Thursday, November 28, 2019

Papal Notes - Francis' Ecumenical "Yalta" Pact?

...and all the world wondered after the beast. Revelation 13:3

"Pope Francis has once again promoted the Abu Dhabi document “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” at a
meeting organized in Rome by an Argentinian group under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue. 
Part of the document, which was signed in February by the Pope and a Grand Imam, states that a “pluralism and diversity” of religions is “willed by God.”
During a meeting on November 15, attended by Cardinal Miguel Ayuso and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Father Guillermo Marcó of IDI made a “historic announcement” saying that in Argentina a council is being formed between the bishops’ conference, the Jewish center AMIA, the Islamic Center of the Argentinian Republic, the Argentinian Federation of Evangelical Churches, and the Institute of Interreligious Dialogue.

Francis quoted a “very wise man, a very wise European politician” whom he said spoke to him about the Abu Dhabi declaration last February in these terms:
Let us think of the end of the Second World War, let us think of Yalta; in Yalta a balance was struck in order to break the impasse, a balance that was weak but possible. The cake was shared, and a period of peace was maintained, but these documents, this attitude that goes towards dialogue among the transcendent, creates fraternity, surpasses pacts, surpasses the political; it is political in that it is human, but it surpasses this, it transcends this, it makes it nobler.”
The Yalta Pact divided the world that had emerged from the Second World War into two zones of influence under the winners of the global conflict: that of America on the one hand and that of Soviet Russia on the other. It left hundreds of millions of people in that country under the heel of communist power. The “peace” that was brokered abandoned large parts of Eastern Europe to Stalin’s
influence” and prepared communism’s total domination in East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and the Baltic States…
Pope Francis’ speech showed he believes there is a new element at play since the signature of the Abu Dhabi document: 
The intention of the document is to adopt: the culture of dialogue as a way; common collaboration as conduct; mutual knowledge as a method and criterion. From now on, it can be affirmed that religions are not a closed system that cannot be changed, but with their own identity. And this is the key: identity cannot be negotiated, because if you negotiate identity there is no dialogue, there is submission. With their own identity, they are in motion.”
The operative words are: “From now on … ” The Pope said in substance that religions must be prepared to adapt to a situation where they maintain their “identity” while accepting to modify their attitudes in favor of world peace and prosperity."
Lifesite