As Catholic bishops and priests languish in Communist Chinese prisons today, it is worth recalling a turning point in history when the Roman Pontiff sold his silence, and the silence of the Church, to the Communists. In 1962, Pope John XXIII sent Cardinal Tisserant, the Dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, to sign an agreement with a KGB agent, Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Nikodim. It took place at Metz, France, in August 1962, and was reported in the the local newspaper. The agreement obtained the presence of Russian Orthodox bishops at Vatican II at the price of the Council's silence on Communism.
For the best source of information on the Catholic Church in China, visit The Cardinal Kung Foundation.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for Pope Benedict, and for all of our brethren who suffer at the hands of Communists.
A silent Church? Can't be, says Pope Pius XI:
"This modern revolution, it may be said, has actually broken out or threatens everywhere, and it exceeds in amplitude and violence anything yet experienced in the preceding persecutions launched against the Church. ...This all too imminent danger, Venerable Brethren, as you have already surmised, is bolshevistic and atheistic Communism, which aims at upsetting the social order and at undermining the very foundations of Christian civilization.
"In the face of such a threat, the Catholic Church could not and does not remain silent. This Apostolic See, above all, has not refrained from raising its voice, for it knows that its proper and social mission is to defend truth, justice and all those eternal values which Communism ignores or attacks." (He then cites Popes Piux IX and Leo XIII.)