Can Vatican ever be secular?

By Dr. Balram Misra

Of late, there has been a noise in Western media, in fact the Vatican media, that the Hindu Renaissance in India is harming secularism. It is ridiculous to hear any talk of any relation between the Vaticanized part of the West and Secularism.

The syndrome of SECULARISM has been used by church much before the British imposed Congress through A. O. Hume on India after the transfer of Power by British to India in 1947, for centuries, albeit from a distance.

It is shocking to note that the Church used both, religion and secularism, as effective tools for imperial aggrandizements throughout its history. During the Inquisitions of the Middle Ages, when those refusing to convert to Christianity were tortured cruelly, often burned alive, Church instigated from behind curtains only.

It is recorded that “The church distanced itself from the killing by turning heretics over to secular authorities for the actual burning. Such secular authorities, however, were not allowed to decline. When the Senate of Venice in 1521 refused to approve such executions, for example, Pope Leo X wrote that secular officials were : “….to intervene no more in this kind of trial, but promptly, without changing or inspecting the sentences made by the ecclesiastical judges, to execute the sentences which they are enjoined to carry out. And if they neglect or refuse, you (the Papal legate) are to compel them with the Church’s censure and other appropriate measures. From this order there is no appeal.” (Walker, The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, 443. Quoted by Helen Ellerbe, The Dark Side of Christian History, p. 83).

“In practice, any secular authorities who refused to cooperate were excommunicated and subject to the same treatment as suspected heretics.” (See Lea, The Inquisition of the Middle Ages, 252, as quoted by Helen Ellerbe, THE DARK SIDE OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY, p. 83).

Inquisition and Holocaust, though now appear to work as sleeping cellsare the two legitimate and religiously sanctioned agencies sanctified by the Jesuit Oath. They may be invisible, but they get full succor and support from Vatican to convert poor Hindus with their especial traits and agencies. notwithstanding the serious observation made by Pope John Paul II, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State in Rome (from 1978 until his death in 2005).

In the year 1994, he wrote a confidential letter to the cardinals: “How can one remain silent about the many forms of violence perpetrated in the name of the faith-wars of religion, tribunals of the Inquisition and other forms of violations of the rights of persons?” Incidentally, the letter was later leaked to the Italian press. (See Peggy Polk, “Papal State” Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1995, “Tempo”, p.2, ibid, 2, as quoted by Helen Ellerbe, in Preface to her above mentioned book.)

No wonder, if the provisions of the religious systems and agencies like the Jesuit Oath, Papal Bull, Inquisitional Tribunals, crusades and Holocaust are harnessed with the mission of capturing power under the foolishly glorified slogan of SECULARISM by harvesting and reaping the Hindu souls.

Can that practice be repeated in this era of developing humanism as advocated by Hindu Renaissance? I recall an incident of how Christian missionaries have been trying to convert the poor population of India.

There was a high commotion in a spontaneously bulging crowd. I heard a teenager yelling, “Maachis lao, jalaa den in shaitaanon ko,” (“bring match box, let us burn these devils”).

It was a crowd of thousands of Hindus gathered on an open space in Gyan Khand, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, adjacent to New Delhi, the capital of India. There was a lot of commotion and fury. The year was 2006. All of a sudden, a big four-wheeler stopped there. Eight youngsters, five males and three females, got down. A loud speaker was setup. A man started lecturing, ‘saathiyo, aap ke dwaar par prabhu Isha Maseeh kaa Sandesh aayaa hai. Ise dhyann se suniye. Aap isaai ban jaaiye, aap kee saaree takleefen door ho jaayen gee. Eesaaee bante hi aap ko bees hazaar rupaye nagad milen ge. Naukaree mile gee, aur jab tak naukaree nahin miltee tab tak paanch hazaar rupaye har maheene diye jaayen ge. Aap ko karnaa kuchh nahin, sirf jaanwaron aur patthar ke devi-devtaaon ki poojaa karnaa chhodnaa ho gaa, aur Prabhu Isha kee sharan men aanaa hogaa. Patthar se bane Hanuman aur Ganesh aadi ki puja karne se tumhe paapon se mukti nahin mile gi”.

(Comrades, lord Jesus’s message is at your door. Listen to it attentively. Convert to Christianity, and all of your problems would be over. You would get Rs. Twenty thousand cash as soon as you become Christian. You will get job soon, and, till you get job you will be paid Rs. Five thousand per month. You would have to do nothing, except stop worshipping the idols and come to the shelter of Jesus. You will not get salvation and liberty from sins by worshipping the idols of Hanumaan and Ganesh etc.)”

The announcement attracted crowd. Pamphlets were distributed. The enraged Hindu crowd caught hold of the evangelists and their vehicle was overturned. The eight evangelists were attacked physically, beaten mercilessly; and the crowd had made up mind to burn the evangelists and the vehicle. I was upset, watching the unfortunate sequence of the religiously sanctioned events, helplessly. The cruel 1999-incident of Keonjhar, Odisha, flared in my memory. I was reminded of the media reports of how the Hindu crowd burned Graham Staines, an Australian citizen, alive, who had come all the way from Australia to Keonjhar for converting the local Hindu population to Christianity under the garb of service. The frenzied crowd burnt the man along with his two children, with their station wagon in which they were sleeping in the winter night. (See Arun Shourie, HARVESTING OUR SOULS: Missionaries, their design, their claims, pp.14-24).

While the eight evangelists were being thrashed a sensible and loud shout drew attention of the crowd: ‘Ruk jaao. Inhe ab mat maaro, mar jaaen ge. Kaanoon apne haath men mat lo. Pulis ko bulaate hain.’ (‘Hold on. Don’t beat them now, they will die. Don’t take law into your hands. We shall call police.’). A well-armed police team arrived within about twenty minutes, and took the bleeding, limping and groaning evangelists in custody. A great tragedy was averted because of non-availability of a match box, and timely intervention of police. It was difficult for the elderly to control the youngsters who were abusing the Sonia led Christian party named Congress.

Such incidents are common and sanctioned in the religion of Christianity. They take place because of the imperial, political and fascist designs of Christian Church to try to convert the whole world, by all means, fair or foul, and control it under their vassalage. The secular India, with Hindu majority believing in the Sanatana Dharma, has been resisting the forced, bribed and fraudulent conversion for many centuries, but the Vatican insists on evangelizing Hindus by all means, hence the incidents like the above quoted one take place.

1. What remedial action has been taken, or is proposed to be taken, by the Church, on the urge of Pope John Paul II, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State in Rome (from 1978 until his death in 2005), to the Roman Catholic Church in the year 1994 through a confidential letter he wrote to the cardinals, which was later leaked to the Italian press? In that letter Pope had asked the cardinals, “How can one remain silent about the many forms of violence perpetrated in the name of the faith-wars of religion, tribunals of the Inquisition and other forms of violations of the rights of persons?” (Peggy Polk, “Papal State”, Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1995, “Tempo”, p. 2, ibid, 2, as quoted by Helen Ellerbe, in Preface to her book The Dark Side of Christian History).

2. Pope John Paul II said, while addressing the Sixth Plenary Assembly of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference (FABC) in Manila on 15 January 1995: http://voiceofdharma.org/books//hvhb/pre.htm, “just as in the first millennium the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the third Christian millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent”. Will the Vatican prescribe any limits of adherence to the provisions of the Jesuit Oath for those recruited for the “great harvest of faith to be reaped in this vast and vital continent?

3. Will the strategic tools like Crusades, Papal Bull,Holocaust and Inquisitional Tribunals etc. be adopted for the purpose of the “great harvest of faith to be reaped in this vast and vital continent?” Must they be repeated in this era of awakening and developing humanism?

4. It is bizarre that the Vatican, and the Christian missionaries, have always closed their eyes to gauge, recognize and appreciate the spiritual dimensions of mankind, which Jesus Christ wanted and emphasized in his Teachings? Will you please reconcile with the Sanatana Dharma to make the world a Godly place, without any intervention of Church or any imperial interest?

5. Roman empire tormented Jesus, and crucified him for no valid reason, but after eliminating him physically the headquarters of the faith run after his name has been made in Rome, not in Israel, the place so very closely associated with Jesus. Why?

6. God lives in everyone’s heart. Why do the Christian missionaries then, instead of honoring everyone wrench conversions from other faiths? Why should Christianity interfere in other religions? Why should followers of a religion provoke, force, tempt torture or burn alive followers of other religions for conversion on flawed premise that one religion is better than the other?

7. Vatican has been trying for centuries to keep Light and Darkness together, simultaneously. This fact can be exemplified by its prayers for love, compassion, charity, forgiveness and the universal brotherhood of mankind, while promoting anti-Semitism and hatred for the Jews and other heretics? Vatican’s double standard may confuse the laity. How can the religion ensure togetherness of love and hatred?

8. Many scholars have asked the Vatican many pertinent questions, which interest common devotees of Jesus Christ. Some of the questions are quoted in following paragraphs. Will the Vatican, while allowing thorough thrashing of the questions, with reference to the now disclosed Holocaust documents, issue proper replies to them?

9. Did the Roman Catholic Church side with despots and tyrants, such as the fascist dictators of Europe- Franco in Spain, Mussolini in Italy, and Hitler in Germany. (See Holocaust Scholars Write to the Vatican, edited by Harry James Cargas, p.92).

10. Did the Vatican house Nazis on the run after the Holocaust? Why?

11. Was the Vatican support to the said strategic schemes like Holocaust in accordance with the Words of Jesus Christ?

12. Church preaches that abortion is murder of human being. How could Church afford watching the barbaric and cruel slaughter of millions of Jews and others in the Holocaust?

13. The murderous religious schemes like the Jesuit Oath, Crusades, Papal Bull, Inquisition, and the Holocaust are not concerning only Christians and Jews. Anyone, and anything relating Jesus is very much concerned with Israel, which gave us Jesus, and India, which contributed substantially in making Jesus a perfect master during his about eighteen-year stay here to learn the doctrines of Sanatana Dharma including Buddhism. Why has Christianity not acknowledged so far gratefulness to India for affording the spiritual training that contributed in making Jesus a perfect searcher of truth?

14. The Biblical theologians aver that about eighteen years of Jesus’ life, 14 to 32, were the lost years, as no information is available about his life during those years. Incidentally, some Buddhist records discovered by a Christian traveler-scholar called Nicolas Notovitch in a Buddhist monastery in Ladakh (India) provide a lot of information about Jesus (to Buddhists Issa). The Buddhist records prove that Jesus lived in India for about eighteen years and studied and preached spiritualism to attain a high degree of perfection. Why the Buddhist records are not given due importance?

The time has come when the Holy Image of Jesus Christ should be retrieved and liberated from the bloody clutches of the Church in collaboration with the enthusiastic surge of Hindutva.