"KGB Theology"

Today Pope Francis died at the age of 88 after a long illness. Coincidence, or possibly the decision of individual more important, occurred on the second day of Christmas.

I'd like to say I'm very sorry. But before I answer that question, we will go back to the 1960s, besides reaching around planet War II. It's a communicative from the jungles of South America, the slums of Mexico, whose tentacles go far, far - to the grim walls of Lubianka, the office of the NKWD and the KGB...

In the mid and late 1960s, 2 highly active Latin-American clergymen appeared: Father Gustavo Gutierrez and Franciscan Father Leonardo Boff. The first came from Peru, the second from Brazil. However, they both graduated from renowned universities in Europe (ex. Gutierrez in Leuven, Belgium and Lyon in France, Fr Boff in Munich, Germany). They came from mediocre families and served in poorness districts in South America.

South America in the 1960s and 1970s was a very mediocre continent in which more than half of the population was illiterate and a nineteenth-century model of capitalism was realized, where millions of mediocre people with no chance of social promotion were increasing alongside a fistful of rich producers and growers. The population lived in slums, in hunger and poverty, force was everyday from prostitution and famine murders to human trafficking. In addition, the countries were constantly shaken by rebellions, rebellions, coups. So from the inspiration of the American CIA (when local governments turned left too), or from the inspiration of the russian KGB (when governments turned right too). In the jungles, there were gangs of socialist, communist, anarchist guerrillas, spreading terror. The operetta, brutal right/left dictators were changing like kaleidoscopes. And yet, in their vicinity, there were frequently suspicious gentlemen with tattooed blood groups on their forearm, speaking with a dense German accent, trying hard not to draw attention...

In specified a setting, the 2 mentioned clergymen began to proclaim the revolutionary slogans of restoring social justice in the way of the revolution. So the alleged liberation theology was created. The thought was great. She proclaimed that the Catholic Church must open itself to the mediocre and become “a church of the mediocre and for the poor.” She appealed to Christ's imagination as a liberator and revolutionary, disproving order. Hence the name - theology of liberation from poverty, oppression and injustice. Both theologians (and their supporters) thus criticized social inequality, and the subjects of their attacks became wealthy owners and clergy, standing on their side. According to theory, 1 must "release" from collective sin, or structures leading to injustice, poverty, or violence. And the Church was to aid by maintaining poorness and surviving like the first apostles - without ecclesiastical splendor and riches. The priest was to share the concerns of the full people.

If liberation theology had stopped on it alone, there would have been nothing incorrect with it.

The thought hit very susceptible ground, being very attractive to the mediocre and uneducated masses of the people. It originated as a improvement of the South American chadecia, formed after planet War II. The first Latin American Chadek legislature in Montevideo in February 1947 criticised "imperialism, totalitarian neofascism, communism and capitalist reaction". 10 years later, the legislature in Sao Paulo had already moved powerfully towards communism and had already announced "the strengthening of social democracy, which implies justice for all and the liberation of the working class."

However, the problem of liberation theology was that the Gospel began to be mixed with Marx, Engels, and Lenin's theories over time and took on increasingly complex forms. Many clergymen have personally engaged in political activity, frequently fighting their own hierarchy. A large example of Christian-Marxist coalitions were groups in Chile. In 1971, there were straight socialist groups called “Christians for Socialism” and “Popular Unity”, supporting the candidacy of left-wing candidate Salvador Allende. specified groups grew up like mushrooms after rain throughout South America: in Argentina in 1968, the 3rd planet Priests Movement was formed, in Bolivia in 1970, the Revolutionary Christian-Democratic Party, and in Haiti, the Social-Christian Party. 1 of the more prominent clergymen active in politics is Carlos Christo, known as the ‘brother of Betto', a Brazilian Dominican, known for being intimate with the communist dictator of Cuba, Fidel Castro. On the another hand, Brazilian Bishop Helder Camara claimed that Marx had taken a position akin to Aristotle and had opted for utilizing him as a Greek philosopher in the mediate Ages.

In time, many clergymen joined military activity in the spirit of theology, joining left-wing guerrillas. This is how the thought of “Christ with a firearm on his shoulder” was created, by the warlord Guerrillero, who was immortalized by Argentine artist Carlos Alonso. 1 specified clergyman was the communist Colombian priest Camilo Torres, the creator of an ideology called “Kamilism” and quote: “If Jesus had lived today, he would have been a revolutionary.” Torres was a fanatical communist, in love with Stalin. He planned to take over under the United Front. erstwhile the group broke up, he decided to join the communist guerrillas. He died in her ranks in February 1966. The most celebrated and utmost example was 2 brothers - the Jesuit Ferdinand and Fr Ernesto Cardenal, members of the alleged Sandinists, a Nicaraguan socialist group, fighting the right-wing corrupt government of Nicaragua. Sometimes “Catholic-communist” armed groups were formed, specified as Fr Jean Baptiste George’s “Haitan Revolutionary Armed Forces”. Often, too, monasteries and churches were hospitals and weapons warehouses for leftist militias, specified as Chile or Bolivia.

As usual in specified cases, "other Satans were active there."

In 1978, General Ion Mihai Pacepa, head of Departial de Informatații Externe, board of the Romanian Communist abroad Intelligence Board, fled west. General Pacepa has made excellent explanations. He argued that the popularity of the “theology of liberation” was favored by the russian KGB, as well as the communist service of Bulgaria and Romania. He claimed that the task was created in 1968, erstwhile a conference in Medellin was convened with the inspiration of the communists, where the leftist clergy were presented with the foundation of ideology.

Communist services provided logistical and financial support for the full movement, allowing to advance its ideas. For communist interviews dissatisfied and poor, but spiritual masses were a very attractive target, easy to manipulate through religion. For the east bloc, the conviction of the Latin American masses to the left-wing, or even Communist “theology of liberation” provided support to civilians for communist guerrillas, straight active in the field. Even if General Pacepa colored his story, the participation of russian intelligence is undeniably and confirmed by papers declassified in 1992 from Vasily Mitrochin's archive. It is worth noting that the work of “liberation theologians” was willingly and rapidly published in the Polish People's Republic.

It wasn't precisely anything new. akin ideas utilizing clergy communists tried to implement even in Poland. The most celebrated example of this was the activity of alleged patriot priests after 1944. Thus, in January 1950, the “Commission of Priests” was born at the Union of Freedom and Democracy Fighters - priests active in supporting communist authorities in Poland and independency from the Vatican. The "prince of the patriarchs" were very eager to argue the "reactive", "nationalist" clergymen. They supported the stateization of Caritas and attacked Primate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. They calmed down only after Stalin's death, thawed Gomulkowska and threatened excommunication. The movement died spontaneously with the late 1960s.

It is worth noting that this was not the only communist task about the Church in Poland. Another example was pushing and promoting a part called the “Polish Catholic Church”, completely controlled by the authorities and utilized for communist propaganda. It was headed by a suspended priest Maximilian Rode, an SB agent, a individual enemy of the card. Wyszynski.

What did the late Pope gotta do with this?

Jorge Mario Bergoglio from the beginning of his pontificate as Francis was eager to show sympathy for “the theologians of liberation” and rehabilitated their teachings. It is worth noting here that the "theology of liberation" was fiercely fought by the Catholic Church under the leadership of Saint John Paul II and then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. This was needed due to the fact that local authorities and troops did not deal with “theologists of liberation” and frequently imprisoned, tortured and killed them. In any lands apostolic nunciatures and bishops were referred to as communist collaborators, and authorities banned spiritual ceremonies. The situation became very dangerous for the Vatican. The Polish Pope already condemned this movement in 1979 during his pilgrimage to Mexico as contrary to the teaching of the Church. He expressed his top opposition during his pilgrimage to Nicaragua, where he personally disciplined Fr Ernesto Cardenala - the ideologist of the movement. Then during the Mass in Mangua, the pope had to silence the revolutionous crowds of “sangists”, waving ostentably banners about the equality of Christianity and revolution. Throughout his pontificate, he fought the "liberation theology" as a harmful and fundamentally anti-ecclesiastical movement. His work was continued by Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI.

After years of bloody fighting of dictatorships and guerrillas, and even massacres of left-wing clergymen by army and death squads (as in El Salvador in 1989), “theology of liberation” began to vanish from the pages of past and be forgotten. It helped to end dictatorships and the end of the Cold War in 1991, and thus the failure of interest in the interviews of the powers.

However, with the advent of the pontificate of Francis in 2013, there was a turn in the perception of the extinguishing, even dead ideology. The fresh Pope, taking the name of a mediocre missionary from Assisi, gladly returned to the thought of a “poor Church”, gaining the favour of many anticlericals. He was willing to quit luxury and personally supported the poor. It may not have been incorrect - although the Pope is not a parish priest in a mediocre agrarian parish, but the head of the Church, and that is not his job. Especially that Francis - contrary to his pose - despised and insulted them openly. In turn, Fidel Castro or socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro gave warm words to the pope. And if the Pope is applauded all day by anti-cleric, anti-Catholic, left-wing media, it's most likely not a very Catholic pope...

At the very beginning, he accepted Fr Gustavo Gutierrez in the Vatican at the censored creator of ideology. Leonardo Boff - although he had already abandoned the habit - was promoted in Vatican events. Boff is indeed the fierce enemy of Cardinal Ratzinger. He is considered 1 of Francis' most crucial mentors. The deceased Pope was very keen to support old and fresh “theologists of liberation”. Although he was not - it seems - Christian-Marxist, he clearly felt sympathy for this movement. Thus he embezzled almost 4 decades of efforts by 2 erstwhile popes.

Adding to this his very peculiar attitude towards the war in Ukraine, where for months he could not indicate an aggressor, a sympathy for Russia, silence during the demolition of churches in Poland, Canada or France, as well as the gross ignorance of the past and politics of Europe - all this makes me feel no regrets as I would like. May he remainder in peace, but that's all I can say. I believe the next Pope will be the real successor to my favourite saint, Saint Peter.

(Text developed by Andrzej Matowski and the publication comes from Facebook profile "World War II in Color")