VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Alarming projections loom about the Vatican's post-pandemic finances, according to the Vatican's new minister of economy, despite his measured words in a recent interview.

Father Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, said, "Pessimistic projections [linger] around 45%," while he submitted an "optimistic" estimate at 25%. 

"Today, we are unable to say whether there will be a decrease in donations to the Peter's Pence collection, or a decrease in contributions from the dioceses," he noted in an interview published by Vatican News May 14.

Guerrero said he was loathe to do the interview because "there are other more important things in the Church," but "this moment is challenging for everyone. ... It also requires clarity."

Guerrero was appointed to his new role in early January when news of Vatican financial scandals and shake-ups were being widely circulated — and the full throes of the pandemic started to be felt.

In December 2019, Church Militant reported on The Wall Street Journal's (WSJ) revelations that the Vatican was using as much as 90% of Peter's Pence funds — marketed as the pope's charity for the poor — toward paying off deficits in the Vatican's administrative budget, including salaries and related expenses. 

"What the Church doesn't advertise is that most of that collection, worth more than €50 million ($55 million) annually," the WSJ noted, "goes toward plugging the hole in the Vatican's own administrative budget, while as little as 10% is spent on charitable works, according to people familiar with the funds."

Another scandal that hit the news was that Elton John's 2019 biopic Rocketman was being financed, in part, by Catholic parishioners' money originating from Peter's Pence. Church Militant reported that the Malta-based investment firm Centurion Global Fund — whose largest investor is the Vatican — funneled €1 million ($1.1 million) into producing the film, which contains "the most explicit gay love scene since Brokeback Mountain in 2005."

Seeming to play down the financial aspect of the post-pandemic crisis, Guerrero said, "We are not a business, we are not a company. Our objective is not to make a profit," later adding, "Our approach must be the maximum sobriety and the maximum clarity." 

"Our bottom line is in view of mission. That is, a balance sheet that puts numbers into relationship with the Holy See's mission," he said.  

Determining "what is and what is not essential" is important in navigating a post-pandemic world, Guerrero noted. "Our economy cannot be completely measured merely in terms of deficit, or cost." 

In quantifying the Vatican's financial challenges, he said, "They are smaller in respect to the Holy See than many people imagine: less than the average American university, for example," adding, "In any case, the books tell us that between 2016 and 2020 both income and expenses have been constant: revenue, in the region of 270 million, expenses averaged around 320 million, depending on the year.

Expenses are distributed more or less as "45% personnel, 45% general and administrative expenses."

In relation to guaranteeing "the salaries of the people currently employed," he recommended humility: "We are not a great power. You can talk about the difficulty of making it in the large European countries. Imagine us. We need to be humble. We are a family with a small patrimony and the generous help of many." 

Addressing recent financial scandals that have wracked the Vatican, Guerrero defended its financial stewardship: "[T]he deficit in recent years has fluctuated between 60 and 70 million" and are not "the result of poor administration, or that the Holy See's finances prove ... an immobile bureaucracy."

"That's not the case. It has nothing to do with that," he argued.

To get a fuller picture, he explained, "The Holy See's and the Holy Father's mission is behind these numbers, that is, the fullness of life and ecclesial service." 

"Numbers always need to be interpreted. There is a goal behind these numbers. Behind the balance, sheet there is a mission, the service that these expenses make possible," he clarified. "Perhaps we need to better explain, tell the story better. We certainly need to be clearer."

One "service" the minister referred to is "communicating what the Pope does in 36 languages, through radio, TV, the internet, social media, a newspaper, a printing house, a publishing house, the press room ... ."

Guerrero concluded that "the Vatican is not in danger of default," although "That doesn't mean that we are not naming the crisis for what it is. We're certainly facing difficult years."

Guerrero's "good news" is that "the Secretariat for the Economy (SPE), the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), the Secretariat of State, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, the Council for the Economy and the Governorate are working together to deal with the crisis and reform what needs to be reformed." 

"We have asked each entity to do everything possible to reduce expenses while safeguarding the essential services of its specific mission," he added. 

The minister submitted that he sleeps well in the middle of the current crisis: "So far, no difficulty has robbed me of sleep," he said, adding, "I have faith in the Lord of Life, and I know that Life always ends up opening the way for us."

Father Guerrero is a Spanish Jesuit and was appointed prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy in January 2020. Before that he taught at the university level and held administrative positions within the Jesuit order.

HONG KONG (ChurchMilitant.com) - Cardinal Joseph Zen took to social media Wednesday night, sounding as if he were a professor in an international virtual classroom lecturing on the ramifications of globalization, the threat of China and the effects of the Wuhan virus.

Zen begins his discourse by calling it "A short reflection on the tragic reality which is still in the happening" which is "a pandemic of apocalyptical dimension, causing incalculable loss of lives and of economic resources."

Zen admits we don't see an end to the pandemic yet, but encourages us to "take stock of some obvious facts and analyze their cause-effect relation," because "by doing so we can prepare ourselves for the rebuilding of our society and providing new defenses in the future for our humanity."

The Threat of Globalization

In order to do this we must recognize a few facts, he says. The first fact, according to Zen, is that we must understand the pandemic began in China, and quickly spread around the whole world. "It must have something to do with globalization," he remarks. The world has become a metaphorically smaller place, and Zen expounds on two general movements of the modern world that have made it so — mass transportation and mass communication. The first contributed to the Wuhan virus spreading internationally, and the second could have prevented it from happening.

"The enormously increased mobility of the people explains, in part, the fast spreading of the pandemic," says Zen. "But the modern progress in communication could provide timely alarm and contain that spreading. Obviously something went wrong," he says.

Zen considers the value of globalism: It "is an ambivalent phenomenon," he says. "It may be good, it may be bad, it depends on the way we manage it." 

He turns to Pope St. John Paul II to illustrate: "Pope John Paul II used to distinguish a 'globalization of solidarity' from a 'globalization of marginalization.' One is operated by people who care for the real good of all human beings, the other is driven by selfish interest of individuals and groups." 

One is motivated by charity and solidarity, the other by selfishness and marginalization, he explains. 

Exploitation in the 'Village'

Zen then begins expounding on today's globalization movement and China's role in it.

"Many people welcomed the arrival of globalization," he recalls, "with the world becoming a 'village,' a 'big family.' Cooperation and mutual help would make the world better." People of goodwill who are rich and strong could help the poor and weak, he explains. "But, alas, the actual outcome was much disappointing," he lamented.

A question to ponder, he suggested, is why there have been so many protests of meetings related to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"The answer is," he suggests, "the poor of the poor countries did not feel they got any help from this globalized economy of the world." They are not benefitting.

"Those running the economic globalization are the world's rich and strong. They are meant to help the poor countries, but too often they end up by helping the governments of the poor countries." These governments, Zen explains, include the relatively few rich and powerful people within poor countries. "The poor people of the poor countries have not been invited to take [an] active part in the process," he says.

As the selfish imbalance in human nature plays out on the global scene, China went from a formerly poor country to a world power — a model and hope for poor people around the world, Zen explains. Yet, he challenges this perception.

Distinguish Regime vs. Its People

"We have to distinguish between the people and the nation," he says. The nation has become strong because of its population size and the industriousness of its people. However, he says, China is a totalitarian state.

Zen explains:

In a totalitarian regime the people contribute to the wealth of the nation, but they don't get a fair share in its prosperity. In China the people are slaves under the [Chinese] Communist Party (CCP). To slaves it is not allowed the luxury of dignity. Under the dominion and bad example of their masters, the Chinese people have lost their traditional virtues. In a world of "struggle for survival," they make recourse to lies and violence, just like their masters. China became a threat to the world.

Zen added that the world, in its dealings with China, wittingly or unwittingly has become "accomplices in nourishing a dangerous monster." Zen explains it is the party leaders who become rich, off the backs of the people. And in a global village, he warns, "for the CCP ... exploiting their countrymen to being the imperialists exploiting the other countries, there is just one step."

In true communist form, [Chinese President] "Xi Jinping presents himself to many Asian and African nations as the savior — the one who can free them from the poverty in which they were left by their colonizers." They lend money, send workers and before long the money goes back to China and the poor countries are fully indebted to them. "The new colonizers are worse than the old ones!" Zen decries.

Pandemic Offers a Lesson

Now comes a pandemic, Zen says, and it is waking everyone up.

"Can we be proud of our scientific progress, of the many possibilities of more consumption? All a sudden we are losing everything and find ourselves powerless," he observes.

He reminds us that in the midst of chaos we know truth, freedom and gospel values are what's important.

"We discover that the real heroes are not those we used to admire on the screen, but those who sacrifice themselves in serving the sick, those who take care to keep clear and healthy our environment," he says. 

Those who love God and neighbor are the true heroes, he alludes, and always have been.

"We appreciate our Faith, which teaches us we are children of God — brothers and sisters in the human family," he adds.

And, as if to say the virus has been a needed form of chastisement, Zen concludes: "Thank you, Lord, for this lesson from the pandemic."

CLICK TO WATCH THE VIDEO


TRANSCRIPT

A woman some are calling "China's Harriet Tubman" is saving baby girls from abortion and sex slavery in the communist country. 

Reggie Littlejohn has been leading the work of Women's Rights Without Frontiers for decades.

The pro-life effort in the Marxist nation has been made even more difficult owing to the Wuhan pandemic.

Littlejohn: "So we have a very strong advocacy and are known internationally as being experts on coercive population control in China, but we're also unique because we're literally saving lives inside of China."

President Trump: "Your policies are cruel and evil."

With China coming under greater international scrutiny because of its dismal handling of the Wuhan crisis early on, and U.S. President Donald Trump playing hardball on the trade front, the work of Women's Rights Without Frontiers is a question for the future.

"We're in a state of constant struggle with them because what we're doing ... We save baby girls from sex-selective abortion. And we are constantly trying to fly under the radar screen, because if we were caught, our field workers — were incredibly brave — would be detained or worse."

In June of 2019, Littlejohn addressed the United Nations in hope of exposing these issues to the international community, and she walked away irritated and disturbed.

"This is a constant struggle between me and the United Nations, and anyone who cares about China in the United Nations. China has so much power in the United Nations, not the least reason of which is that they are funding so many projects in so many countries and nobody is willing to stand up to them on the issue of human rights."

Women's Rights Without Frontiers — whose work can better be understood by visiting its website www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org — is the driving force behind protecting baby girls from the barbarism of China's communist regime. 

Littlejohn says, like all groups working in the trenches of the pro-life war, financial support is always welcome.

"You can go on our website womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org and just on the right-hand side, there are two red buttons. One says save a girl, one says save a widow. You can click on one or the other, and then you can donate because that's really the only thing you can do ... and pray."

The estimated number of children killed in communist China since 1971 is 336 million, an evil Littlejohn wants to see come to an end.

Littlejohn: "No one supports forced abortion because it's not a choice."

A woman some are calling "China's Harriet Tubman" is saving baby girls from abortion and sex slavery in the communist country. 

Reggie Littlejohn has been leading the work of Women's Rights Without Frontiers for decades.

The pro-life effort in the Marxist nation has been made even more difficult owing to the Wuhan pandemic.

Littlejohn: "So we have a very strong advocacy and are known internationally as being experts on coercive population control in China, but we're also unique because we're literally saving lives inside of China."

President Trump: "Your policies are cruel and evil."

With China coming under greater international scrutiny because of its dismal handling of the Wuhan crisis early on, and U.S. President Donald Trump playing hardball on the trade front, the work of Women's Rights Without Frontiers is a question for the future.

"We're in a state of constant struggle with them because what we're doing ... We save baby girls from sex-selective abortion. And we are constantly trying to fly under the radar screen, because if we were caught, our field workers — were incredibly brave — would be detained or worse."

In June of 2019, Littlejohn addressed the United Nations in hope of exposing these issues to the international community, and she walked away irritated and disturbed.

"This is a constant struggle between me and the United Nations, and anyone who cares about China in the United Nations. China has so much power in the United Nations, not the least reason of which is that they are funding so many projects in so many countries and nobody is willing to stand up to them on the issue of human rights."

Women's Rights Without Frontiers — whose work can better be understood by visiting its website www.womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org — is the driving force behind protecting baby girls from the barbarism of China's communist regime. 

Littlejohn says, like all groups working in the trenches of the pro-life war, financial support is always welcome.

"You can go on our website womensrightswithoutfrontiers.org and just on the right-hand side, there are two red buttons. One says save a girl, one says save a widow. You can click on one or the other, and then you can donate because that's really the only thing you can do ... and pray."

The estimated number of children killed in communist China since 1971 is 336 million, an evil Littlejohn wants to see come to an end.

Littlejohn: "No one supports forced abortion because it's not a choice."

TRANSCRIPT

With a good number of dioceses now slowly starting to open back up — with all the accompanying notices, cautions and warnings being issued by various bishops — it's all one big jumble. In some ways, it's a perfect symbol for life in the Church these days — confusion, conflicting information, no clarity, contradiction.

Even what should be an easy call on reception of Holy Communion has turned into a war of words and contradictory statements by bishops, among bishops and about bishops. But back to the point of it being symbolic. It really is. 

The Real Presence is the source and summit of the Faith, but the massive controversy and confusion and lack of clarity around this bedrock teaching is reflected in the confusion and contradicting statements about reception.

Seventy percent of American Catholics do not believe in the real presence — the teaching that Jesus Christ is really, truly and substantially present — Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity — under the appearance of bread and wine. From this sacrament — the Blessed Sacrament — all the others find their source and their destination. Yet, most Catholics don't believe.

It was Pew Research that released that stunning revelation a few months back. And for the record, it was only stunning if you've been in a cave for the past half-century.

If you examine Pew's data, an interesting point emerges: Of the 70% who don't believe, half of them flat-out reject the Real Presence and the other half don't believe because they say they were never told.

So in short, here's the straightforward breakdown:

• 30% believe
• 35% reject
• 35% never heard it

It's probably not that too far afield to think the same distribution applies to members of the hierarchy as well.

Communion in the hand is, frankly, disgraceful. It's permitted, but so what? — so are girl altar boys. The spiritual abuses at Mass, tolerated by so many shepherds, will weigh heavily against them at their judgments. Owing to their own lack of belief, either they were never told or they reject, they have passed that lack of faith on to the sheep.

Remember the old adage "You can't give what you do not have"? Well, the opposite is also true: You can only get what you're given. And if so many are lacking faith in such a fundamental teaching, it means they were either never given it, given it very poorly or given it by those who, through their own lack of faith, gave it in such a half-hearted way that it was never able to be sufficiently understood so as to be believed.

Given all this, you wonder if, behind the scenes, the slow move to begin opening parishes wasn't so much a move to give the people back the Bread of Life, so much as to get those collection baskets moving again.

Earlier this week the archdiocese of Boston's Cdl. Seán Patrick O'Malley admitted that his diocese has taken it so hard in the pocketbook, that a huge percentage of them will not survive and will have to merge.

Right here in Detroit, Abp. Allen Vigneron last week in a secret video conference-call with his priests had to tell them that, come August, there won't be enough money to meet the chancery's bills, and they're going to have to take out a loan.

But while we've heard no end of the financial woes, there's been hardly a murmur about the woes surrounding the lack of faith in the Real Presence. In fact, many of them seem to be doubling down on it.

Even before the Wuhan hit, the teaching on the Eucharist was beyond pathetic,. It was essentially missing in action. If bishops knew — which they did because some commented on it — the disastrous findings of the Pew Research, why didn't they immediately start to reverse course? Why didn't a note go out from the bishop's conference, which each bishop could implement in his own diocese, instructing priests to inform the faithful not to approach for Holy Communion if they were conscious of any grave sin — thereby committing sacrilege — or if they needed to get to confession if they had willfully missed Mass since their last reception?

That data from Pew was released in August last year. Where were the emergency meetings? It's an emergency if 70% of your people reject one of your most fundamental teachings. Where were the plans to start hitting this? Where were the surveys of young men admitted to seminary? Where were the reviews of every single formator of seminarians?

The truth is, none of this was done. The bishops gathered in November for their regular useless conference meeting, ate well, had loads of booze, stayed in very nice hotels, talked about business, ate and drank some more and went home.

The appalling lack of faith in the Real Presence among the faithful rose to the level of idle chatter, perhaps, among some of them, with some probably even high-fiving each other secretely that that old medieval teaching was finally going the way of the dodo bird.

Sometimes, things in life are complicated. But many times they are not. If a group of men who are supposed to really believe something can transmit that to a somewhat willing audience, then either they don't really believe it themselves, or they don't care enough about it to convince others they should care.

So no one can be really surprised — as the Communion wars heat up with the reopenings — that there is a war. Of course there is a war: There's a war over reception because there's a deeper war over belief.

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck. 

US Virus Deaths Sharply Declining
CDC reports show major drop in Wuhan virus deaths. FULL STORY

Massachusetts Parishes in Peril
Two-thirds of Boston churches in financial trouble. FULL STORY

Idols Displayed in U.K. Church
British church places pagan display at its altar. FULL STORY

Congressman Slams Stimulus Bill
Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers calls Democrat's aid bill 'socialist propaganda.' FULL STORY

Gay Stations of the Cross
Parishes in New York and San Francisco push LGBT agenda. FULL STORY

VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - As outcry mounts against China for allowing the Wuhan virus to spread, faithful Catholics are wondering why the Vatican won't speak out.

Attorneys general from 18 states (AGs) are now calling on Congress to investigate China's role in spreading the COVID-19 pandemic. Their letter on Saturday referenced recent condemnations of China by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

"In what Secretary of State Pompeo has described as a 'classic communist disinformation effort,' the Chinese government, aided by the World Health Organization, appears to have intentionally misled the world over the last six months," said the AGs.

Vatican 'Politics' Muzzles Prelates

Asked why the Vatican doesn't speak out on China's role in causing more than 300 thousand deaths worldwide, China expert Stephen Mosher told Church Militant it comes down to Vatican politics.

"The Sino-Vatican Agreement signed 20 months ago comes up for renewal on Sept. 22 of this year," said Mosher. "The Vatican's secretary of state, Cdl. Pietro Parolin, appears to be interested in renewing it, thus the silence about CCP [Chinese Communist Party] responsibility for the origin and spread of the deadly plague."

The AG's letter was addressed to both the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, along with notable congressional leaders. It focuses on ever-increasing evidence pointing to China's complicity in not only spreading the pandemic but also rendering other nations helpless to defend against it.

'Willful' Concealment

"Recent reports suggest that the communist Chinese government willfully and knowingly concealed information about the severity of the virus while simultaneously stockpiling personal protective equipment," the AGs noted.

The letter detailed China's following "layers of deceit" that began as the virus emerged there in December:

• Censoring Chinese health officials
• Muzzling Taiwanese complaints
• Expelling media outlets
• Targeting the western world with disinformation

Pompeo nailed China during a State Department news conference on May 6. He affirmed that China did, in fact, know about the emerging pandemic yet did nothing to stop it from spreading worldwide.

"They knew. China could have prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. China could have spared the world descent into global economic malaise," declared Pompeo.

He added, "China is still refusing to share the information we need to keep people safe."

'Enormous' Evidence: Drones, Hacking

On May 3, Pompeo told ABC's This Week that the evidence against China is "enormous."

"I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan," he confirmed.

The letter from the 18 AGs further revealed that China's propaganda efforts include "suspicious gifts of drones to state, as well as 'educational' grants to American universities connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology."

Regarding American research into the Wuhan virus, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are accusing the People's Republic of China of cyber hacking. The joint statement on Wednesday stated that China's hacking was endangering the development of a treatment for the virus.

"The FBI is investigating the targeting and compromise of U.S. organizations conducting COVID-19-related research by PRC-affiliated cyber actors and non-traditional collectors," read the joint announcement. 

"The potential theft of this information jeopardizes the delivery of secure, effective, and efficient treatment options," it added.

Vatican's 'Kid Gloves' for China

Yet, in the face of China's past and present actions that continue endangering lives, the Vatican keeps its eerie silence.

Mosher says it's nothing new for the current pontificate to ignore the CCP's human rights violations in hopes of political gain. Such hopes, he added, were completely unfounded:

More broadly, this pontificate has treated the CCP with kid gloves from the beginning, apparently in the hope that Pope Francis will one day be invited to visit China. This is, in my opinion, highly unlikely to happen. The CCP is determined to stamp out religious sentiment in China, not encourage it by having the leader of the world's largest organized religious body visit.

Kiboshing China-Partner WHO

President Donald Trump in April put a freeze on funding earmarked for the World Health Organization (WHO) for being complicit with China in allowing the pandemic to spread. Trump made good on his promise to "put a very powerful hold" on money thrown at WHO. The president announced on April 14 that he was putting a "60-to-90-day" freeze on funding while the White House reviews the agency's suspicious response at the start of the pandemic.

Trump asserted WHO was "China-centric" and its decisions helped spread the virus.

Mosher told Church Militant in April that the director of WHO was China's man. He called out WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has been outed as pro-communist with a history of covering up epidemics.

"Tedros is a corrupt Ethiopian politician who works for China, not for the welcoming of the world's population," said Mosher.

Repercussions In the Works

Already in March, the U.S. House of Representatives drafted a resolution demanding the Chinese government accept full responsibility for the global pandemic owing to its mishandling of the Wuhan virus.

The resolution stated that China's "mistakes" include "the Chinese government's intentional spread of misinformation to downplay the risks of the virus, a refusal to cooperate with international health authorities, internal censorship of doctors and journalists, and malicious disregard for the health of ethnic minorities."

The AGs, however, declared their intention to take further legal action. Their letter took note of a lawsuit filed by Missouri's Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who sued the CCP in April. In their letter, the AGs warned that "many of us are considering similar legal actions."

WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - As the U.S. government goes full-steam ahead in its search for a vaccine to fight the Wuhan virus vaccine and plans for how to administer it, many are fearing the cure could be worse than the disease.    

Reports from various sources say the government is hustling to get vaccine supplies ready, as well as distribution measures in gear, in anticipation of a working cure.

Production in High Gear

Forbes reported May 14 about two hefty orders placed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) totaling $100 million for just needles and syringes. Estimates target 300 million as the number of needles needed to perform inoculations in the U.S.

Connected to what is being called the "COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Campaign," one order costing $27.5 million went to Colorado-based Marathon Medical, and the other costing $83.7 million went to Texan business Retractable Technologies.

A raft of various vaccines are also being developed and tested. For example, one backed by the government includes "a $450 million deal with Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceutical." 

And the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced in March it was working with Janssen and Massachusetts-based Moderna on fast-tracking vaccine production. HHS said it would "accelerate advanced clinical trials, regulatory support and large-scale manufacturing to produce up to 300 million doses of vaccine in the United States each year."

While the latest orders should go some way in alleviating concerns about preparedness to deliver vaccines to Americans, many are expressing serious concerns not only about from what — or from whom — the vaccine will be made but also how and to whom it will be administered.

Perhaps most suspiciously, it has been noted that the total population of the United States, estimated at 328.2 million, roughly matches the number of needles, syringes and doses of the vaccines targeted for production, making the suggestion clear — mandated universal vaccinations.

Moral Qualms

About the matter used to make the vaccinations, Bp. Strickland of Tyler Texas issued a pastoral letter in April rousing Catholics to understand the mortal danger of any coronavirus vaccine developed using stem cells from aborted babies and is urging them to fight. "I will not kill children to live," the bishop has exclaimed, expressing the sentiments of many faithful Catholics.

"We must insist that legislators create legislation which establishes the illegal and immoral nature of any use of the remains of aborted babies for research," said Strickland. "Further, we must insist that pharmaceutical companies comply with such legislation," he stated in the letter.

The bishop has also tweeted that he would not accept any vaccine that was made from aborted baby parts.

Military Involvement?

Social media lit up on May 14 after President Trump announced May 14 in an interview with journalist Maria Bartiromo that the U.S. military is being mobilized in order to support the distribution of a Wuhan virus vaccine by the end of the year.

The president said, "On the basis that we do have a vaccine ... we'll be able to give it to a lot of people very, very rapidly."

Sending up a red flag was journalist Bree Dail who was quick to point to the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits the powers of the federal government in using federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. 

Doing so, Dail said, "would be unconstitutional, and per Posse Comitatus an unlawful order to the U.S. military."

Others have expressed concern that GlaxoSmithKline, a global health giant that pleaded guilty to fraud and failure to report safety data in 2012, has been named "vaccine czar" to run "Operation Warp Speed," a fast-track scheme to distribute 300 million vaccines across America before the end of the year. 

One commenter asked if the military would force Americans to accept the vaccination, adding: "Who in their right mind is going to want to be vaccinated now?"

With billions of dollars at stake and powerful global corporations taking charge — as well as talk of military involvement from the president himself — individual citizens are starting to fear a vaccine as much as the pandemic itself.

CLICK TO WATCH THE VIDEO

TRANSCRIPT
 

"Warm greetings to you from all of us at the archdiocese of Chicago as you observe Ramadan, Islam's holiest month, in a special way this year."

Pro-LGBT cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago has recently sent warm greetings to Muslims as they observe Ramadan, causing some Catholics to scratch their heads at the prelate's ability to promote conflicting ideologies.  

On the one hand, Cupich publicly denounced one of his own priests for witnessing the burning of a gay banner, causing the priest to go into hiding, while on the other hand, he offers solidarity with non-Catholics, some of whom would remove a practicing homosexual from the land of the living. 

Cardinal Cupich: "Let us have the courage to enter into a new normal together — in friendship."

There are currently 12 countries, all Muslim, that punish homosexual acts with the death penalty: Mauritania, Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Brunei. 

Imam: "Death is the sentence. We know. There's nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence."

These countries base their Islamic laws on interpretations of Sharia, which is based on interpretation of the Koran and the Hadith.

In 2015, various news outlets reported on Muslim extremists throwing homosexuals from rooftops. 

Of course, not every Muslim thinks practicing homosexuals should be executed. But with 12 countries using Islam to justify the practice, some are wondering why Cupich has nothing to say against the extreme laws, especially with Pope Francis having altered the Catechism to oppose the death penalty.

Cardinal Cupich: "The spiritual nourishment experienced when fasting from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan may inspire new insights in how to care for each other's needs."

Critics point out that Cupich offers Muslims pleasantries and platitudes, but wouldn't dare correct them, reserving his "correction" for faithful priests.

"Warm greetings to you from all of us at the archdiocese of Chicago as you observe Ramadan, Islam's holiest month, in a special way this year."

Pro-LGBT cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago has recently sent warm greetings to Muslims as they observe Ramadan, causing some Catholics to scratch their heads at the prelate's ability to promote conflicting ideologies.  

On the one hand, Cupich publicly denounced one of his own priests for witnessing the burning of a gay banner, causing the priest to go into hiding, while on the other hand, he offers solidarity with non-Catholics, some of whom would remove a practicing homosexual from the land of the living. 

Cardinal Cupich: "Let us have the courage to enter into a new normal together — in friendship."

There are currently 12 countries, all Muslim, that punish homosexual acts with the death penalty: Mauritania, Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Brunei. 

Imam: "Death is the sentence. We know. There's nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence."

These countries base their Islamic laws on interpretations of Sharia, which is based on interpretation of the Koran and the Hadith.

In 2015, various news outlets reported on Muslim extremists throwing homosexuals from rooftops. 

Of course, not every Muslim thinks practicing homosexuals should be executed. But with 12 countries using Islam to justify the practice, some are wondering why Cupich has nothing to say against the extreme laws, especially with Pope Francis having altered the Catechism to oppose the death penalty.

Cardinal Cupich: "The spiritual nourishment experienced when fasting from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan may inspire new insights in how to care for each other's needs."

Critics point out that Cupich offers Muslims pleasantries and platitudes, but wouldn't dare correct them, reserving his "correction" for faithful priests.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (ChurchMilitant.com) - Leftist attacks accusing the conservative leader of Hungary of an illegal power grab have failed after the European Commission concluded he did not violate any laws.

On April 29, a member of the European Commission noted Hungarian president Viktor Orbán did not violate any laws when on March 30 the Hungarian Parliament bequeathed him with unprecedented authority to combat the spread of the Wuhan virus.

Two weeks earlier, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared Hungary could face censures and the commission "is ready to act if the restrictions go beyond what is allowed."

She noted that nations taking emergency powers to deal with the Wuhan virus must be proportionate, have a time limit and be democratically controlled.

But the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, decided "there is no reason to start proceedings against Hungary," adding that it has not broken any laws.

Soros' Open Society Foundations (OSF), the New York-based organization he founded to fund leftist political efforts throughout the world, claimed Orbán "has authoritarian tendencies" and that he "will impose harsh restrictions on media freedoms and citizen mobility."

Mainstream news organizations like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post and The Guardian all followed suit, accusing the leader of being a dictator.

But he and Soros have been opposing each other's influence in Hungary for years, with Orbán remarking in 2017 he would use "all the tools at his disposal" to decrease Soros' influence in the country.

Soros was worth nearly $40 billion until he funneled $32 billion to OSF to fund his political efforts throughout the world. Through it, he has been promoting abortion, sterilization, LGBT ideology, migration, terrorism and socialism.

In January Orbán slammed Soros for "influencing European politics via his mafia-style network," calling him "the world's number-one oligarch."

The Hungarian prime minister, a Christian, also accused Soros of opposing Christianity — the bedrock of Western civilization — saying Soros "wants a mixed Christian-Muslim component in a new, modern Europe, which transcends Christianity and national emotions."

Hungary has been enmeshed in a crisis with the European Union and Muslim migrants, with the transnational organization trying to force Hungary to accept more migrants. Orbán and his ruling political party have been steadfastly refusing, calling migration the "wooden Trojan horse" of terrorism, based on evidence that Islamist terrorists are being smuggled in under the guise of migrants seeking aid.

"It is true that we are waist-deep in the struggle to protect this slice of our national sovereignty, but so far we have succeeded because until now, we have been the ones who decide who can live on Hungarian territory," Orbán said in 2017. "But the attack on our sovereignty that the European Parliament has now launched is fiercer than any previous one."

When President Donald Trump was elected in 2016, populist leaders felt bolstered on the world stage with Trump's "America First" policies.

Szilárd Németh, one of Hungary's four vice presidents, commented in January 2017:

Fake NGOs of the Soros empire are sustained to suppress national governments in favor of global capital and the world of political correctness. These organizations must be repressed by all means, and I think they must be culled altogether. I feel the international opportunity has arrived with the election of the new U.S. president.

Soros has dumped money into anti-government protests in Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, all in an attempt to change their policies to suit his leftist ends. Russian president Vladimir Putin banished Soros and any organizations connected to him for such reasons.

Turkey, sitting midway between Christian Europe and The Islamic Middle East, is calling a group of nations an "alliance of evil."

Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, France and the United Arab Emirates are accusing Turkey of breaking international law, drilling for natural gas in the Mediterranean — its sixth attempt in less than a year.

It's the latest development in ongoing arguments between some European nations and Turkey, one of the main conduits of Islamic invasion into Europe

In 2015, nearly a million Islamic migrants traveled through Turkey with the nation's blessing and spread throughout Europe.

Since then, culture clashes in France and Italy — two of the nations accepting the most migrants — have come to a head, resulting in the burning and desecration of dozens of Catholic churches.

Turkey also ships weapons to Islamic militants in countries like Nigeria, arming terrorist groups like Boko Haram, which has murdered thousands of Catholics in the last several years.

In February, Turkish president Recep Erdoğan threatened Europe, saying he'd push Islamic migrants to the border of Greece if NATO did not assist Turkey's war efforts in Syria.

The New York Times reported Turkey went so far as to provide transportation for thousands of migrants to the Greek-Turkish border.

By March, it was flooded with migrants rioting and fighting Greek military, with Europe bracing for yet another influx of Islamic men seeking to make the rest of the world like the homelands from which they fled.

WARSAW, Poland (ChurchMilitant.com) - Catholic Poland's fight against the onslaught of LGBT ideology, which threatens to impose a new, totalitarian regime on that country, continues to gain traction. 

One recent pièce de résistance is the "Stop Pedophilia" bill now being considered by Poland's Sejm (the Polish house of representatives), which according to Ordo Iuris Institute is designed to protect children, particularly "from harmful content smuggled in during sex education classes." 

The Institute, represented by a team of lawyers who believe in the active defense of the Polish Constitution, maintains "the most important goal of the proposed changes is to counteract public propagation or praise of pedophilia." 

The bill opposes a comprehensive sex education program, infused with gender ideology and approved by the World Health Organization, that grooms children for and familiarizes them with homosexuality and teaches young children about masturbation, all of which runs counter to traditional family values, according to its authors. The sex education program would become mandatory in all schools.

"We have the full right to say that homosexual activities are a sin," said Dr. Błażej Kmieciak, coordinator of the Institute's Bioethics Center, pushing back on LGBT activists who claim the right to censor public opinion and silence Catholic voices.

The provisions of the bill are fully consistent with the Constitution and European Union law, the Institute points out, and are in accordance with art. 72 section 1 of the Basic Law which stipulates that "anyone can demand the protection of children against demoralization."

The project has been supported by almost 260 thousand people. 

As Polish lawmakers move closer to a vote, opposition from pro-LGBT forces intensifies. 

Human Rights Watch alleged that the bill would criminally ensnare numerous groups of professionals simply for discussing LGBTQ identity, stating: "People and organizations providing sexuality education or information on sexual and reproductive health and rights — including teachers, outreach workers, authors, and health care personnel — fear the bill could land them in prison for up to three years for doing their jobs."

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen created a petition called "We're Under Attack in Poland" urging Poles to denounce what she calls "human rights infringements."  

Hillary Margolis, senior women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch,  criticized proponents with the following statement:

Given its track record of undercutting the rule of law, it is fitting that the government would move to pass abusive laws when the public demonstrations that have met these laws before are prohibited ... The Polish government's focus during the pandemic should be to protect people's health and rights, not diminish them.

Both domestic and international critics have complained that Poland's conservative government is playing foul by bringing the controversial proposal to a vote during the Wuhan pandemic. 

Catholic Church leaders have become a special target for lending support to the bill. Bondings 2.0, a New Ways Ministry blog providing space for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender "Catholics" lamented how "Polish church leadership has energized the country's regressive political agenda." 

The blog pointed to Krakow Abp. Marek Jędraszewsk, in particular, who in a homily last year declared that Poland was now under siege by the "rainbow plague" of LGBT ideologues. He compared LGBT activism with the oppressive "red plague" of the communist regime. 

Archbishop Jędraszewsk's comparison of the rainbow oppression with the red oppression of the communists is not infrequently noted in Poland. 

Polish priest Dariusz Oko has observed that marches promoting gender ideology and communism were "often organized by the same people," something perhaps less apparent in countries as large and as diverse as the United States.

During a July interview with the Polish radio station Radio Maryja following the highly organized June LGBT marches throughout Poland, Oko said, "The same people who announced communism yesterday, today preach genderism," adding, "The same people (or their physical or spiritual children), who proclaimed the praises of Stalinism and its communist crimes, are now preaching genderism and applying similar methods."

He defined genderism as "a mutation of communism," explaining: 

Atheists, who rejected God and considered themselves superhuman, confessed communism and committed the greatest genocides in history. But when communism was disgraced by its crimes and economic disasters, it needed a different ideology, and this ideology is genderism. This is the main ideology of atheists today. By fomenting the struggle between women and men, through the alleged liberation of sexual minorities, they want to achieve full power.

"As atheists from Moscow tried to impose communism on us," continued Oko, "atheists from Brussels try to impose genderism."

Polish Catholics are facing an uphill battle not only in seeing the bill pass into law but also in hanging onto their faith. Poland is one of Europe's most devoutly Catholic and socially conservative countries, although leftist and LGBT tributaries continue to wind themselves throughout the country and insinuate themselves into everyday life.

Father Oko said LGBT activists "will not let go and as long as they live, they will want to corrupt our children. We can't allow this!"

CLICK TO WATCH THE VIDEO

TRANSCRIPT
 

Turkey, sitting midway between Christian Europe and The Islamic Middle East, is calling a group of nations an "alliance of evil."

Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, France and the United Arab Emirates are accusing Turkey of breaking international law, drilling for natural gas in the Mediterranean — its sixth attempt in less than a year.

It's the latest development in ongoing arguments between some European nations and Turkey, one of the main conduits of Islamic invasion into Europe

In 2015, nearly a million Islamic migrants traveled through Turkey with the nation's blessing and spread throughout Europe.

Since then, culture clashes in France and Italy — two of the nations accepting the most migrants — have come to a head, resulting in the burning and desecration of dozens of Catholic churches.

Turkey also ships weapons to Islamic militants in countries like Nigeria, arming terrorist groups like Boko Haram, which has murdered thousands of Catholics in the last several years.

In February, Turkish president Recep Erdoğan threatened Europe, saying he'd push Islamic migrants to the border of Greece if NATO did not assist Turkey's war efforts in Syria.

The New York Times reported Turkey went so far as to provide transportation for thousands of migrants to the Greek-Turkish border.

By March, it was flooded with migrants rioting and fighting Greek military, with Europe bracing for yet another influx of Islamic men seeking to make the rest of the world like the homelands from which they fled.

ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - The Grand Lodge of Italian Freemasons is praising Pope Francis' covenant with Islam as "a turning point in civilization because it will open a new era" if applied.

The "Catholic part" of the Abu Dhabi declaration was drawn up by the pope alone and "the Vatican Curia 'did not put a pen' in the drafting of the text," claims Freemason Pierluigi Cascioli in the latest issue of Nuovo Hiram, the journal of the Freemasons of the Grand Orient of Italy.  

The "Human Fraternity for World Peace and Common Co-existence" pact was signed between the pontiff and Grand Imam of al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb. It was born out of a personal friendship that grew between the two after some meetings, even though it began "under the banner of mutual distrust," notes Cascioli, citing an informed Vatican source.  

"The document was exchanged several times between the two parties before it was signed," he writes.

"The appeal for greater fraternity is based both on the faiths of the authors of the document," Cascioli explains, expressing his hope that the Catholic Church will "formalize this doctrine" in a magisterial text as it has formalized its "social doctrine" in magisterial statements.  

Pope Francis and Ahmed al-Tayeb ground the appeal to human fraternity on "values which not only are fully compatible with each of their the specific faiths but which arise from their two distinct faiths," he says.

"The appeal for greater fraternity is addressed to all humanity, even to the five billion people who don't share one of their two faiths" as they fully share the values in the declaration based on the "lowest common denominator" of reason. "It is thus an appeal to everyone: erga omnes ... ." he emphasizes.

The Freemason concedes that both Catholics and Sunnis will object to the deal and say of their respective religious leaders: "He shouldn't have signed a document together with him."

Given the opposition to the document "it would be illusory to expect immediate major upheavals," Cascioli recognizes. "Pope Francis and the Grand Imam express avant-garde positions: How many of their followers will follow them? How far are the two leaders ahead of their respective 'bases?' Pope Francis is far from his base. The Grand Imam is very far from his."

However, "borrowing a term from the world of medicine," Cascioli views the Abu Dhabi Document as "a slow-release drug." 

"Pope Francis and the Grand Imam have built an airport runway. A plane to ascend must give itself a strong impulse, with which it overcomes the force of gravity and takes off. Human beings (Catholics, or Sunnis, or the remaining 5 billion) should give themselves the 'courage of fraternity,' which is driven to take off towards a better world," he writes. 

Cascioli notes that the "equality" goals of the document face obstacles when it comes to the rights of women and homosexuals.   

Regarding women's rights, "Sunnis are further behind than Catholics" even though Catholics "should do more to ensure effective equality between women and men."

Noting that the declaration condemns "discrimination" and invites all to "mutual respect," the Freemason questions whether this includes "respect for women and men who have homosexual or bisexual tendencies." 

Every human being is "called to live eroticism according to one's specific personal sensitivity. Every human being has the right (or rather, the duty) to live his eroticism according to his nature. According to nature, yes as nature has shaped it," he stresses.

"According to recent estimates, there are 21 Islamic states that prescribe the death penalty for homosexual acts," he laments, specifying Brunei, where according to the new Sharia code from April 3, 2019, homosexual acts are punishable by stoning to death.

"In sailing competitions, boats must go around a buoy. If the declaration is implemented, Abu Dhabi — a city located on the sea, on the edge of a desert — will constitute a buoy of civilization," he concludes. 

Throughout history, the Catholic Church, through its Magisterium, has condemned any attempt towards "unity" with other sects or religions. "Certainly, such attempts can nowise be approved by Catholics, founded as they are on that false opinion which considers all religions to be more or less good and praiseworthy," Pope Pius XI declared in Mortalium Animos (1928), his encyclical against religious unity and the ecumenical movement. 

Significantly, Pius XI recognized that such an initiative can arise from a "desire both of strengthening and of extending to the common welfare of human society that fraternal relationship which binds and unites us together."  

Eight popes in the course of 200 years have issued 20 legal interdicts condemning Freemasonry and never have any of the pronouncements been revoked. 

Pope Leo XIII in Humanum Genus emphasizes that "the ultimate and principal aim" of Freemasonry "was to destroy to its very foundations any civil or religious order established throughout Christendom, and bring about in its place a new order founded on laws drawn out of the entrails of naturalism."

In his bull In eminenti apostolatus (1738), Pope Clement XII condemned Freemasonry for its reliance on mere natural virtue while ignoring Christ's unique role as Savior. 

In the post­war period, Freemasonry was banned in almost all the Arab countries and in 1978 was condemned by the religious authority of Mecca as the "most dangerously destructive organization to Islam and to Muslims."

Writing in the scholarly Brill Handbook of Freemasonry, academic Charles Porset observes that Freemasonry "presents itself as a secular religion lodged in the cracks of the Roman Catholic Church after the Council of Trent" and is a "religion of the modern age," of which "the lodges are the crucible."

DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - Data shows Trump is popular in swing states — an important part of getting re-elected this November.

A new CNN poll released Wednesday found that 52% of voters in battleground states favor President Donald Trump, while 45% favor Democratic candidate Joe Biden. The poll also pinned Trump's approval rating at 45% — the highest any CNN poll has had Trump's approval since the early months of his presidency back in 2017.

CNN polling has repeatedly shown lower ratings for President Trump compared to other pollsters, who have reported his approval rating as high as between 49–51%. Similarly, recent polling by The Hill and HarrisX pegged Trump's job approval at 51%. 

CNN's poll defined battleground states as states where the vote for the presidency in 2016 was decided by a margin of eight points or less: On this list are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

On conservative commentary site National Review on Wednesday, critic-at-large Kyle Smith accused CNN of downplaying its own polling data.

He claimed, "Polls are expensive. News organizations tend to hype them breathlessly to generate headlines in rival media outlets. Wednesday was obviously a slow news day, and politics is one of CNN's core topics. Yet CNN seemed oddly unenthused about its own poll."

Smith went on to say:

True, there are lots of noisy data in the piece, most of which cut against Trump. But on the other hand, the single most surprising and hence most newsworthy detail of the poll was that Trump holds a seven-point lead over Biden in the battleground states. The CNN story doesn't even tell us what that figure is — seven points seems like a pretty big number — and downplays its own finding by noting, "Given the small sample size in that subset of voters, it is difficult to determine with certainty whether the movement is significant or a fluke of random sampling."

Some of these battleground states have a much higher percentage of Catholics than the United States as a whole, where Catholics make up about 20% of the population.

In Pennsylvania, for example, Catholics are 24% of the population, according to data from the Pew Research Center — though other sources peg the percentage even higher. The Catholic population in Wisconsin, meanwhile, is at about 25%.

The highest Catholic populations in America, however, rest in solidly Democrat states in the northeast.

Forty-two percent of the Rhode Island population is self-identified Catholics. In New York, that number is 31%. In New Hampshire, it's 36%. In New Jersey, Catholics are 34% of the population.

Over the years, some commentators have spoken of a "Catholic swing vote."

Though the majority of Catholics consistently vote for one party or the other, Catholics who identify politically as "moderates" represent a significant swing vote. 

In the 2004 presidential election, 52% of white, politically moderate Catholics voted for Republican George W. Bush, and 47% voted for Democrat John Kerry. Then, in 2008, 41% voted for Republican John McCain and 58% of the same demographic voted for Democrat Barack Obama — a swing of 22 points in just four years.

Furthermore, U.S. Catholics turn out to the voting booths on election day in slightly larger percentages than the general population. In the 2018 midterms, 26% of those who voted were Catholics, according to Pew Research.

WASHINGTON D.C. (ChurchMilitant.com) - With lockdowns continuing across the United States, the federal government is rushing to solve the growing economic crisis. The Democrats' solution — free money for everyone.

On Tuesday, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats proposed a 347,000-word stimulus plan that adds another $3 trillion to the national debt, and the bill even has moderate Democrats feeling uneasy.  

The historic record-spending bill is apportioned as follows:

• $1 trillion for state governments
• A second round of $1,200 stimulus relief checks
• $200 billion for hazard pay for essential workers
• $75 billion for Wuhan virus testing and contact tracing
• Extending $600 a week unemployment benefits through January 2021
• $175 billion for rent, mortgage and utility assistance
• Subsidize the socialist Affordable Care Act's special enrollment period
• A 15% increase in the maximum benefit of the Supplemental Nutrition Program
• $10 billion in emergency disaster assistance for small businesses
• Provisions to make voting by mail easier
• Relief for the U.S. Postal Service

The bill comes as economists from the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago estimate 40% of the jobs lost during lockdowns will be permanent.

Pelosi is touting the plan as an aid bill for the Wuhan virus, but it offers little to solve the current health crisis. Instead, it encourages American reliance on public assistance amid the pandemic, as the majority of funds go to increases in entitlement spending, bailout money for states and welfare for the American people.

On Wednesday, Fox News host Sean Hannity broke down the particulars even further, revealing, "roughly $10,000 per U.S. citizen will now be used to pay off mostly New York, California, New Jersey, Illinois and all their waste, fraud and abuse." Hannity views the aid bill as a disguised bailout plan for poorly run Democratic states.

Tucker Carlson of Fox News investigated the bill as well, finding that the stimulus checks Democrats plan to issue will also go to illegal immigrants and will contain an amnesty provision for essential workers that are illegal aliens for the duration of the crisis. The bill also extends guest-worker visas and raises the ceiling for more.

The so-called relief package's questionable encouragement of foreign labor comes as U.S. jobless claims increase to 36.5 million as of May 14, likely placing America's unemployment rate at over 15% once final numbers are out for the week. Capital Economics' Chief Economist Paul Ashworth said he predicts the rate will continue to rise to 23–24%. For reference, the unemployment rate peaked during the Great Depression at 25%.  

Inflation Woes

According to Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) reports, since the pandemic effects took hold on Feb. 19, the 10-year Breakeven Inflation Rate, a traditional model for measuring expected inflation, went from 1.65% to 0.5% on March 19 — more than a 1% drop in less than one month.

When inflation rates drop, saving is encouraged and banks become less willing to loan money. This leaves businesses struggling to recover from lockdowns with no options, leading to increased unemployment.

In response, The Federal Reserve took emergency action on March 15 to help the economy withstand the pandemic's effects by slashing its interest rate to 0.5%, while also purchasing $700 billion in Treasury and mortgage bonds to artificially inflate the economy.

Despite the move bouncing the inflation rate up to 1.26% in mid-April, it quickly dropped back down to 1.07% in May, and economists suspect the drop will continue if lockdowns don't end in the coming months.

The purpose of the Democrat plan is to force more inflation and encourage investment amid mandatory business closures. All while buying votes in 2020 with promises of free money for illegal aliens and/or voters.

If House Democrats artificially inflate the economy using government stimulus, the national debt will not only grow by another $3 trillion, it will also encourage bankers to make high-risk investments once lockdowns actually end.

Too much stimulus is worse for the economy than none, according to most economic models. Adding the House Democrats' $3 trillion bill to the Federal CARES Act from March — which cost over $2 trillion — likely puts the economy at risk of severe strain or even collapse.

Some have compared the current situation to that of Weimar Germany hyperinflating its currency to pay off war debts in the 1920s.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Earlier this year, a Beverly Hills abortion took a turn for the better when a woman's husband insisted that his wife leave the abortionist's office and go to an emergency room.

The mother had a pregnancy complication called "hyperemesis gravidarum," which can cause nausea, vomiting and weight loss. It is a severe form of morning sickness that can persist beyond the first nine weeks. The condition is not easy to endure, but treatments are available. A healthy child can be delivered with support and proper medical care.

This particular mother was opting for an abortion. While the parents' names remain unknown, recordings from the 911 call reveal they were at the Pro-Choice Medical Center (PCMC), a facility operated by Dr. Josepha Seletz, known as the "abortionist to the stars."

Seletz performs abortions into the third trimester. Her facilities are upscale, with vases of cut flowers and a rich decor. But over the last three years, Operation Rescue has documented 10 medical emergencies originating from that address.

The only reason anyone knows about this incident is because of the work of Operation Rescue.

Cheryl Sullenger, senior vice president for Operation Rescue, told Church Militant how it finds these cases: "We have a researcher who makes monthly public records requests for 911 transcripts."

Because this clinic does third-trimester abortions, Sullenger says there is a greater likelihood of serious injury and complications. 

You can listen to the call, but here is part of the transcript:

911: Okay, and what's the problem there?

PCMC: There's a patient who came in with hyperemesis, and she hasn't been established as a patient yet, but she's not feeling well, and so ... 

So we know the mother had literally just walked in the door. She had not been checked in yet but she was experiencing symptoms severe enough that 911 was contacted.

Stumped by the word, "hyperemesis," the dispatcher interrupts:

911: I'm sorry. What is the problem she's having?

PCMC: She's having chest pain and, um ...

911: Chest pains?

PCMC: Um-hmm. And her husband wants her to go to the ER. He doesn't want to be here.

From the transcript, it is not clear if dad was a reluctant participant in the decision to have an abortion. However, he used those symptoms to get his wife away from the abortion clinic and to an emergency room.

Sullenberger concedes that we don't know what happened in the emergency room at Mt. Sinai Hospital where the mother was taken. "We still pray for them," Sullenberger said.

She tells Church Militant that she wishes Operation Rescue were able to make comprehensive requests for public records on each abortion clinic in the nation.

"That would give us a fuller picture of exactly what is going on nationwide. Right now we have anecdotal evidence that helps show the medical dangers associated with abortion, but there is still so much we haven't been able to uncover," she said.

DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - Failing to address recent incidents of violence and the rape of minors by repeat offenders, prelates in the United States and the United Kingdom choose to promote open borders and interreligious dialogue.

Alleged members of the notorious MS-13 gang were arrested on Wednesday and Thursday in connection with three murders in the borough of Queens, New York City. 

Eight of the defendants were arraigned in Brooklyn federal court Thursday. 

"The murders and crimes of violence allegedly committed by these defendants are trademark MS-13 offenses — cold-blooded, senseless and brutally violent — and pose a grave danger to the residents of our communities," said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue in a statement.

Hypocrisy in the United States

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Brooklyn diocese, which includes Queens, has failed to mention MS-13 or the three murders that occurred in his diocese. 

DiMarzio has publicly denounced President Trump's border wall, decried his ending of DACA and treatment of illegal immigrants at the border.

DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is federal immigration policy that allows some illegals brought to the country as children to avoid deportation in two-year increments and become eligible for a work permit. DACA does not provide the path to citizenship that the proposed DREAM Act offers "Dreamers."

Regarding DACA, DiMarzio said, "We are disappointed with the president's decision to end DACA, as there are many undocumented Dreamers in our diocese who have now lost their sense of security in the only country they know to be home."

In June 2019, DiMarzio published a statement addressing the "escalating immigration crisis" saying, "As someone who has worked to address issues surrounding immigration policy for 50 years, I find the current state of affairs to be at one of the lowest points I have ever seen. As a nation, we are regressing and failing to treat people like human beings with the dignity and respect they each deserve."

DiMarzio called on Congress to agree on a supplemental border funding bill, adding, "in response to threats of mass deportations, these tactics are heartless and provide no real solution. Many people in our communities who are now living in fear of ICE [immigration enforcement] agents have been in the country for a long time and some have American-born children."

In 2014, Catholic Migration Services in Brooklyn and Queens, which often holds fundraising dinners with tables for 10 ranging from $1,500 to $12,500, received a grant from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services — an award of $250,000 dispersed over a two-year period.

In 2016, DiMarzio published a piece in The Tablet titled "'The Facts About Immigration'" in which he said, "My approach will not be a religious one, although certainly, Scripture gives us much to think about when it comes to treating the alien workers in our midst."

Hypocrisy in the United Kingdom

Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, three Pakistani Muslim-sex traffickers who were supposed to be deported years ago, are still wandering the streets of Rochdale in Greater Manchester. 

One of the whistleblowers told The Mirror she did not understand how they were still in the country.

"I thought Theresa May [former U.K. prime minister] had organized his deportation, so how come he's still here?" she said, adding, "I feel violated to know he's living near me in the same area where he hunted for girls like me. It's a total betrayal of grooming victims that he's allowed to stay."

Bishop John Arnold, local ordinary of the Salford diocese in which Rochdale is located, has failed to address the situation with these Muslim-sex traffickers or any of their crimes, including the rape of a 13-year-old girl. 

Arnold has worked on projects such as "building relationships with a local mosque community so as to understand Islam" and celebrated Interfaith Week. He stated: 

In our diocese, we have strong links with Citizens UK, a project which sees people of different faiths, religions and backgrounds working together for their local community. Many of our churches are part of Churches Together, which focuses on ecumenism, and over a number of years we have got to know our Muslim brothers and sisters. 

The Salford diocese website also publishes articles such as "Share the Journey: Refugees walk alongside communities facing the same challenges" and slide shows such as "The Challenges of Interreligious Dialogue," which includes a quote from heretic Hans Kung: "There can be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There can be no peace among the religions without dialogue between the religions. There can be no dialogue between the religions without research into theological foundations."

Next to Kung's quote is a picture of the earth surrounded by seven religious symbols, including the crescent moon, the ying-yang and the cross. 

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TRANSCRIPT
 

Governors, courts and law enforcement are butting heads over constitutional rights.

Protesters in Wisconsin, Virginia and Michigan — all headed by Democrat governors — are lashing out at lockdown measures they claim are repressive.

On Wednesday the Wisconsin Supreme Court threw out a stay-at-home order, ruling health secretary Andrea Palm didn't have the authority to issue it.

And in Virginia, Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins refused to enforce Gov. Ralph Northam's executive order, saying "we will not trample the constitutional freedoms of our citizens to enforce an edict of the governor."

Seattle police officer Greg Anderson was fired after a video he made went viral.

Anderson: "Regardless of where you stand on the coronavirus, we don't have the authority to do those things to people just because a mayor or governor tells you otherwise." 

On Wednesday, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer spoke about protesters wanting to open the state back up for business: "This is not appropriate in a global pandemic, but it's certainly not an exercise of democratic principles where we have free speech. This is calls to violence. This is racist and misogynistic."

Whitmer continues, "These protests, you know, in a perverse way, make it likelier that we're going to have to stay in a stay-home posture."

Across the United States, people are becoming more restless, wanting to return to work and the way life was before, and they're not taking no for an answer, setting up a larger clash that will not only wind its way through courts, but also have a resounding effect on the November election.