Communism, Defined. Then the Punch Was Pulled (?!?)

There may be 2 or 3 readers on this site who cannot understand why I hate Communism.  For the 100+ million slaughtered in the name of Communism, there are lots of reasons.  For the 1 billion or so still captive, in Red China, Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and at least nominally in the old Soviet Union, there are plenty of reasons.  (Let's not forget that Obama is at least a socialist, if not a Communist, by the way.  That explains everything about his Administration.)

But principally, it's what the Roman Catholic Church has to say about Communism. 

...The Church’s scathing condemnation of communism preceded even The Communist Manifesto, the ridiculous piece of work Marx and Engels published in 1848 as the official programmatic statement of the communist movement. In 1846, Pope Pius IX released Qui pluribus, affirming that communism is “absolutely contrary to the natural law itself” and if adopted would “utterly destroy the rights, property, and possessions of all men, and even society itself.” In 1849, one year after the Manifesto was published, Pius IX issued the encyclical, Nostis Et Nobiscum, which referred to both socialism and communism as “wicked theories,” “perverted theories,” and “pernicious fictions.”...

Note that the condemnations include Socialism.  That's not an accident.  And note that Socialism draws exactly the same terms as Communism.  And that's just a warmup.

...In 1878, Pope Leo XIII followed with Quod Apostolici muneris, defining communism as “the fatal plague which insinuates itself into the very marrow of human society only to bring about its ruin.” More such Church statements followed, in 1924, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, and on and on....

Oh--and as to socialism (again):

...If you’re tired of hearing Sister Social Justice prattle on about the wonders of “democratic socialism,” hand her this document. Few passages in Quadragesimo Anno put it as bluntly as this one (section 120): “Religious socialism, Christian socialism, are contradictory terms; no one can be at the same time a good Catholic and a true socialist.”...

That was on the masthead of a nationally circulated Catholic newspaper, by the way.  The Bishops hated that newspaper, at least partially because a lot of their priests subscribed to it instead of their Diocesan rags.

Anyway.  The Second Vatican Council also approved a document on Communism, condemning it and suggesting ways by which the Church could combat it.  Parts of it are available at the link, and lots more at the internal links,.

Didn't know that, eh?  (Well, you WOULD have if you'd read my blog back a few weeks ago.)

You have the right to ask your Bishop, and Sister Social Justice, why those docs were buried.