The current coalition headed by the ex-communist Fico would not have won the government without the help of several misguided conservatives and believers, including the clergy. Some of them are satisfied with it today, despite everything the government does against justice, peace, culture, democracy, and the standard of living of the majority. They do not understand or ignore that the government, of which President Pellegrini is a de facto part, is also acting against what the social teaching of the Church teaches about government and politics.
The coalition of Fico’s Smer, Pellegrini’s Hlas, and Dank’s SNS canceled the status of the plenipotentiary for the protection of freedom of religion or belief during the year of the government. She bullies and punishes the police officers who dealt with their corruption, and she gives high state positions to several of the accused. She abolished the Special Prosecutor’s Office, which dealt with organized crime and major corruption cases. By changing the criminal law, she released several defendants and severely limited the possibility of prosecuting and punishing others. It has significantly limited critical political discussion in the media. She doubled her salary and is now preparing “consolidation” measures to lower the standard of living for the majority, especially for the poor, families with children, pensioners, and small business owners. Fico promised lower prices but is acting to make them higher. Charitable organizations will lose tens of thousands of euros. Even the outgoing health minister said this “consolidation” will devastate the health sector. and the 23% VAT on energy will hit pensioners hard.
From the Pope to Fico et al.
In September 2021, the Slovak Church emotionally welcomed the visit of Pope Francis. She helped the current government coalition win the parliamentary and presidential elections two years later. Indirectly by failing to teach and motivate people, with rare exceptions, to act and vote according to justice and what the Popes teach about government and politics, and some clergy also directly supporting the current governing parties. ) Support continues despite how this government has been acting against what it preaches and does for a year, the Pope, which harms Slovakia.
Prime Minister Fico on St. Cyril and Methodius spoke of a bulwark against liberalism and progressivism. Still, in 2024 alone, his government repeatedly refused to use the opportunity to take a critical stance against the activism of some EU institutions promoting the “rainbow” agenda even though KDH urged them to do so. For example, when the EP voted on the right to abortion or when the Court of Justice of the EU decided that member states had an obligation to recognize the official change of biological sex confirmed in any way in another EU state. ( ) 10/3/2024 The National Assembly of the Slovak Republic did not approve a resolution critical of the European Parliament’s efforts to include the right to abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Together with the Progressives, the parties of the government coalition deserved it.
The Misery of Christian Slovakia
At the end of September 2024, a well-known priest – religious wrote to me: “In the last few days, I had several trips to Slovak parishes, I met several well-known people, and I am appalled at the catastrophic state of Catholics in Slovakia. The clergy, led by their bishops, are to a great extent responsible for this. TaraboFicoid sentiments and their glorification are crowned by a Slovak Catholic who is perfectly at ease by calling thanks to God for Putin and the Russians, who will protect us from the Gender ideology. There is no end to the glorification of Fico and his criminal policy, not only among Catholics but also among priests and bishops. They are completely blind and tell Fic about his LEP that he will prevent Gender ideology, which is equivalent to exchanging the morality and character of Slovakia for a bowl of dirty lentils. I believe that you can write an article about this and point out the Malignancy of the machinery that allows hyenas to rule and drags Slovakia into a black hole, into the period of Bolshevism and sinister communism. It would be necessary to call on the bishops to rise and fight for life, Christian culture, and morals, above all by applying justice and not by cheap shouts and knitting the masses with stupid phrases at which Cháska only laughs dumbly around Fic…”
Controversial policy of the Slovak Church
These words make two important facts visible: 1. The Slovak church is divided, at least in its attitude towards the government and socio-political reality, in a similar way to civil society.
2. In the Catholic Church, the influence and spirit of members of Pacem in Terris and nationalists, who are closer to ex-communists than real democrats, are far from what the popes teach in the socio-political field. In the first free years after November 1989, such and such supported a group of ex-communists and nationalists under the leadership of V. Mečiar, and now their followers under the leadership of R. Fico. They are complicit in the fact that in the area of justice, the construction of which was marked by Benedict XVI. for the essential role of every generation, formally Christian Slovakia belongs to the worst in Europe. (more here:
I don’t want to discuss the various reasons why they do it now, but it must be said that they bear joint responsibility for the moral, economic, social, and cultural consequences of these politicians’ rule. I will mention their main arguments.
Ideals and ideology
Many of them sincerely care about better-protecting life and families. However, their ideal turned into an ideology. Just like Marxists when dealing with social justice or genderists when striving for women’s equality, they misidentified the cause of the problem they wanted to solve. They often used the wrong means and, therefore, brought more harm than good.
They are justifiably annoyed by the artificial race, the breakdown of “traditional” families, the intolerant promotion of gender ideology, the poor moral level of many people, or the reduction of the influence of the Church. They mistakenly point to the vaguely defined “liberalism” as the cause. They talk about Christian and traditional values without clearly defining them and considering their relationships and hierarchy. When it comes to political activities, they deal only with the protection of life, practically reduced to the ban on abortion, and the fight for the family is essentially reduced to the fight against genderism and the Istanbul Convention. Moreover, perhaps the worst is that they do not use the same yardstick for all politicians and parties.
In promoting selected values, they support politicians who grossly violate other, at least equally essential, values or commandments of the Ten Commandments. And sometimes the same ones. For example, M. Kuffa, on 5/30/2018, the day after he demonstrated for Kotleb’s bill to ban abortions, in an interview for Parlamné Listy, praised Fico for rejecting the Istanbul Convention. Even though five days earlier, Fico supported the preservation of the abortion law, which his native Communist Party adopted Even though the SMER government, in 2015, approved the State Strategy of Human Rights, prepared under the leadership of Rainbow activists.
Even though SMER deputies in the European Parliament repeatedly supported rainbow-liberal proposals before the 2023/24 elections, Fico, his Smer, and the presidential candidate were also actively supported by several priests. Many Christians are satisfied with this today, even though the government canceled some pro-family measures and approved some that will make life worse, especially for the poor, including families.
Chaos in concepts, thinking, and deeds
In discussions and polemics, Thomas Aquinas often began by explaining basic concepts. G. Orwell, in the dystopian work 1984, showed how the demagogues of dubious regimes and ideologies use the confusion of ideas and changing the meaning of words to control the crowd.
The leading cause of the “non-Christian” attitudes that bother us is not liberalism or progressives, as our anti-liberals proclaim, but practical materialism and moral relativism. The label “liberalism” is misleading; it creates chaos in concepts, thinking, and morality. This was done, for example, by the pro-life activist A. Ch. when he labeled all victims of abortion since 1957 as victims of liberalism. Even though the Russian communists were the first to approve free abortions, our communists also did, and after the fall of their dictatorship, the number of artificial abortions in our country dropped significantly. Today, many do so, while in addition, they only criticize the supposedly liberal KDH or the Democrats, but not Smer, the Hlas emanating from it, or nationalist extremists.
When we evaluate politicians not according to vague “liberalism” but according to the criteria of the Ten Commandments, freedom, justice, and moral relativism, we see that communism is much worse than liberal democracy and communist-corrupt politicians worse than liberals. They are the same when it comes to family and abortion but worse when it comes to corruption and justice.
In addition – in all “liberal” Western democracies, the Church and Christians have freedom, unlike any communist or Marxist-socialist government and dictatorship. From 1917 to the present, from Russia to Slovakia, Asia to Venezuela.
Life born and unborn
Rejection of anti-corruption protests and support for corrupt politicians brandishing anti-liberal slogans is justified by some with the argument that killing someone (by abortion) is worse than robbing. They don’t understand or don’t want to acknowledge that life can also be destroyed by taking away someone’s housing, food, or health care. That corruption is not only a “noticeable” hundred for a doctor or an official but also thousands, which will result in fewer roads being built, which will make it impossible for people with low incomes to study. Or when someone dies needlessly because an expensive medical device was bought in Slovakia for the price that would buy two in the Czech Republic.
They ignore the words of Pope Francis that both born and unborn life must be protected and that the worst destroyer of life is war and corruption. “If we are talking about corrupt politicians or economic agents, who pays for it? They pay hospitals without medicine, the sick without care, and children without education. They are the modern-day idiots who pay for the corruption of others. And who pays for the corruption of some church official? Children who do not even know how to bless themselves, who do not know the catechism, who are not guided, pay for it. It is paid for by the sick, whom no one visits. The poor pay. The poor pay for corruption, the poor materially and spiritually.” (Francis) This was exactly what Bishop Lach’s statement in January 2016 was about, which upset Prime Minister Fico so much. (full text here:
If the Church and Christians strived more for justice and solved how corrupt politics and state management destroy born life, it would be more credible for many, even if it talks about unborn life.
Values of Putin’s Russia
From the point of view of common sense, natural justice, democracy, and the social teaching of the Catholic Church, perhaps the worst thing is that these Christian anti-liberals label Putin’s Russia as the savior of our Christian or traditional culture and values. Even Putin and his minister (in the words of the Pope) Kirill use it as part of propaganda to ideologically justify their own power and imperialist war of conquest because, like Fico, he knows that many Christians will fall for it.
The fundamental mistake or misleading of those who claim this is that they use a diametrically different yardstick for Russia and the democratic West. The only concrete fact with which they prove it is that they have banned the spread of LGBTI propaganda in Russia. At the same time, they ignore or conceal the fact that in almost all Christian, democratic, or conservative values, Russia is much worse off.
In Russia, compared to the EU, there are many more abortions, murders, suicides, divorces, fatal traffic accidents, and tolerated domestic violence. Not to mention the standard of living of most people. Social differences are greater there than in the “capitalist” EU, social security is worse. Of course, corruption and law enforcement are much worse. President, ex-communist, and KGB officer billionaire Putin has a super-luxurious residence worth an annual income of 180,000 Russians. There is practically no freedom of the press there. Several critical journalists or opposition politicians were murdered, and others ended up in prison. Religious freedom is severely restricted there, at best to the level it was in our country under the communist dictatorship before November 1989. This also applies to the occupied territories of Ukraine.
No one has said which values Russia is supposed to protect or how to do it. Like now in Ukraine? In February 2022, Putin unleashed the biggest war in Europe since the end of World War II. Three times larger in territory and population, Russia is waging a war of conquest even though when Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons, it contractually guaranteed its freedom, independence, and territorial integrity. (Budapest memorandum, 1994) Words of the Pope about the cause of the war.
About 10 million Ukrainians left their homes, and about 600,000, primarily young and qualified Russians, left Russia. Of course, the majority for the democratic West. In this way, they broke many times more families than genderism can.
Multibillion-dollar damage to destroyed infrastructure razed cities and villages. In addition to schools and hospitals, the Russians killed or looted over 600 temples and church buildings and abolished religious freedom. (Statement of the IRFBA Chair on two years of Russian aggression against Ukraine accompanied by abuse, killing of priests, and destruction of places of worship here:
As a result of the Russian war, spending on armaments rose to a record level worldwide. In Russia, almost 20,000 people have already been arrested for anti-war protests, in February 2024, 848 were prosecuted, and 267 were imprisoned. For example, the nurse Olga Menšichová faces eight years in a penal colony.
Tragic consequences
It is tragic that in Slovakia, which experienced decades of communist dictatorship, including the persecution of the Church, as well as the Russian-Soviet occupation, after 33 years of freedom, so many people, including several clergy, believe the ex-communists Putin and Fico, their partner and propagandist.
Formally, Christian Slovakia ranks among the worst in Europe in supporting such Russian and undemocratic policies. Christians, including the clergy who support it, are thus acting like the Pacem in Terris movement established by the communists during the “normalization” before November 1989. In the name of reduced partial value – then social upliftment, now anti-genderism, they support a government and policies that harm freedom, democracy, justice, the common good, and genuine Christian morality and culture. And in the end, also to what it proclaims. The communist dictatorship ended up giving workers a much lower standard of living than free democratic countries.
The Pacem in Terris also harmed the Church’s good name, and Christian dissidents who were united with the Pope benefited in particular. Today, these Christian anti-liberals supporting the current Slovak government coalition and Putin’s Russia, acting in politics against the teachings of the popes, in addition to this government, also contribute to the fact that several normal people with a sense of justice end up with the progressives. They discourage more people from the Church and its values or teachings than they bring them to it.
