Has The Christian West Lost The Will To Survive?

Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of the Archdiocese of Bologna retired this weekend, having reached the age of 75 (a few years ago).  He has been an opponent of the LGBT agenda that seems to be running amok in Church circles and even in the Vatican itself. He pointed out that no civilization has survived that has ennobled the vice of homosexuality.  He said, "Europe is dying.  And maybe it no longer has any will to live."  That last sentence has more than just a ring of truth to it, and it would explain a lot.

It would explain the utter carelessness and even hostility that so many in the west evince against their Christian heritage, history and customs, and yes, God Himself.  It would explain the lack of interest in having children, let alone passing on their cultural heritage to them.  It would explain their utter capitulation to socialism and progressivism in their midst.  It would explain their willingness and even eagerness to admit into their midst hordes of jihadists masquerading as "refugees".

It also sheds some light on some bizarre and quite frankly, anti-Catholic things that have been emanating from the Vatican lately.  A few days ago, the Vatican's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews put out a verbose document called "The Gifts And The Calling Of God Are Irrevocable".  We are basically being urged not to approach the evangelism of Jews with the same urgency as we are with other religions.  In a post on the National Catholic Register page, Jimmy Akin tries vainly to put a happy spin on it, but it falls flat on its face.  On the other hand, to their immense credit, the evangelical organization "Jews For Jesus" rightly denounced the document for the nonsense that it is.  More ominously, Pope Francis, during his African jaunt, visited the "blue mosque" and prayed towards mecca.  See this video; while I take exception with their "anti-pope" comments, they are quite correct when they say that the pope committed objective sin against the Faith.  All in all, at the very top, with the pope, we see a denial of the primacy of Jesus Christ and His Church, the foundation of Western culture.

In January 2006, First Things published a piece written by Pope Benedict XVI entitled "Europe And Its Discontents".  He briefly summarized the history of Europe, from the Roman Empire up till present times.  The article also expounds greatly upon the statement by Cardinal Caffarra quoted above, with the Pope Emeritus stating that "Europe is infected by a strange lack of desire for the future."  I commend Pope Benedict for his comprehensive view of these serious problems of western civilization and the ramifications they pose for all of humanity.

So now we can see that the Western world is, by apathy and collective self-hatred, committing suicide.  Its Christian soul is withering away. The Western world by and large has rejected the One True God.  In slaughtering millions of babies and making a mockery of marriage (and in many other ways), we as a whole have ejected God from our lives (in addition to robbing ourselves of our own progeny). But nature abhors a vacuum. We still yearn for something greater than ourselves, and the evil one will move to fill that yearning with his counterfeits.  Thus we now flirt with, and are enslaving ourselves to, progressivism and Islam.  Read that link.  On the surface, it would seem that progressivism and islam should be at odds with each other - but they're not!  They share the same lust for centralized power whereas Christianity embraces the dignity of the individual.  Thus they unite against Christians in order to subjugate people to their unholy domination.  In our mad self-loathing, we are not so much submitting ourselves to these onslaughts as much as we are rushing head-on to our own slaughter.  Why else would the progressives in the USCCB join the constant braying for the indiscriminate opening of our borders to islamic terrorists?  Why else would the USCCB be silent as the Kim Davis' of the nation are vilified?  Why else do the Dolans and Wuerls of the Church allow reprobates to take communion while they maltreat faithful Catholics (see the post following this)?

We need to get serious and pray for God's mercy on His Church and our civilization.  We must speak and act as well.  Ora et labora.