Pope Francis Encourages Communist Groups as “Veritable Invisible Army”

 

The Lepanto Institute released a new video report, exposing the celebration and promotion of militant communists in a Vatican event initiated by Pope Francis. The report focuses on the organizations and speakers that were celebrated in a video produced by the Vatican for the fourth annual World Meeting of Popular Movements (WMPM).

According to the WMPM website, the purpose of the meeting "is to create an 'encounter' between Church leadership and grassroots organizations working to address the 'economy of exclusion and inequality' by working for structural changes that promote social, economic and racial justice." But many of the organizations participating in the meeting are self-avowed militant Communists. “A woman named Ceres Hadich, representing a Brazilian organization called Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), shows up in the Vatican video at around 14 minutes,” said Michael Hichborn, president of the Lepanto Institute. “We have video of Hadich, just a few months before the WMPM, doing a family read-aloud of the Communist Manifesto, with the communist hymn called the Internationale playing in the background while the MST flag hangs on the wall behind them! We also found hundreds of posts and articles by MST celebrating Karl Marx and calling for a communist revolution!” The Lepanto Institute also exposed the Vatican’s inclusion of Luca Casrini, who heads the organization called Mediterranea Saving Humans. Casarini is a long-time Marxist agitator and activist who once headed the Tute Bianche movement, which infamously engaged in violent clashes with Italian police during the G8 summit in 2001. During that clash, Casarini (whose facebook page is littered with communist organizations) issued a “declaration of war” against G8 participants. Other organizations given a spotlight in the Vatican’s video, exposed by the Lepanto Institute for openly working toward Communist revolution are StreetNet International and Slum Dwellers International. “Perhaps the most shocking thing we discovered in producing this report is Pope Francis’ admission to having examined the documents and speeches of these individuals and organizations, while he sings their praises and encourages them to continue on,” said Hichborn. In a video speech to the participants in the WMPM, Pope Francis praised them as a “veritable invisible army” with “the future of humanity in great measure in [their] own hands.” Addressing the question of what these self-professed Marxists should be doing, Pope Francis said that "some concrete measures that may allow for significant changes," are "present in your documents, in your speeches, and I have taken them very much into account; I have reflected on them and consulted specialists."

Responding Pope Francis’ speech, Hichborn said, “Pope Francis removed all plausible deniability that these organizations are acolytes of Karl Marx, working toward Communist revolution by admitting that he reviewed their documents and speeches. We also reviewed their documents and speeches, and it is clear even to the casual observer that they are Communists. It is both shocking and horrifying for the man sitting on the Chair of Peter to encourage organizations working for Communist revolution to follow their own ideas for ‘significant change.’”