This is actually a good question but it can never be asked in such a localized way. The correct question should be: what business does the US have in all the other wars it has been involved in? And Putinist Russia must also be asked, because in this war there is an invading country that bloodthirsty invaded a sovereign country, but for this one, all the Catholics from the "Z trad movement" have already given it their sympathy even if they are the executioners of Catholicism in Ukraine.
Interestingly, at least before the recent terrorist attack in Russia, Islam had more religious freedom than Catholicism, being one of the country's four official religions. I don't think that every Muslim is a terrorist, but one wonders why Islam doesn't suffer so many restrictions on its activity, since it could be considered a culture of external intervention against the Christian culture of Russia, since the Quran orders preaching commandments of their faith and Holy War.
You always seem to forget who invaded. And it was not Russia first. It was Obama and Victoria Nuland. Blame the U.S. only for starting a war that was none of their business.
From the National Catholic Register: https://www.ncregister.com/news/ukraine-s-maidan-protests-are-spiritual-as-well-as-political There was even a priest from Chicago (Maybe he helped Nuland bake the cakes when he wasn't hearing Confession). Notice there's not a mention of the neo-Nazis. No mention, either, that part of the EU deal was some kind of severance of economic ties with Russia where they already had trade deals. I'm not sure but I heard an account somewhere that Yanukovich cooled off on the EU deal when he realised the full ramifications for Ukraine. Fast forward to 2021, and here's the perspective of some Greeks from Luhansk: https://greekcitytimes.com/2021/12/13/donbass-forgotten-greeks/ And from the same website, November 2021, some info about the UN Human Rights report on the Ukrainian human rights abuses, as well as some info about the new laws determining who qualified as ethnic Ukrainians: https://greekcitytimes.com/2021/11/04/ukraine-does-not-consider-greeks/ No wonder the ethnic Russians in the East wanted out. And no wonder they turned to Putin for help. I saw something from the Archbishop just before the Russian invasion where he made some passing reference to the suffering of the people in Luhansk and Donetsk as he made some statement about a Russian invasion being bad for Ukraine. He didn't mention the Ukrainian military gathered on the border with those areas ready to launch a full scale invasion and likely, given their past record, a mass slaughter. Nor did he mention Zelensky's demands for regime change in Russia and for Ukraine to have nukes. The priest on Matt Fradd's channel did admit that the soldiers massing on the border might not have been a good idea. Since then, I have found nothing to show that the Bishop is anything but a mouthpiece parroting the official Ukrainian narrative. The Vatican will find it hard to mend those fences. You really couldn't make it up. Putin is guilty of every Russian crime from Ivan the Terrible to Stalin and beyond. Meanwhile, all his critics are squeaky clean, not least US politicians boasting about the financial benefits of fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian. Maybe it's just me, but I find that to be beyond despicable. I'd better stop posting about this and Israel's genocide in Gaza, otherwise I'll get us all on some watch list and poor Padraig's site banned for hate speech against something or someone the powers that be declare to be a protected class. Whatever or whomever that turns out to be, it sure won't be Russian or Palestinian. No doubt the leaders of one of the essential nations are working on a short list of who qualifies as human and who doesn't.
Putin is not guilty of all the evils of history, in fact, hyperbole can very well serve the purpose of creating straw men of argument, ridiculing the opponent's thesis. In fact, it is curious that Judaism is one of the 4 official religions in Russia with more freedom than Roman Catholicism and no one considered Mossad intervention in the country in this case, but Catholicism, which was previously governed by men like John Paul II and Benedict XVI, is a threat of external intervention. Any Catholic in the world can see that we have our own headquarters in Rome, which condemned the special operation in Iraq in 2003, contrary to any US interest in the region. John Paul II preached energetically against communism, but also condemned the torture carried out by the right wing of the military dictatorship in Brazil in the 1980s. This shows that the church, even before 2014, is an independent faith that deserves to be respected and have their own autonomy.
If, with your mouth closed, you being Catholic can be considered a living product of external intervention in Russia, I can imagine the danger it would be for any user of the forum on Russian soil to speak ill of the government or to say that Mother Russia has spread its errors throughout the world, which includes certainly Stalinism, which must be glorified since it changed sides in the war after Hitler betrayed Stalin.
Perhaps Fatima is considered an external intervention also to tarnish the legacy of Mother Russia, as well as the devotion to the Holy Rosary and The Immaculate Heart of Mary.
http://www.divinemysteries.info/our-lady-of-the-ukraine-hrushiv-ukraine-1914-and-1987/ "Forgive your enemies. Through you and the blood of martyrs will come the conversion of Russia. Repent and love one another. The times are coming which have been foretold as being those in the end times. See the desolation which surrounds the world ... the sin, the sloth, the genocide. Pray for Russia. Oppression and wars continue to occupy the minds and hearts of many people. Russia, despite everything, continues to deny my Son. Russia rejects real life and continues to live in darkness. If there is not a return to Christianity in Russia, there will be a Third World War; the whole world will face ruin." Maybe Ukraine is a sacrificial Lamb?
Ukraine is a crossroads of the West's nefarious government systems and Putinism itself, perhaps which is why it is the initial spark for the overthrow of both.
The war appears to have been inevitable, Our Lady encouraged us to pray but perhaps it wasn't enough. Hopefully the prayers said did mitigate some of what is happening in Ukraine. I can't help but feel we all have a hand in it.
Is that the best you can manage in defence of the greed of American politicians rubbing their hands in glees as they count their profits from the lives of the last Ukrainian? Have you forgotten what Jesus called the root of all evil? I take it that you don't live in Europe so aren't concerned that when there are no more Ukrainians to feed the meat grinder, next up will be the last European. Your young ones won't be pressganged onto the front line. Good for you. You can invest your life savings in Raytheon or Macdonald Douglas and sashay off to Mass, thanking God for your new found wealth. Maybe throw in the odd Hail Mary for the souls of all the dead Europeans who made you rich like Senator Graham and his ilk. You can organise a shopping spree in Paris for your wife. She might meet Mrs Zelensky in one of the more exclusive shops. After all, what's twenty grand for a devout Catholic and a not so devout Jew to spend when Europe is spilling its young blood to save you from Putinism? Perhaps you'll be able to afford a nuke proof bunker although probably not one as palatial as the ones favoured by all those righteous billionaire investors in America's armaments industry. Then again, you could show yourself to have a bit more moral courage than all the EU and US political class and go fight Putin for us. But you won't, will you? No, you want my young relatives who don't know a single Russian or Ukrainian to do your fighting for you. The sheer hypocrisy of the whole thing takes my breath away. May God rest the souls of all the Russians and Ukrainians who have died and continue to do for nothing but other people's love of money. That's my last word on this. Discussing it with you leaves me with a foul taste in my mouth.
You who are in the comfort of your home, capable of criticizing your government, practicing your faith, having your political interpretation on any subject and, above all, carrying out Catholic proselytism, should move to a country with restrictions on Catholic freedom. you would learn in practice, what thousands of Catholics are suffering, in fact, I don't need to leave Brazil to face the possibility of a war, since Nicolás Maduro, Putin's ally in Venezuela, is making every effort to annex Guyana .
Thank you, I will do the same and withdraw from this discussion in circles; I just have to remember once again that denouncing Russia's mistakes does not mean embracing those of the West.
It occurs to me that we have neglected to fulfill Our Lady’s request to keep the Five First Saturdays devotions.
There's another worrying escalation in Sweden with a “Eurovision Koran burning bid”, while the Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Malmö, Sweden in May 2024. "A far-right (Christian) extremist and an ex-Muslim atheist are planning to publicly burn a copy of the Koran in the city hosting the Eurovision Song Contest a day before the event starts, the Mail can reveal. Swedish police have received an application to burn the Muslim holy book at the centre of Malmo before the glare of the world's media. Jade Sandberg, 48, a Far-Right Christian extremist who campaigns to ban Islam from Sweden, and Salwan Najem, 48, an Iraqi refugee who has become a Swedish national, have applied for permission to conduct the burning. There have been fears this year's Eurovision will be a prominent target for Islamic extremists because of the inclusion of Israeli contestant Eden Golan". https://www.msn.com/en-ae/news/othe...lims-eurovision-koran-burning-bid/ar-AA1nPlSl Another quran burns in Sweden on April 26th .. on the Christian activist's X account, she claims to be a priest, exorcist & demonologist: So far, there's been no protests or terrorist attacks against them. I hope Sweden is ready! Psalm 55:9 Confuse my enemies, Lord! Upset their plans. Cruelty and violence are all I see in the city.
I love the Chinese Missionary prayer, 'Lord convert the whole World beginning with myself' Or Jordan Petersen, 'Clean up your own room first'. Or Jesus, 'First remove the log from your own eye'.
The Greatest and best revolution is that within. Pope St John Paul was right when he said that what the Church needs most is saints. Saints, not these endless meetings.
Yes, this is the best comment in this entire thread. This is a good analysis of the situation, from a theological point of view. The leader of Ukrainian Catholics explains this very well after minute 3 of this interview, which is long before the current Russian aggression against Ukraine: The situation is repeating itself now, and this time perhaps many more martyrs are needed not only in Ukraine for the Catholic Church to be reborn globally.
This is the other lung of my Church (Our Lady of Fatima arrives in Lviv, Ukraine): In some regions of Ukraine now dominated by Putinism and the fanaticism of the "Russkiy Mir" ideology, this kind of religious manifestation is not permitted. Whether this is acceptable or understandable is a discussion in which I will not engage.
The Catholic Church has traditionally never supported revolution. History shows that all revolutions are ultimately and fundamentally rebellions against Christ and His Church. The Catholic Church has traditionally never taken sides in warfare. This extends to not officially taking sides against Hitler's Germany. So, if the Ukrainian Catholic Church, whatever their reasons (and one can always find reasons) supported this violent revolution, they did something that the Catholic Church has always regarded as imprudent and in doing so, effectively declared war on that section of the Ukrainian nation that considers itself Russian and leans politically in that direction. In thirty years of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, the Catholic Church never took sides against the Protestant British. This was the right thing to do. It would also have been the right thing for the Ukrainian Catholic Church to do. Having gone political, it is unsurprising and inevitable that they have reaped a whirlwind and bear much of the responsibility for it themselves. They have offered themselves as one of the meats in a sandwich between depraved American neo-conservative imperialism and Russian nationalism.
