Religion and Geopolitics Review: Saturday, October 24

by David Pence and A. Joseph Lynch

I. POPE FRANCIS AND THE SYNOD

When the Synod on the Family ends, hopefully so-called conservative Catholics will see how hysterical and inaccurate were the prognosticators about the plot to change Catholicism. Pope Francis lets a lot of people talk, but the general relator of the Synod was Hungarian Cardinal Erdo who was much more prepared than last October for the Germanic attempt to alter Church teaching on homosexuality and marriage. This is a Germanic effort with some Italian support. It is a "fringe of the rich secularized West," as Cardinal Sarah said in his Elijah-like intervention. His landmark speech characterized two demons against marriage: the gender ideology of the West and the violence of ISIS. "Homogamy and Polygamy" are the enemies, he says.

What if the American conservatives, instead of sowing seeds of doubt against the Pope, would take this very Catholic position in our own discussions of foreign policy and our own war against ISIS? We cannot fight this religious war as atheist libertines. We cannot make our military open to female soldiers, homosexuals, and transsexuals -- and think we can win the hearts and minds and battles before us. The synod of the Church is laying out the parameters for the new debate. Cardinal Sarah says the Americans are much more with the Africans than the western Europeans. The eastern Europeans are very different than the Germans and Italians. About half the American bishops identify with the homosexual wing of the German and Italian conferences. But American liberals are congenitally inclined to hear the voice of Africans. Thus, even Cardinal Wuerl who is usually on the softer side of clergy debates has favored African bishops over Europeans. The great triumph of Pope Francis is a clarification that the divide between Africa and Germany is not susceptible to compromise or local options of decision making. There is, as he has often said and several cardinals said, the smoke of the Evil One in proposals to destroy marriage. For those who are publicly orthodox but have always favored the gay agenda, like Bishop Donald Wuerl, he is dismayed that the gentleman's agreement between bishops not to disagree publicly has been breached. But it is not the work of a gentleman to allow a wolf to play the shepherd. The Catholics in Europe who have had to live under widespread episcopal corruption, can thank the Aussies, the Africans, and the Americans for confronting the soft, rich, and thoroughly corrupt prelates of Western Europe. They can also thank Pope Francis for letting a hundred flowers bloom so the Vine and Branches could emerge.

Cardinal Sarah has exposed the common source of the jihadist and secular atheists of gender ideology. He recalls a precedent of what appeared to be opposites - Nazism and Soviet Communism - as twin ideologies of the Evil One. Let us hear him and give thanks for this Synod born in "confusion" and ending in a stark clarification that there are many bishops and cardinals in the Catholic Church who have abandoned the purity code at the heart of our sacramental life.

Russian Metropolitan Hilarion wrote fraternally to the Synod, imploring the bishops to uphold Scripture and Tradition on marriage, and avoiding the error of mainstream Protestantism. Hilarion sees in the Protestants a "betrayal of Christianity" in their willingness to "accommodate themselves to a secular, godless and churchless world" by supporting homosexual marriage.

II. ISLAM AND THE MIDDLE EAST

AFGHANISTAN: A map shows areas of Taliban control. Now free from the restraints of office, Hamid Kharzai is more openly talking about the role of Pakistan in sheltering and instigating the worst of the Salafist jihadists. He has always looked to India as a traditional Afghan ally. The Indians know all too well the taste of Salafist bombings from Pakistan bases. The new Afghan president has been more likely to favor Pakistan over India. One commentator gives a short synopsis of the Pakistani role in Taliban dominance in Afghanistan.

PAKISTAN: The Russians and the Chinese have infrastructure deals. But everyone who deals with Pakistan must at some time deal with its major role in backing the Salfist Sunni movement that is at the heart of the modern-day jihad. Here is a case in 'Foreign Affairs' for ending the alliance with an unworthy ally.

III. LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD

LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD: A nice graphic of the world languages of the future.

DEEP STATE: A turkish term (derin deviet) often used to describe the state behind the state that "really runs things" despite elections or changes in figurehead positions. This need not be a derogatory term. Any government of "laws and not men" must have a deep state. The nation itself is a web of loyalties that abide even when leadership is ineffective or corrupt.

IV. THE SEXUAL INVERSION CONTINUES

WOMEN AND THE MILITARY: Real gender equality means women register for the draft. A third woman graduates from Ranger school. A military friend says: "As people celebrate the 3rd female (remember, we don't call them women) ranger school graduate (who, with the other two, also went to West Point), let's not forgot the nameless four or five males who would have graduated if no females entered the school. That's what the statistics look like. Each entering (above average) male has a much better chance of completing the course than a (best of the best) female, so each slot filled by a female reduces the overall completion/graduation rate of the school. The main point: females taking slots in the school only harms military preparedness. You can all get your progressive fuzzies from this, but there is nothing to celebrate here, if the Army is meant to win the nation's wars and prevent them by being prepared for them."

GAY MAFIA AND KIM DAVIS: Untwisting the twisted.