion-murder-takes-case-to-texas-supreme-court/