{"id":63829,"date":"2026-03-07T06:52:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T05:52:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=63829"},"modified":"2026-03-09T21:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T20:38:22","slug":"attempts-to-manipulate-catholics-into-supporting-those-who-persecute-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/03\/07\/attempts-to-manipulate-catholics-into-supporting-those-who-persecute-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Attempts to manipulate Catholics into supporting those who persecute them"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/01\/14\/communism-islamism-and-the-50-countries-that-most-persecute-christians-in-2026\/\">Almost two months ago I published this map here<\/a> prepared by the NGO Open Doors on the persecution of Christians.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/01\/14\/communism-islamism-and-the-50-countries-that-most-persecute-christians-in-2026\/\">Communism, Islamism and the 50 countries that most persecute Christians in 2026<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/01\/12\/a-communist-suggesting-christians-ally-with-the-iranian-dictatorship-im-not-kidding\/\">A communist suggesting Christians ally with the Iranian dictatorship: I'm not kidding<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p><strong>The map shows the 50 countries in the world where Christians suffer the most persecution.<\/strong> The presence of some countries on this list should come as no surprise, considering that <strong>the ideologies that have most promoted the persecution of Christians in the last century are communism and Islamic fundamentalism<\/strong>. Unsurprisingly, on this list we find <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/01\/14\/communism-islamism-and-the-50-countries-that-most-persecute-christians-in-2026\/\">6 countries with communist dictatorships, another 3 with far-left governments, and 37 Islamic countries<\/a>. These figures are quite revealing.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday I came across the latest in cynical strategies employed by supporters of one of those ideologies. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/elentirvigo\/status\/2029981173280018528\/photo\/1\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">A well-known communist activist is trying to pit Catholics against Protestants<\/a>, launching attacks against religious freedom and saying things like that this right was <em>\"a Protestant invention to repress Catholics\".<\/em>. <strong>A complete absurdity spread by Santiago Armesilla, leader of Vanguardia Espa\u00f1ola<\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2023\/09\/15\/communist-submarine-on-the-right-holds-up-north-korea-as-an-example-of-patriotism\/\">an extreme left-wing group that glorifies Stalin and North Korea<\/a>. Armesilla himself <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/elentirvigo\/status\/2029981173280018528\/photo\/2\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">stated<\/a> last month that <strong>he considers that Asian country to be a \"free country\"<\/strong>, a statement that would be laughable if we weren't talking about <strong>the most brutal dictatorship in the world<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>As I pointed out in January, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/01\/14\/communism-islamism-and-the-50-countries-that-most-persecute-christians-in-2026\/\">North Korea has been at the top of the lists of countries that persecute Christians for years<\/a>. <strong>That communist dictatorship takes this persecution to extreme levels<\/strong>, just as it does with any form of thought that deviates from the official discourse of that anti-democratic regime. <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260206202106\/https:\/\/www.opendoors.org\/en-US\/persecution\/countries\/north-korea\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">I refer you to what Open Doors says about that dictatorship:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\"<strong>North Korea is arguably the most dangerous place on earth to follow Jesus.<\/strong> If someone is discovered to be a Christian, the consequences are unimaginably stark: either <strong>imprisonment in one of its notorious labour camps, with little hope of release, or immediate execution<\/strong>. The same fate is likely to await other family members.<\/p>\n<p><strong>While the church buildings displayed in the capital Pyongyang might suggest a degree of tolerance, this is propaganda.<\/strong> The reality is very different. Christianity has no place in North Korea, a country where homage must be directed one way only: towards the Kim regime. With watchful eyes everywhere \u2013 even from neighbours and family \u2013 <strong>even the slightest hint of worshipping Jesus can have devastating consequences<\/strong>. Remarkably, believers do gather, but in utmost secrecy and at enormous risk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Recent years have seen conditions worsen further for North Korea\u2019s secret believers.<\/strong> This is largely due to the \u2018anti-reactionary thought law\u2019, introduced in 2020, which made it even clearer that <strong>being a Christian and owning a Bible is regarded as a serious crime<\/strong>. The law has reinforced just how much of a threat Christianity is seen to be by the country\u2019s unbending regime.\"<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Whitewashing such an atrocious dictatorship to deceive Catholics <strong>is as vile as trying to convince Jews that Nazi Germany was a paradise for Hebrews<\/strong>. This attempt to whitewash the North Korean dictatorship is not an isolated incident. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/01\/12\/a-communist-suggesting-christians-ally-with-the-iranian-dictatorship-im-not-kidding\/\">In January, Armesilla stated<\/a>: <em>\"<strong>Iran could be an ally of the Christian world against Wahhabism. But Christians, once again, have the wrong enemy.<\/strong> It's not Iran.\"<\/em> Let's remember that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2026\/01\/14\/communism-islamism-and-the-50-countries-that-most-persecute-christians-in-2026\/\">Iran ranks 10th on the list of countries that most persecute Christians<\/a>. <strong>In that country, persecution reaches extreme levels.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It must be said that activists like the one mentioned are not solely responsible for this <strong>shameless attempt to manipulate Catholics into supporting those who persecute us<\/strong>. Those who invite people like him to all sorts of events, often under the pretext of discussing Hispanic culture or patriotism, <strong>help whitewash an admirer of Stalin and North Korea and contribute to his messages reaching a wider audience<\/strong>. This collaboration not only includes other far-left activists, but also people who call themselves Christian, patriotic, and\/or right-wing. <strong>The propaganda of dictatorships like Russia, Iran, and China<\/strong>\u2014three of the regimes in an axis of evil whose common denominator is hatred of the West and democracy\u2014<strong>is succeeding in deceiving many people<\/strong>, even some who think they are smarter than everyone else and believe that it is the rest of the population who are being manipulated.<\/p>\n<p>---<\/p>\n<p><small>Image: Puertas Abiertas.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Almost two months ago I published this map here prepared by the NGO Open Doors on the persecution of Christians.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10712],"tags":[16725,10424,10444,822,11043,19575,19574],"class_list":["post-63829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion-eng","tag-anticatholicism","tag-catholic-church","tag-communism","tag-iran","tag-north-korea","tag-santiago-armesilla","tag-vanguardia-espanola"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-30 23:16:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}