The Central Error of Russia

The heart of the errors of Russia, and the error behind all the errors that would spew forth into the world, causing WWII and then being spread across the globe by WWII, was diagnosed by the creator of Hobbits, Ents, and Middle-Earth.

J.R.R. Tolkien was a rare genius. Among his greatest achievements is the core moral theme at the heart of The Lord of the Rings: do not do evil so that good may come of it.

Or, to put it another way, always refuse to do "anything in the name of."

Saruman was willing to do "anything in the name of" bringing about the rule of the wise in Middle-Earth, and so he became a fool.

Denethor was willing to do "anything in the name of" victory over Sauron, and so he destroyed himself and almost destroyed his line.

Character after character is tempted to take up the One Ring, the Master Ring, the Ring of Power, and usually, they are tempted to do so for some particular good. Gandalf was tempted to take it to do good. Galadriel, the same. Sam, to establish the garden to end all gardens.

Again and again and again, the characters of Lord of the Rings are tempted to take up the ultimate weapon in order to serve a good cause, home, family, justice, the common good. They are tempted to do evil so that good may come of it, tempted to accept any cost in the name of a particular good.

They are tempted by the oldest temptation in the world, in other words, and by the temptation that undergirds all ideologies and excuses that led to WWII.

Nazism? A system built around doing anything in the name of the Volk, the German people, the Fuhrer; anything in the name of power, of strength, of appetite. In the end, this led to slaughter, to extermination of scapegoats, of the weak. Anything in the name of Germany turned into a willingness to destroy Germany.

Communism? A system built from Marx's ideology, an ideology with an absolute faith in historical processes in place of God, a system looking to the Revolution to do atheistically what Judaism and Christianity look for in the day of the Lord. And at the heart of the expectation of the Revolution as the day when all wrongs shall be made right, all injustices corrected, all inequities remedied, is the essential willingness to do anything in the name of justice. Anything in the name of the Revolution. From there flowed every other evil of Communism enacted in Russia--anything in the name of Lenin, for he was the bringer of the Revolution. Anything in the name of the Party, for they bring the Revolution. Anything in the name of Comrade Stalin, for he is synonymous with the Party. Anything in the name of the Soviet Union, for that is the place where Communism has been made real, the Revolution has occurred, where all is just, because it must be just, because the Revolution has occurred...

But don't stop there. Look also at Tsarism. Of that, more tomorrow.

What are the Errors of Russia?

So Our Lady of Fatima didn't reveal everything she had come to convey in 1917. No indeed: The secret of Fatima, given in July 1917, clearly indicates that Our Lady would be visiting again later in order to reveal the First Saturdays devotion and the essential elements of the consecration of Russia.

But she also revealed a great deal in that secret, including that if her requests were not heeded, World War II would come because of the spread and effects of the errors of Russia..

And that crucial warning caught my attention in the midst of reading and study.

After all, the average Catholic who pays attention to Fatima associates the errors of Russia with the Communist totalitarianism that came into being in Russia in October/November, 1917. Many have childhood memories of praying the Rosary for peace in the world and for the conversion of Russia, and given the hard years of the Cold War, this interpretation is hardly surprising.

But it overlooks the crucial point that the errors of Russia caused World War II, according to Our Lady, and while Stalin's Russia certainly helped launch the war with his unlikely alliance with Hitler's Germany, it's a stretch to say that Communism caused Nazism, or to attempt to claim that Nazism would not have caused a world war without Communism.

How, then, can we look at the causes of the war and find their roots in Russia?

Several crucial ways.

1) One of the most influential texts in Nazi Germany was the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. According to the noted scholar Hannah Arendt, the Protocols didn't just serve the Nazis' propaganda goals of supposedly laying out a shadowy Jewish conspiracy to control the world. No--the Nazis actually used the Protocols as a "textbook for global conquest." They modeled their Third Reich off of the Protocols--and the Protocols were fabricated in Russia, and published in 1902-1903.

2) Why do we assume that when Our Lady spoke of the errors of Russia in July 1917 she was necessarily referring to solely to the errors of Communism? July was between revolutions. The Tsar had lost power, but Lenin and his heirs had not yet seized it. Indeed, had Our Lady meant to solely speak of Communism, she could easily have said so. In fact, she probably would not have spoken of Russia. She would have said, "The Soviet Union," or some other phrase that would have pointed solely at what was to come.

No. I think that when we read the secret, we need to look at Russia, both before and after the Revolutions of 1917, in order to find what Our Lady meant by the errors of Russia.

Now--a few necessary qualifications.

Key among them: There is nothing new under the sun. In the secret of Fatima, the errors of Russia are nowhere said to be new, or somehow unheard of before 1917. The errors of Russia will be errors that have been present in Russia in a particularly powerful or dominant way, not necessarily emerging for the first or only time from Russia.

Second, the errors of Russia will lead to World War II. The war was the sign that the best hour had come and gone for the First Saturdays and the consecration of Russia. It's the crucial symptom that a virus had gotten loose into the whole world.

Thirdly, our guide to which errors are at play cannot be our political party, our personal biases, or our preferences for whom Heaven condemns. Rather, our guide to error must be truth. We must know the right answers in order to discern where Russia had gone wrong, and where her errors had spread to lead the world wrong. What, then, is our touchstone? The Church, the pillar and foundation of the truth (see 1 Tim 3:15). Relying upon Scripture and Tradition, the magisterial teaching of popes and ecumenical councils, and the writings of saints and doctors, we can come to a clear perception of the errors at play by comparing them to the truth taught by the Church.

And at the core of all of the errors of Russia, I think there's one error in particular--one that a certain professor of languages diagnosed in the heart of the war itself. More to come.

Chernobyl, the Dictatorship of Relativism, and the Errors of Russia

I'd been listening to Whittaker Chambers' book Witness recently. And last night, I first got into some of the coverage of the new HBO miniseries Chernobyl. Both give a glimpse into the nobility and sacrifice inherent in the Russian character, as well as the insanity, lies, and slaughter at the heart of Communism.

In light of Our Lady's clear warning at Fatima about Russia and the toxic intellectual pollution that was and would emanate from the ancient country, there is something perfectly symbolic about Chernobyl. There is something perfectly symbolic about a series of lies, of acts of insanity and/or carelessness, of hubris, leading to a tragedy of historic proportions. And there is something symbolic about the further lies told in order to save face, in order to protect the reputation, the influence, the misplaced trust in the Communist Party, in the Soviet system, in man and his ability to control all things, to replace God.

Our Lady warned us:

... If my requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. ...

Like the toxic cloud arising from the exposed core of Chernobyl, those many errors have arisen and spread out of Russia these past 100 years. And chief among them is "anything in the name of."

Anything in the name of the worker.

Anything in the name of justice.

Anything in the name of our party, or our state, or our country, or my family, or national security, or...

Anything in the name of the true, the good, and the beautiful, including telling a lie; doing evil; creating ugliness.

Anything in the name of, which inevitably leads to betraying the thing in whose name you have been acting.

Everything in the name of--yes, do everything in the name of God! Do everything with your eyes fixed on the good, the true, the beautiful, and do everything for love of them.

But anything in the name of is a fast track into the lowermost depths of hell.

J.R.R.Tolkien did a masterful job of dissecting this temptation in Lord of the Rings. Gandalf, Galadriel, Sam, Aragorn, Faramir--all are tempted to take up the One Ring, the Master Ring, in order to defeat the Dark Lord Sauron, and all refuse it, knowing that they could win, but in the winning, would lose everything. Denethor, Boromir, and Saruman were not so wise.

So it was at the root of Communism, and before, in Tsarist Russia. Anything in the name of the state; anything in the name of the preservation of our system; anything in the name of the Revolution; anything in the name of Soviet Communism; anything in the name of Comrade Stalin; anything in the name of defeating the Nazis; anything in the name of winning the Cold War; anything in the name of putting down counter-revolutionary forces; anything in the name of political correctness; anything in the name of...

So the tsars and their Okhrana helped give birth to the Revolution and to the many iterations of an internal security apparatus that eventually became the KGB, and then post-Soviet FSB, and the Russia of Vladimir Putin. Anything in the name of helped spawn anything in the name of once again. Oppressors and oppressed switched places, and set in motion the next cycle of revolution; switched places again, or perhaps merely reshuffled the cards for the next hand.

Anything in the name of gave us Chernobyl. Anything in the name of gave us the Cold War.

Anything in the name of justified the culture of the lie in the Soviet Union so well exposed and so aptly criticized by Chernobyl. Anything in the name of creates the People of the Lie dissected by M. Scott Peck, George Orwell, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Vaclav Havel, and St. John Paul II.

Anything in the name of is the dominant mode of politics and economics tempting us across the world today.

Time, once again, to say: Pray the Rosary daily for peace in the world. Make the First Saturday devotion. Learn about the Blessed Virgin Mary, and do the devotions to the Immaculate Heart.

Black Panther and the Errors of Russia

T'Challa: You want to see us become just like the people you hate so much! Divide and conquer the land as they did!
Killmonger: Nah, I learned from my enemies. Beat them at they own game.
T'Challa: You have become them! You will destroy the world, Wakanda included! (Black Panther, 2018

Here is the secret that should no longer be a secret.

Here is the truth about the state of the world today.

We are ruled, many of us, in our hearts and in our minds, by the "errors of Russia"--by the errors that Russia unleashed on the world, beginning in 1917. We know this because Our Lady of Fatima told us so. Those errors are many, and have spread across the world, causing the destruction of many nations. They continue to poison our world to this day, and are perhaps the dominant cause of conflict right now.

You can see them on full display in Marvel's Black Panther--that is, you can see those errors detected, exposed, and left out for all to see.

What are those errors?

We can detect them and their slimy trail by examining Russia's history shortly before 1917 through 1929 and by looking at the errors' first great historical effect: causing World War II.

Briefly, here are some of the errors:

• "Anything in the name of." That is, being willing to do anything, no matter how evil, in the name of a cause or entity. Even the Jesuits, famous for their absolute obedience to their superiors and to the Holy Father, have always had a caveat to that obedience: They are not bound to commit mortal sin under obedience to a superior. Nothing and no one is worth losing our souls, not even God. God calls us to give everything to Him, not be willing to do anything without limits in His service. He is a God of order, a God who gives rules and binds Himself with covenants. He is not the unfettered, lawless, willfull bully in the sky. The heart and core of the errors of Russia is this: "anything in the name of." We see this in Black Panther in Killmonger's willingness to kill indiscriminately in the name of justice, to do anything in the name of liberation, even take away liberty; to do anything in the name of justice, even to commit injustice; to do whatever it takes to set the African diaspora free, even by subjugating the rest of the world and whatever Africans might be loyal to T'Challah.
• Communism. This is one of the clearest errors of Russia, and one of the deadliest. But Communism is not one single idea. It is a complex web of ideas, consisting of a number of errors intertwined with some truths. The best way to discern its errors and sort out what is true is to go deeply into the life and writings of Pope St. John Paul II, a man of long experience in living under the terror of Soviet Communist rule, as well as an intellectual man of faith who could pick out the truths that swayed people to become fellow travelers with the Communist system. The errors contained within Communism include:
• Atheism. As has been clearly pointed out in works such as de Lubac's The Drama of Atheist Humanism, atheism destroys human dignity in the name of human dignity, stripping away the religious understanding of the meaning of humanity and history, and replacing it with a howling void. Catholicism's answer comes in Gaudium et Spes, 22.
• An idolatrous approach to history, and ironically, an ahistorical one. Marx replaced the "day of the Lord" with the Revolution in his system, expecting historical processes to somehow produce a day of perfect justice without an eternal, omniscient just judge. He expected, really, everything to sort itself out in the end. History would right every wrong.
• The two most important realities in human history are political power and economics, or money. These are the prime movers of all of history, and necessary and sufficient explanations for every motive, every action, every aspect of human history. You can see this error on full display in every political party's campaign strategies and in every news network's broadcasts. What truly matters? What truly rests behind every shift of culture, every human act? Power and money get "serious" coverage. Everything else is practical (the weather; traffic), entertainment (sports, movies, TV shows, morning shows, etc.), or human interest puff pieces. Hence, the media both is certain that entertainment is just entertainment, never to blame for a change in morality or any serious consequences. At the same time, advertising is a multibillion dollar business. And of course, the press just doesn't GetReligion

There are more, and there is much more to discuss in Black Panther, and indeed, in all the Marvel movies, some of the greatest proclamations of the Gospel of Life out there. But let me just close by saying once again: We have all the clarity we need on the solution to the problems of today, problems caused or exacerbated by the errors of Russia.

We are to turn to the Immaculate Heart.

We are make the First Saturdays devotion--at least the five, but really, I think that those of us who know of this devotion and its importance should make a committment to try to be faithful to it as best we can to the end of our lives. If we hope to lead others to it, we must be setting an example of taking it seriously and in finding it doable and rewarding.

We should be praying the Rosary daily for peace in the world, as Our Lady of the Rosary requested at Fatima. Getting a blessed image of the Immaculate Heart (or even better, of the Alliance of the Two Hearts) up in your home is a good move. Lighting a blessed candle in her honor, etc.--all very good.

And do the works of mercy. Pick one. Stick with it. Perform them faithfully. (And, speaking as someone who's bad at it, be nice to yourself when you don't stick with it. Pick yourself back up, get to Confession, and start again.)

We are to become immaculate through the grace of God, given in the Sacraments, given in Christ. We are to become like Mary, and thereby overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. We are to become what we love, not what we hate. We are to become good in order to fight evil, not become evil in order to overmaster the former Dark Lord. Victory looks like Gandalf, Frodo, and Aragorn, not Saruman, Denethor, and Gollum; like Aslan, not the White Witch.

Pope and Patriarch Speak

This is that rare thing: a truly historic document.

Laborem Exercens, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, Centesimus Annus: The Social Doctrine of Blessed Pope John Paul II

From the invaluable Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Excerpts:

...Ninety years after Rerum Novarum, Pope John Paul II devoted the Encyclical Laborem Exercens [187] to work, the fundamental good of the human person, the primary element of economic activity and the key to the entire social question. Laborem Exercens outlines a spirituality and ethic of work in the context of a profound theological and philosophical reflection. Work must not be understood only in the objective and material sense, but one must keep in mind its subjective dimension, insofar as it is always an expression of the person. Besides being a decisive paradigm for social life, work has all the dignity of being a context in which the person's natural and supernatural vocation must find fulfilment.

With the Encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis[188], Pope John Paul II commemorates the twentieth anniversary of Populorum Progressio and deals once more with the theme of development along two fundamental lines: “on one hand, the dramatic situation of the modern world, under the aspect of the failed development of the Third World, and on the other, the meaning of, conditions and requirements for a development worthy of man”[189]. The Encyclical presents differences between progress and development, and insists that “true development cannot be limited to the multiplication of goods and service — to what one possesses — but must contribute to the fullness of the ‘being' of man. In this way the moral nature of real development is meant to be shown clearly”[190]. Pope John Paul II, alluding to the motto of the pontificate of Pope Pius XII, “opus iustitiae pax” (peace is the fruit of justice), comments: “Today, one could say, with the same exactness and the same power of biblical inspiration (cf. Is 32:17; Jas 3:18), opus solidaritatis pax (peace is the fruit of solidarity)”[191].

On the hundredth anniversary of Rerum Novarum, Pope John Paul II promulgates his third social encyclical, Centesimus Annus[192], whence emerges the doctrinal continuity of a hundred years of the Church's social Magisterium. Taking up anew one of the fundamental principles of the Christian view of social and political organization, which had been the central theme of the previous Encyclical, the Pope writes: “What we nowadays call the principle of solidarity ... is frequently stated by Pope Leo XIII, who uses the term ‘friendship' ... Pope Pius XI refers to it with the equally meaningful term ‘social charity'. Pope Paul VI, expanding the concept to cover the many modern aspects of the social question, speaks of a ‘civilization of love”'[193]. Pope John Paul II demonstrates how the Church's social teaching moves along the axis of reciprocity between God and man: recognizing God in every person and every person in God is the condition of authentic human development. The articulate and in-depth analysis of the “new things”, and particularly of the great breakthrough of 1989 with the collapse of the Soviet system, shows appreciation for democracy and the free economy, in the context of an indispensable solidarity.

Other tallies of the social encyclicals include Evangelium Vitae on this list.

Non Abbiamo Bisgno, Mit Brennender Sorge, Divini Redemptoris: Papal Condemnations of Communism and Fascism

No, the Popes were not silent in the face of Nazism or Communism. From the invaluable Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Excerpts:

...Pope Pius XI did not fail to raise his voice against the totalitarian regimes that were being imposed in Europe during his pontificate. Already on 29 June 1931 he had protested against the abuse of power by the totalitarian fascist regime in Italy with the Encyclical Non Abbiamo Bisogno[155]. He published the Encyclical Mit Brennender Sorge, on the situation of the Catholic Church under the German Reich, on 14 March 1937[156]. The text of Mit Brennender Sorge was read from the pulpit of every Catholic Church in Germany, after having been distributed in the greatest of secrecy. The Encyclical came out after years of abuse and violence, and it had been expressly requested from Pope Pius XI by the German Bishops after the Reich had implemented ever more coercive and repressive measures in 1936, particularly with regard to young people, who were required to enrol as members of the Hitler Youth Movement. The Pope spoke directly to priests, religious and lay faithful, giving them encouragement and calling them to resistance until such time that a true peace between Church and State would be restored. In 1938, with the spreading of anti-Semitism, Pope Pius XI affirmed: “Spiritually we are all Semites”[157].

With the Encyclical Letter Divini Redemptoris[158], on atheistic communism and Christian social doctrine, Pope Pius XI offered a systematic criticism of communism, describing it as “intrinsically perverse”[159], and indicated that the principal means for correcting the evils perpetrated by it could be found in the renewal of Christian life, the practice of evangelical charity, the fulfilment of the duties of justice at both the interpersonal and social levels in relation to the common good, and the institutionalization of professional and interprofessional groups...

See also Summi Pontificatus on the brotherhood of all humanity.

Gah! Atlas Shrugged Rises Again!

Behold!  Atlas Shrugged...2!  Excerpts:

The second installment of what will—Rand willing—become an epic trilogy based on the objectivist ur-text Atlas Shrugged is even more implausible than the first. By the conventional economics of the film industry “Atlas Shrugged Part II,” which opens to around 500 theaters this October, should never have been made.

Unless the movie in question involves simply tacking another numeral on to a field-tested franchise like “Scary Movie” or “Final Destination,” universal derision from critics and a box office loss are usually enough to count a sequel out. And yet here’s the next installment of “Atlas Shrugged” anyway, not limping straight to DVD but doubling the size of its theatrical release, having added $20 million to its budget, 20 minutes to its run-time, and a new cast...

The Catholic Church, Secularization, and Survival

Let's reuse what worked, shall we?  Excerpts:

...The cardinal noted that religious freedom was guaranteed in the Soviet constitution too, while the reality was very different and highly constrained. Some Russian Orthodox Church leaders had KGB rank and perquisites.

The most prominent Catholic opponent to this Cold War reality was, of course, Cardinal Wojtyla of Poland, later Pope John Paul II. He provided a four-point plan for the Church in those circumstances:

Putin to Medvedev: Exit, Stage Right

Heh.  Always predicted, yet the growing divide between the two promises some interesting news ahead.  Excerpts:

RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has decided to run for the presidency next year, raising the possibility of a power struggle with his protege Dmitry Medvedev, the incumbent Kremlin leader, say highly placed sources.

The once-close relationship between Mr Putin, the tough-talking former KGB officer who has inspired a personality cult, and Mr Medvedev, a softly spoken Twitter enthusiast, has become increasingly fractious amid speculation in Moscow that the younger man wishes to stand again.

Insiders familiar with both leaders said Mr Putin, who served eight years as president before becoming Prime Minister three years ago, had begun to lose confidence in Mr Medvedev's loyalty.

Under the constitution, Mr Putin's move to reclaim the presidency could see him rule for two consecutive six-year terms until 2024, when he will be 72. If so, he would have served as prime minister or president for 24 years in all...

Medvedev Visits Vatican

Interesting.  I wonder what will come of it, and if this marks progress in the Russian Orthodox/Catholic dialogue?

We Did What?

Oh, dear. The Telegraph reports. Excerpts:

...Information about every Trident missile the US supplies to Britain will be given to Russia as part of an arms control deal signed by President Barack Obama next week.

Defence analysts claim the agreement risks undermining Britain’s policy of refusing to confirm the exact size of its nuclear arsenal.

A series of classified messages sent to Washington by US negotiators show how information on Britain’s nuclear capability was crucial to securing Russia’s support for the “New START” deal.

Although the treaty was not supposed to have any impact on Britain, the leaked cables show that Russia used the talks to demand more information about the UK’s Trident missiles, which are manufactured and maintained in the US.

Washington lobbied London in 2009 for permission to supply Moscow with detailed data about the performance of UK missiles. The UK refused, but the US agreed to hand over the serial numbers of Trident missiles it transfers to Britain...

WikiLeaks and Journalistic Ethics

An interesting post, especially this excerpt from a Reason magazine article:

...The existence of WikiLeaks is a good thing. You can’t be in favor of democracy—and you certainly can’t be a journalist—if you don’t believe that the potential for exposure of wrongdoings helps keep those in positions of power accountable. However, just because something can be published doesn’t mean it should be. Privacy is not the same as “secretive” or “clandestine” or “obfuscating.” As a society, we benefit from the Internet’s unrivaled ability to blast infinite information freely. But that ability does not mean everything ought to be shared. If we have a “right to know” the contents of Hillary Clinton’s private communications with her staff, do we have a right to see photos of her showering, to hear tapes of her snoring, to read stolen letters she wrote to her parents?...

5000 Bomb Shelters

sitting on a wall...passing around a bottle of vodka...and doing what, exactly?

Sometimes you come across information that make you stop and go, Say What! Russia Today just put out a video and news report that Russia is building 5000 more bomb shelters in Moscow. This will be done on a hurried time frame by 2012...

It just struck me as very strange that it would be pronounced so strongly and with a haste that this will and must be done by 2012...

The expression “Cold War” has made a huge comeback in the news and now it seems to be invading our lives again whether we want it to be there or not…

Russia Redivivus

And this time, they've fixed a classic Marxist mistake in their march to consolidation and control:

The advent of atheist Soviet rule wiped away religion as an obsolete “opiate for the masses,” which had no place in a modernized society. Yet it seems that religion did not fully fall victim to socialist crusades... In post-Soviet Russia, although images of churches converted into bars remain prominent in the memory of the Russian Orthodox Church, a significant majority of the masses find a source of comfort and stability in the institution. The elite, on the other hand, have re-discovered the power of heavenly support for their earthly undertakings... Likewise, the omni-present, omnipotent Putin-Medvedev duo has not neglected its spiritual duties and has built a close and comfortable relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church. President Medvedev’s move to assign Russian Orthodox priests to Russian troop units, as well as his efforts to make religious instruction a part of the public school curriculum, reinforces the tsarist-era notion of the Orthodox Church as an inextricable, indispensable part of Russian life. These actions also make clear that the president has found religion to be a handsome complement to his authority. Such breakdown of the church-state boundary may have alarmed Thomas Jefferson, but would have seemed perfectly fine to the Russian czars. Current Prime Minister Putin has gone further, seeking to bolster the influence of the ROC abroad...

Clever and interesting. On the one hand, kind of creepy, because this will help Russia consolidate power, extend order within its borders, and bolster them in many ways. A strengthened Russia under Putin could be a formidable force for something in days to come--not sure whether for good or evil. On the other hand, here is an expansion of the avenues of grace in a country badly in need of it. Their demographic decline is extreme. Their spiritual emptiness from the Cold War's ravages need healing. The growth of Orthodoxy may help with that. But Putin is unlikely to like the idea of any sort of rapprochement with the Catholic Church, since we are an international entity, foreign in a certain sense to the Russian state. Since they seem to be heading down the nationalist path, ecumenical initiatives would appear counterproductive to their goals. But who knows?

The Tide Is Truly Turning

Not necessarily, pace David Hartline, towards Catholicism, but at the very least turning on some fundamental issues in fascinating ways. Take, for instance, the recent action on the ecumenical front:

Archbishop Hilarion, who is president of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, took a combative tone in his text. He denounced the "militant secularism" adopted by an increasingly united Europe, warned that religion was being closed off in the "ghetto" of private devotion, and urged Christians to confront their governments on issues like abortion, euthanasia and same-sex marriage -- even to the point of civil disobedience.

Archbishop Hilarion's proposal came as 140 Christian leaders in the United States met in New York and issued the "Manhattan Declaration" pledging renewed zeal in defending the unborn, defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and protecting religious freedom. The Manhattan Declaration, too, urged non-compliance and perhaps even civil disobedience when Christians are asked to participate in acts like abortion, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia.

The Orthodox are coming closer to Rome than has been considered possible for centuries, as is recounted by Jeremy Lott, among others:

TAKE THAT OTHER great flashpoint of Benedict's papacy, the speech delivered at his old college, the University of Regensburg, on September 12, 2006. The line that set the world on fire was Benedict's quotation of Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus...We cannot know all the reasons why Benedict chose to quote that particular authority, but it is consistent with his view of a faith that is beset by constant threats, secular and religious. And it sure didn't hurt Vatican relations with Orthodox churches, which had been icy in the past. When John Paul II tried to visit Moscow, the Russian Orthodox Church vetoed it. In October, the same month as the Anglican overture, the AP reported that Benedict may soon meet with the Russian patriarch, and that a papal visit to Moscow in the next few years is likely. Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said, "We have overcome all the tensions in recent years." Not "some tensions"-- all of them.

One must also take into consideration the meetings between Archbishop Hilarion (or Ilarion, as some accounts have it) and Rome. All in all, though taking Lott's piece with a grain of salt, I think Benedict has a good chance of seriously being the second pope in Don Bosco's story:

On the whole surface of the sea you see an infinity of ships, all ending in a beak of sharp iron that pierces whatever it hits. Some of these ships have arms, cannons, guns; others have books and incendiary materials. All of them are thronging after a ship that is considerably bigger, trying to ram it, set fire to it, and do it every possible sort of damage. Imagine that in the middle of the sea you also see two very tall columns. On one is the statue of the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, with the inscription underneath: “Help of Christians.” On the other one, which is even bigger and taller, there is a Host of proportionately large size in relation to the column, and under it the words: “Salvation of believers.” From the base of the column hang many chains with anchors to which ships can be attached. The biggest ship is captained by the Pope, and all his efforts are bent to steer it in between those two columns. But, as I said, the other barks try in every way to block it and destroy it, some with arms, with the beaks of their prows, with fire from books and journals. But all their weapons are in vain. Every weapon and substance splinters and sinks. Now and then the cannons make a deep hole somewhere in the ship’s sides. But a breeze blowing from the two columns is enough to heal every wound and close up the holes. The ship again continues on its way. On the way the Pope falls once, then rises again, falls a second time and dies. As soon as he is dead, another immediately replaces him. He guides the ship to the two columns. Once there he attaches the ship with one anchor to the column with the consecrated Host, with another anchor to the column with the Immaculate Conception. Then total disorder breaks out over the whole surface of the sea. All the ships that so far had been battling the Pope’s ship scatter, flee, and collide with one another, some foundering and trying to sink the others. Those at a distance keep prudently back until the remains of all the demolished ships have sunk into the depths of the sea, and then they vigorously make their way to the side of the bigger ship. Having joined it, they too attach themselves to the anchors hanging from the two columns and remain there in perfect calm.

I do not claim this absolutely--I'd have no chance of proving anything. But there are interesting indications. John Paul II was shot in 1981, but rose again to lead the Church directly towards the pillars of Mary and the Eucharist till he was felled by long illness. The conclave electing Benedict was remarkably short, and Benedict in his pontificate has led on towards Mary and the Eucharist (liturgical reforms, the post-synodal document on the Eucharist). Further, we have progress on the ecumenical front as never before. The openness to the Anglicans, the moves of the Orthodox mentioned above, next year's synod with the Middle Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, the Manhattan Declaration, the new boldness of the USCCB...I think we have a candidate, ladies and gentlemen.