Ukraine

[catholicguy2]

He believed that America as a nation was destined to be a force for good in the world, advancing Christian civilization and he called for Catholics to “aid in the rapid growth of the states” towards that forseen end.

 

[Vouthon]

You may roll your eyes but that is what he believed. Of course, he did not have any gift of prophecy that I am aware of, so you are more than entitled to think that the Holy Father’s prediction was wrong but it is rather odd to try and deny that he said it at all.

 

[josie_L]

Pius IX’s 1864 encyclical specifically marks for condemnation that:

liberty of conscience and worship is each man's personal right, which ought to be legally proclaimed and asserted in every rightly constituted society; and that a right resides in the citizens to an absolute liberty, which should be restrained by no authority whether ecclesiastical or civil, whereby they may be able openly and publicly to manifest and declare any of their ideas whatever, either by word of mouth, by the press, or in any other way. (section 3)

So you’re stating that the Church is condemning freedom of speech whole sale, i.e., no nuances or restrictions regarding freedom of speech, but a complete condemnation of it?

 

[pepipop]

I was wondering about that, myself. What a coincidence they had all those insignia-less uniforms lying around. Or are the insignia attached by velcro so they’re easily removed?

But how many ‘non-soldiers’ are there actually in Crimea? The 16,000 quoted by the MSM refer to Russian soldiers that are legally allowed to be there.

The non-soldiers could easily be Crimeans holding Russian passports that don’t want any hassle from Ukraine, hence this hides their identity and alliances to either country, Russia/Crimea/Ukraine.

Putin couldn’t do this alone and Crimea are well in on the game.

 

[josie_L]

And Saul killed Christians before becoming Paul.

I believe that Putin is undergoing a gradual conversion to the Holy Roman Church. What you wrote is insignificant compared to millions of dead babies and sodomy as a basic human “right.”

People like blessed Mother Theresa, blessed John Paul II, St. Padre Pio or the countless Christian martyrs of the 20th century are holy, but Putin is not holy, and for you to call him such now, is . . . . . . . . . . .

 

[gilliam]

Is that the new Crimean flag?

 

[Vouthon]

I also support the people of Crimea determining their own future and becoming part of the Russian Federation if that is their true wish, just as I fully support my own country, Scotland, and its right to decide whether it wants to remain part of the United Kingdom or not. However I would rather that they choose to do this without the imposition of a Russian jackboot over the sovereign territory of what is still a separate country from Russia.

 

[Durnford]

Putin like the Emperor Constantine is being called by God.
We cannot hope to understand but the Almighty uses the most misshapen of vessels to achieve his objectives.

 

[Vouthon]

Putin like the Emperor Constantine is being called by God.
We cannot hope to understand but the Almighty uses the most misshapen of vessels to achieve his objectives.

Be very wary of such “secular messianism” and deification of mere human beings. The Psalms tell us in the Bible not to put our “trust in princes” and that “human beings are flesh and not spirit”, that “dust and ashes cannot boast”.

The Kingdom of God is not ever to be identified with this world, as Jesus warned us against. The Church is a pilgrim on this earth looking towards the heavenly Jerusalem.

From the Catechism:

676 The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, 576 especially the “intrinsically perverse” political form of a secular messianism

 

[catholicguy2]

Putin like the Emperor Constantine is being called by God.
We cannot hope to understand but the Almighty uses the most misshapen of vessels to achieve his objectives.

This. I believe Putin will convert like Constantine and destroy the evil US/EU thus reestablishing Christian civilization.

 

[gilliam]

Summary - from The Guardian

**• An EU summit ended with an agreement on small steps in response to Russia’s intervention **in Ukraine, and a warning that sanctions could follow “if Russia does not change course.”

• EU leaders agreed to suspend negotiations on a more liberal visa regime for Russians; stop work on a new EU-Russian comprehensive relations deal; and stop preparations for the G8 summit in Sochi in June.

• US secretary of state John Kerry gave Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov a rundown of the EU-US position for him to take to the Russian president, Kerry said following a meeting in Rome.

• The EU froze the assets of 18 Ukrainian citizens. The United States erected a legal framework to impose visa restrictions on unnamed Russian officials. The US House of Representatives voted for $1bn in loan guarantees for Ukraine.

• **The Crimean parliament voted to join the Russian Federation and to hold a referendum **on 16 March to rubber-stamp the decision.

• Ukrainian, European and American leaders condemned the planned referendum. “The referendum “would violate the Ukrainian constitution and violate international law,” US president Barack Obama said.

• The Pentagon said it was sending 12 F-16 fighters and 300 military personnel to Poland for joint Nato training in addition to moving planes to Lithuania.

• Armed groups including troops in Russian military uniform turned international observers away from the Crimean border.

• An emergency UN security council meeting was planned for Thursday.

• Numerous countries have canceled plans to send government ministers and members of royal families to the opening of the winter Paralympic Games in Sochi on Friday.

 

[gilliam]

This. I believe Putin will convert like Constantine and destroy the evil US/EU thus reestablishing Christian civilization.

Putin isn’t a Roman Catholic. He may be a non-practicing member of the Russian Orthodox Church. He has shown absolutely no indication of converting to Roman Catholicism, and what is happening now is an indication that he doesn’t want any ties with the Western (Roman) Church. ref: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin#Religion

And he isn’t an emperor.

 

[M-Dent]

A little neighborhood watch is not a bad idea.

Six F-15C fighters and a KC-135 tanker to Lithuania to bolster the four F-15Cs it already has there. In addition, the DoD is looking at expanding the USAF’s AVDET detachment in Poland as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (US Air Force)

Hagel announced on 5 March that the United States is to increase its military co-operation with Poland and the Baltic states in response to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

janes.com/article/34957/usaf-increases-support-for-poland-and-baltic-states

 

[catholicguy2]

Putin isn’t a Roman Catholic. He may be a non-practicing member of the Russian Orthodox Church. He has shown absolutely no indication of converting to Roman Catholicism, and what is happening now is an indication that doesn’t want any ties with the Western (Roman) Church. ref: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin#Religion

And he isn’t an emperor.

With God all things are possible.

I only pray that this is the beginning of the Great Chastisement.

Those sodomites in Los Angeles who whined about the Olympic Games and Putin’s inspired laws against sodomy won’t be laughing when Russian missiles start coming at them.

 

[gilliam]

Michael McFaul, Professor at Stanford University tweets: If Russian govt. endorses Crimean referendum, will they also allow/endorse similar votes in republics in Russian Federation?

 

[catholicguy2]

 

[pepipop]

Michael McFaul, Professor at Stanford University tweets: If Russian govt. endorses Crimean referendum, will they also allow/endorse similar votes in republics in Russian Federation?

If that’s what the republics’ want. I.E. They have to approach Russia, tell Russia we’d like to come back; do you want us; can we hold a referendum to ask our people then? Russia either says yes, or no.

It’s not a one-sided affair, it takes two to tango.

 

[Robert_Bay]

MODERATOR NOTICE

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• No name calling
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[catholicguy2]

Not MY agenda but GOD’S AGENDA.

 

[Vouthon]

This. I believe Putin will convert like Constantine and destroy the evil US/EU thus reestablishing Christian civilization.

The evil EU that includes three of the most traditionally staunchest of Catholic nations, Poland, Malta and Ireland? The evil EU that reveres as its founders men who were Catholics?

Read:

“…The Schuman Declaration is somewhat akin to Europe ‘Declaration of Independence’ in its combination of vision and blueprint…The Schuman plan was, in this sense, evocative…of the Christian belief in the power of repentance…This evocation is not particularly astonishing given the personal backgrounds of the founding fathers - Adenauer, De Gaspari, Schuman, Monnet himself - all seriously committed Catholics…”

- J.H.H. Weiler, The Political and legal culture of European Integration (2011)

I will note that it is Poland that is taking the strongest line in the entire EU against Russia.

If we wish to view this on religious lines, which we shouldn’t do, then consider this:

Most residents of Poland adhere to the Christian faith, with 86.7%[2][3] belonging to the Roman Catholic Church…Catholicism plays an important role in the lives of many Poles and the Roman Catholic Church in Poland enjoys social prestige and political influence.[4] The Church is widely respected by its members, who see it as a symbol of Polish heritage and culture.[5] Poland is the most Catholic country in Europe (except for tiny Malta), with a higher proportion of Catholics even than countries such as Italy, Spain, or Ireland…From the beginning of its statehood, different religions coexisted in Poland. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Poland was famous for its unique religious tolerance reasserted by the Statute of Kalisz (1264) and the Warsaw Confederation (1573). In the 15th and 18th century, pressure from the Vatican caused tensions to rise between Catholics and Protestants after the Edict of Wieluń and later the Tumult of Torun contributing to the Age of Enlightenment. When Poland lost the last vestiges of its independence to foreign invaders in 1795, Poles were subjected to religious discrimination for 123 years under German rule and Imperial Russia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Poland

Poland’s role in the EU is set to grow and grow.

Read this:

ewtn.com/library/CHISTORY/zcathorigeu.HTM

The original idea of the European Union has deep roots in Catholic social teaching, according to the author of a book on Robert Schumann, one of the founders of the institution.

Catholic historian Alan Fimister, author of “Robert Schumann: Neo-scholastic Humanism and the Unification of Europe,” published by Peter Lang, affirms that Schuman’s actions in 1950 to found what would later be the European Union were, to a remarkable degree, the conscious implementation of the Neo-Thomistic project of Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903)…