Pope Francis tells Communists: ‘Don’t back down, don’t give up’

VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Hosting a Marxist-Christian dialogue group at the Vatican on Wednesday, Pope Francis urged them to “be open, in dialogue, to new ways,” while avoiding reiterating the Church’s consistent condemnation of Marxism. 

Shortly before his weekly general audience on January 10, Pope Francis received a small delegation from the DIALOP group. DIALOP, according to its own description, is a “project of dialogue between Socialists/Marxists and Christians, involving intellectuals, academics, politicians, activists and students from several European Countries.”

In his address, the pope urged the Marxist and Christian attendees to “never lose the ability to dream.” 

Today, in a world divided by war and polarization, we run the risk of losing the ability to dream. We Argentines say, “no te arrugues,” meaning “don’t back off.” This is my invitation to you as well: Don’t back off, don’t give up, and don’t stop dreaming of a better world. 

Francis stated that “it is in imagination, the ability to dream, that intelligence, intuition, experience and historical memory come together to make us be creative, take chances and run risks.”

Punctuating the brief address, he gave three “attitudes” which he said would be “helpful for your efforts,” those being: “the courage to break the mould, concern for the less fortunate and support for the rule of law.”

Expanding on having “concern for the less fortunate,” Francis referenced the crimes of “great dictatorships,” mentioning “Naziism” by name, but avoided speaking about the evils of Communism itself. 

LifeSite’s John-Henry Westen quipped how Francis’ warm message of welcome to the Marxists is not reflected in his attitude to devotees of the traditional Mass. 

Indeed, while the DIALOP group is officially comprised of Marxists and Christians in dialogue, the pope did not mention Christ, Christianity, or the Church’s condemnation of Communism and Marxism at all.

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Catholic teaching against Communism is very clear. Writing in Quadragesimo Anno, Pope Pius XI warned the entire Church about “the impious and iniquitous character of Communism.” Describing Socialism as slightly less violent, Pius XI firmly prohibited any attempts to marry Socialism and Catholicism:

Whether considered as a doctrine, or an historical fact, or a movement, Socialism, if it remains truly Socialism, even after it has yielded to truth and justice on the points which we have mentioned, cannot be reconciled with the teachings of the Catholic Church because its concept of society itself is utterly foreign to Christian truth.

Pius XI also penned such words in Divini Redemptoris: 

Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever. Those who permit themselves to be deceived into lending their aid towards the triumph of Communism in their own country will be the first to fall victims of their error. And the greater the antiquity and grandeur of the Christian civilization in the regions where Communism successfully penetrates, so much more devastating will be the hatred displayed by the godless.

Pius’ words merely built on the constant teaching of his predecessors. Pius IX’s 1846 encyclical Qui pluribus described Communism as “a doctrine most opposed to the very natural law,” which would usher in “complete destruction of everyone’s laws, government, property, and even of human society itself.”

Pope Leo XIII’s 1878 encyclical Quod Apostolici Muneris condemned Socialism as a “deadly plague that is creeping into the very fibres of human society and leading it on to the verge of destruction.”

Catholic philosopher Edward Feser took particular care to highlight sections from the Church’s teaching on the evils of Socialism, Communism, and Marxism. Even though some more recent popes have pronounced less boldly and forthrightly on the issues when compared with their predecessors, the constant prohibition of acceptance of, or collaboration with, such ideologies has remained constant. 

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Pope Benedict XVI’s 2005 encyclical Deus Caritas Est bore especial relevance to Francis’ condoning of the Catholic-Marxist collaboration. The late pontiff noted that Catholic charitable activity must not be done alongside Marxist intervention, but be independent and centrally Catholic:

Christian charitable activity must be independent of parties and ideologies. It is not a means of changing the world ideologically, and it is not at the service of worldly stratagems, but it is a way of making present here and now the love which man always needs.

Indeed, Leo XIII preemptively condemned the form of Catholic-Marxist collaboration which Francis condoned. Writing in Quod Apostolici Muneris, Leo outlined how societal improvements were to be made by the Church acting without being restrained by outside forces: 

since they know that the Church of Christ has such power to ward off the plague of socialism as cannot be found in human laws, in the mandates of magistrates, or in the force of armies, let them restore that Church to the condition and liberty in which she may exert her healing force for the benefit of all society. 

The DIALOP group states of itself that “dialogue is the best way to make a real change and we work to turn the world into a better place to live in,” and Francis in turn praised DIALOP as “a fine program.” 

Its link with Francis is perhaps deeper than is fully realized. One of its goals is to pursue deeper relations between the Catholic Church and a little-known organization called the Global Compact on Education (GCE). The GCE is actually a brain child of Pope Francis, which aims to promote education in light with U.N. ideals, including on talking points such as “sustainable” living and “gender equality.”

In recent years, Francis has increasingly aligned himself with globalist entities such as the U.N.; the “Council for Inclusive Capitalism with the Vatican,” which is fundamentally committed to promote “environmental, social, and governance measures” in order to achieve the U.N.’s pro-abortion Sustainable Development Goals; the International Monetary Fund; the COP climate agenda; and the World Economic Forum.

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