Edmond Paris - The Secret History of the Jesuits

But the Church is prudent—as we are often reminded—and it is seldom that her real actions are not surrounded by the indispensable precautions which will take care of appearances. "Bonne renommee vaut mieux que ceinture doree" (A good reputation is better than a golden belt), says the proverb. But it is even better to possess both. The Vatican— immensely rich—guides itself by this maxim. Its political lust for domination always assumes "spiritual"

and humanitarian pretexts, proclaimed "urbi and orbi" by an intense propaganda which a goldplated belt provides for—and the "good reputation", thus preserved, maintains the inflow of gold to the said belt.

The Vatican does not deviate from that line of conduct and, when the stand it takes in international affairs is clearly revealed through the attitude of its hierarchy, the legend of its absolute impartiality is kept alive by those solemn and ambiguous encyclical letters and other pontifical documents. Recently, the hitlerian era multiplied such examples. But could it be otherwise of an authoritative power which is supposed to be transcedent and universal at the same time?

The instances when that mask was seen to fall are very rare.

For the world to be a witness of such a spectacle, a contingency is necessary which,

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to the Holy See's eyes, endangers its vital interests. Only then does it throw aside all ambiguity and openly places all the credit at its disposition on one of the scales.

This is what happened in Rome, on the 7th of January 1960, concerning the

"summit" conference which was to bring together heads of Eastern and Western governments, in an attempt to settle the conditions of a truly peaceful co-existence between the defenders of two opposite ideologies.

Of course, the Vatican's position before such a project did not leave us in any doubt. In the United States, Cardinal Spellman demonstrated it plainly by urging Catholics to show their hostility to Mr. Khrushchev when he was the guest of the American president. For his part, and without expressing it clearly, His Holiness John XXIII had shown little enthusiasm for the "detente"

in his Chritmas message. The "hope" it expressed, to see peace set up in the world, a wish which is a "must" in such a document, seemed very weak accompanied as it was with many calls to Western leaders to be prudent.

But, so far, the Vatican put on a good face.

What happened, then, within less than two weeks? Did another long-cherished "hope"—to see the first one fail—prove vain? Did the decision of Mr.

Gronchi, president of the Italian Republic, to go to Moscow make the cup of Roman bitterness overflow?

Whatever happened, the storm broke out suddenly on the 7th of January—and the ecclesiastical thunders burst (with unprecedented fury) upon the "Christian" Statesmen, guilty of wanting an end to the cold war. On the 8th of January, "Le Monde" printed the following:

"On the day the president of the Italian Republic was to leave to pay a minutely-prepared official visit to Moscow's leaders, Cardinal Ottaviani, successor of Cardinal Pizzardo as secretary of the Holy-Office congregation, or chief of the Church's supreme tribunal, delivered a most astonishing speech in the bascilica of "Saint-Marie-Majeure", during a morning propitiatory service for "the Church of Silence".

"Never before had a prince of the Church, holding one of the Vatican's most important posts, attacked the Soviet authorities, so furiously, nor reprimanded so harshly the Western powers who dealt with them".

"Le Monde" gave substantial excerpts of that violent speech which amply justified the qualificative of "most astonishing" it had just used. "Tamerlanes's times are back", affirmed Cardinal Ottaviani—and the Russian leaders were described as "new antichrists" who "condemn to deportation, imprison, massacre, and leave nothing but wasteland behind them". The orator was shocked that nobody anymore was "scared to shake hands with them", and that, "on the contrary, a race was arranged to see who would be the first to do so and exchange smiles with them". Then he reminded his listeners that Pius XII withdrew to Castelgandolfo when Hitler came to Rome—forgetting though to add that this same pontiff had

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concluded with the said Hitler a Concordat most advantagous for the Church.

Space travel was not spared either in that violent denunciation: "the new man... believes he can violate Heaven by feats in space and so demonstrates once more that God does not exist".

The Western "politicians and statesmen" who, according to the cardinal,

"grow stupid with terror", were severely hauled over the coals—as were all the

"Christians" who "do not react or leap with rage any more..."

Finally, this virulent and significant conclusion:

"Can we declare ourselves satisfied with any kind of detente when, in the first place, there cannot be any sort of calm, within humanity, unless we observe an elementary respect for conscience, our faith, the face of Christ covered once more with spittle, crowned with thorns and struck? Could we hold out our hand to those who do this?"

These dramatic words cannot make us forget that the Vatican can hardly speak of "respect for consciences" as it shamelessly oppresses them in countries where it dominates, such as in Franco's Spain where the Protestants are persecuted. In fact, it is most impudent—on the part of the Holy-Office's secretary especially!—to demand that others observe this elementary respect" when the Roman Church rejects it entirely.

The encyclical letter "Quanta cura" and the "Syllabus" are explicit: Anathema on the one who says: every man is free to embrace or profess the religion his judgment considers to be right".

("Syllabus", article XV)

"... It is madness to think that the freedom of conscience and worship are mere rights to every man." ("Encyclical letter "Quanta cura") Judging by the way it treats "heretics", it is no wonder that the Vatican systematically condemns all attempts to come to terms between "Christian"

States and those who are officially atheistic. "Non est pax impilis"—"No peace for the wicked"!

And the Jesuit Father Cavelli, like many others before him, proclaims that this "intransigence" is the Roman Church's "most imperative law".

As a counterpart to this explosion of fury on the cardinal's part, we will quote another article which appeared in the same number of "Le Monde", on the 9th of January 1960:

"Humanity is approaching a situation where mutual annihilation becomes a possibility. In the world today, there is no other event which can be compared, in importance, to this... We must then strive incessantly for a just peace". So said President Eisenhower, yesterday, Thursday, before the United States Congress, at the same time as Cardinal Ottaviani, in Rome, condemned the co-existence as partaking of the crime of Cain.

The contrast between two manners of thought cannot be more striking: the human and the theocratic—nor more obvious the mortal danger

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hovering over the world because of that nucleus of blind fanaticism we call the Vatican. Its "sacred" egoism is such that circumstances and the urgent necessity for an international accord, in order to avoid the almost total extermination threatening humanity, do not matter.

The Holy Office's secretary—this supreme tribunal whose past is too well-known—does not take into account such negligible contingencies. Do the Russians go to mass? This is the important thing, and if President Eisenhower does not understand it, it is because he "seems to have grown stupid with terror", to use the terms of the fiery "Porporato".

The delirious frenzy of Cardinal Ottaviani's speech makes us smile at the same time as shocking us. And many think that this firebrand will find it difficult to persuade "Christians" that the atomic bomb must be accepted gracefully. But we must be on our guard! Behind this spokesman of the Holy See, there is all the pontifical organisation—and especially this secret army of Jesuits not made up of ordinary soldiers. All the members of that famous Company work within the corridors of power, and their action, without making a great deal of noise, can be singularly effective, that is to say evil.