We publish fourth part of speech given by Michal Semin on the conference in Russia.

The Conversion of Russia No Longer Sought by Rome
Up until the principles of the conciliar revolution had won the minds of the vast majority of prelates and theologians, the meaning of the term “the conversion of Russia” was crystal clear – the separated church in Russia is to be rejoined to the One True Church, the Catholic Church, i.e. reunited with Rome, accepting the Primacy of the Pope and the Catholic Faith in its fullness and integrity. But with the twisted conciliar ecclesiology, the moral necessity of men to join the Catholic Church for salvation becomes relative, and the effort of the Church in organizing missions among non-Catholics becomes neutralized and considered as something outdated. In relation to the Orthodox world, we have the example of the Balamand Declaration – a 1993 report written by the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, during its seventh plenary session at the Balamand School of Theology in Lebanon. The signers of this document (Cardinal Cassidy represented the Holy See) came to the conclusion that the Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches are, in fact, sister churches. They condemned “proselytism” (i.e. intentional attempts to convert the other), and assured the Orthodox that the model of uniatism (i.e. the return of the separated churches under the authority of Rome) is no longer the proper and required way of achieving unity – which is in clear contradiction to the principles proclaimed by Pius XI in his encyclical Mortalium animos.

Although I welcome all the new critical voices rightfully scandalized by Pope Francis’ crusade against some elementary truths of Faith and Morals, it’s unfair to accuse him as being the instigator, the spiritual father, of this doctrinal chaos and subversion of the Catholic Faith. All the evils of the current pontificate are nothing else than the natural fruit of the conciliar disorientation, and Pope Francis only walks in the footsteps of his predecessors when he proclaimed while touring Georgia: “There is a very grave sin against ecumenism: proselytism. We should never proselytize the Orthodox!” This is not the first time Pope Francis has discouraged Catholics from converting non-Catholics. In an October 2013 interview with La Repubblica, he said: “Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense … I believe in God, not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God.” And to a girl asking the Pope if she should try to convince her friends that they should go to church on Sundays, Francis replied: “It is not licit that you convince them of your faith; proselytism is the strongest poison against the ecumenical path.”

Denying that Our Lady of Fatima Ever Promised the Conversion of Russia
Allow me a short sideline. On the night of my arrival in Moscow, I watched a 30-minute film, released on October 13 (the anniversary of the Miracle of Sun) by Catholic News Service, the media outlet of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, titled “Face among Icons: Orthodox Believers in Contemporary Russia”. The film included interviews of Metropolitan Hillarion – the top official of the Russian Orthodox hierarchy – monks, deacons, and laypeople, commenting on the undeniable rebirth and growth of Orthodox Christianity in Russia. There are some interesting scenes worth watching, but the reason I mention this film is the introduction, provided by none other than the Catholic archbishop of Moscow, Paolo Pezzi. Listen to what he said: “I thank God for being able, along with many others, to be a witness of Russia’s return to Christ. We should not interpret Our Lady of Fatima as foretelling the conversion of Russia to Catholicism. Absolutely, She never said anything to that effect. The Mother of God called – and continues to call – Russia to convert to Christ. She did not say what form that conversion should take.”

So now it’s not only Pope Francis who is scandalized by the claim that to be truly united to Christ, one has to profess the Catholic Faith. According to Pezzi, it is Our Lady Herself! If this is not blasphemy, I don’t know what is.

To be fair, the current Pontiff and his modernist co-workers didn’t entirely abandon the suitability of the term “conversion.” Another “form,” besides the general “conversion to Christ” without any further specification that would undermine the ecumenist ideology, was proclaimed by the Pope himself to the members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, calling for an “ecological conversion capable of supporting and promoting sustainable development.” The term “conversion,” in relation to the environmental agenda, was mentioned thirteen times in his “green” encyclical, Laudato si, published in May 2015.

No surprise then, that Pope Francis sees no importance in consecrating Russia as a means to achieve her conversion, as Russia is among the signatory parties to the Paris Climate accord!

The degree of the infiltration of the human element of the Church by the “errors of Russia” is also manifested by the outreach of Pope Francis towards politicians and intellectuals of far-Left and Communist persuasion. Emma Bonino, an abortion rights activist (and abortionist herself) praised by Francis as a “great Italian,” is only one of many faces of the radical cultural Left embraced by the Pope. In a recently published book-length interview, he revealed that a Communist woman, Ester Ballestrino De Careaga, had a great impact on his political thinking, and admitted that all the books she gave him were thoroughly Communist.

There is a whole book dedicated to this theme, written by George Neumayr, titled The Political Pope. In this book, Neumayr explains that Bergoglio was never offended when he was called a Communist, since he has met many Marxists during his life who allegedly were good people. Neumayr calls Francis the ecclesiastical equivalent of Barack Obama, for turning the papal seat into the pulpit for the Left’s favorite topics: climate change, open borders with mass Muslim migration to Europe, and abolishment of the death penalty. On the last point, Francis recently stated that the death penalty is inadmissible, inhumane, and contrary to the Gospel. I wonder how this principled opposition to the death penalty (which is, by the way, in contradiction to the traditional teaching of the Magisterium) can be reconciled with the position propagated in Amoris Laetitia and its semi-official interpretations, that we can no longer judge moral conduct according to absolute moral norms.

Francis is surrounded by various Socialist-leaning prelates, mainly from Latin America, sympathetic to Liberation Theology.

Population control luminaries like Jeffrey Sachs, John Schellnhuber and Parta Dasgupta are welcomed and provided a platform in Pope Francis’ pontificate, where they freely campaign not only for population control but for a global, planetary political authority as well.

Why is this radical-Left agenda so attractive to Pope Francis? Because it corresponds on the political level with the evolutionary concept of religion as an ever-evolving doctrine, changing its content according to the situation and mentality of the people living in a particular age.

To be continue