This is a major distraction from the real scandal engulfing the Catholic Church at the moment, which is that major figures, including cardinals and bishops, have funneling millions of euros to NGOs that are bringing migrants to Europe. The Church is actively conspiring in the demographic replacement of Europe's population, perhaps even with the blessing of Pope Francis.
I wrote a short essay on this on my Subst*ck yesterday. Here it is:
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Nobody is coming to save you.
The police aren't coming to save you.
The army isn't coming to save you.
The Church isn't coming to save you.
The simple truth is, none of the supposed guardians of traditional values, the institutions that we're told will stand up — one of these days! — and defend us from the onslaught of liberalism, globohomo or whatever you want to call it — not one of these institutions is going to do so. In fact, they're going to do the opposite. They're doing the opposite. Right now.
Don't believe me? Try this on for size.
A new investigation from La Verita, an Italian newspaper, has caused scandal in Italy after revealing that a number of Italian dioceses have been directly funding Mediterranea, an NGO responsible for bringing illegal migrants into Europe by boat. These dioceses have contributed over two million euros to the NGO, with some payments ending up directly in the personal accounts of pro-immigration activists. Tens of thousands of migrants now enter Italy illegally each year, mainly across the sea from North Africa. Over 20,000 migrants landed on Italy's shores in the first three months of this year alone, with large numbers coming via the small island of Lampedusa, situated conveniently close to the North African coast.
The scandal emerged as a result of an official investigation into Mediterranea's activities, after a 2020 incident involving the ship Mare Jonio, which landed on Sicily and disembarked 27 migrants who had been taken from a Danish supply ship, weeks before. Mediterranea was given 135,000 euros by Maersk, the owner of the supply ship. The company claims that payment was an unrelated donation, but the authorities believe it was a direct payoff for taking the migrants and therefore in violation of Italian law. Messages were then intercepted which revealed that prominent figures in the Italian Catholic Church were giving money to the NGO. These included Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna and Archbishop Corrado Lorefice of Palermo. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg also donated 25,000 euros.
In one of these messages, Luca Casarini, the activist at the centre of the scandal, openly bragged that he no longer had to work because of the Church's benevolence. Casarini has been close to the current Pope since at least 2019, when to the astonishment of many Casarini was invited to speak at the Vatican's synod, despite the fact that he had very publicly stated his disdain for the Church (which he voiced again in the messages intercepted by the authorities). Some within the Church are now wondering whether the payments made to Mediterranea were made with Pope Francis's approval; although few are likely to assert this outright. Given time, and further evidence, they may.
You can read more about the scandal here. For me, at least, this is proof perfect of my unhappy thesis. It's not that the Catholic Church is just sympathetic to the hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants who cross into European territory every year. We know that already, and it's bad enough: a massive, unprecedented betrayal of the Church's historical role in shaping and protecting Europe's distinct identity. But no, it's even worse. The church is aiding the traffickers who are bringing the migrants to Europe. The Church is an active agent in the collapse of European civilisation — the civilisation it helped to create.
Like I said, the Church isn't coming to save you.
Oswald Spengler famously wrote, in Man and Technics, that "optimism is cowardice." As far as I'm concerned, it's naivety, not optimism, that's the real cowardice. Of course there are still good people in the Catholic Church — Archbishop Vigano, for example — just as there are still good people in the police, the army, the navy, the air force, the universities, the schools, Washington, local government and any other institution you could care to name. But the institutions themselves are all hopelessly compromised, and we have to recognise it if we ever want to make a truly meaningful change. Even the Catholic Church, which has probably the most conservative mandate of all — to represent the truth of God's eternal kingdom, in opposition to all earthly trends and ephemera — is now captured, hopelessly it seems.
As my friend Auron MacIntyre likes to say, "Liberalism will hollow out your religion and wear its skin like a trophy."
Amen.
The question really is how, or indeed whether, we can still work within the frameworks of existing institutions. I'd be inclined to say it's unavoidable. But then how do we avoid being neutralised, or even captured, ourselves? I'm not sure I have a good answer yet.
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