TIA,

Thank you for publishing this saying by St. Francis de Sales in your Forgotten Truths section: "The declared enemies of God and His Church, heretics and schismatics, must be criticized as much as possible, as long as truth is not denied. It is a work of charity to shout: "Here is the wolf!" when it enters the flock or anywhere else." [click here]

It is good to demonstrate that the Saint of sweetness and goodness took a strong position on defending the Catholic truth. Many people don't realize it, but he was a great fighter against the Protestants in Geneva, which was a stronghold of the Calvinist sect. He wrote hundreds of tracts against Protestantism, defending the truth of the Catholic Faith. It would be hard to find a man who was more compassionate and good, but at the same time he was intransigent in his fight against the false religions.

And what do we have today?

UANews (4/28/2006) reported that Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk of Seoul has issued a message greeting all Buddhists in South Korea on the occasion of Vesak, which is the Buddhist equivalent of Christmas. That is, it is to commemorate Buddha's birth on May 5.

In his April 26 message, the Cardinal said "I congratulate all Buddhists on the occasion of Buddha's birthday this spring, when all creation comes into new being.

The cardinal praised Buddha's 'universal compassion and goodwill' and then observed: 'That is why we need Buddha's teaching more and more. We believe that we can solve the problems by following Buddha's compassion and practicing love, which is the fundamental teaching of all religions.'

So a Prince of the Church says we need Buddha's teaching. He also blithely states that there is a 'single fundamental teaching of all religions,' which is practicing compassion and love. Who could have ever believed such a thing would happen? Could anything be more ridiculous or incredible?

Yes, there is something more inconceivable. It is that this kind of heretical statement can be made by a Cardinal of the Church, be printed in a major press organ, with no major protest or reaction.

If the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith were in good acting order, it should be investigating this kind of 'teaching'.

Where is the condemnation of fellow Cardinals and Bishops?

Where is the reaction of the priests and professors of theology?

Even the little people should be able to realize that this conflicts with Catholic doctrine. Or at least they would have been able to - before Vatican II. Now everything is in confusion.

Keep up your good work.

     E.V.

Follow us

   A Paralyzed Ecumenism

   Protestant and Schismatic Sects Venerated in a Catholic Church

   John Paul II Greets an African Voodoo "Priest"

   Mass as a Buddhist Temple

   Pagan Symbols at the Pan-religous Meeting of Assisi