Imprisonment for Sedevacantism
- Press release: At least two years in jail -
(Kirche zum Mitreden, 21.05.2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNYjUpMv2iU
The following press release can be spread by anyone anywhere.
Imprisonment
for Sedevacantism
On May 26th, 2011, the Roman-Catholic priest Father Rolf Hermann
Lingen, Germany, shall be sentenced to jail for at least two years,
maybe up to four years. His crime: He is sedevacantist. First some
background information. "Sedevacantism" simply describes the strong
conviction that the Papal See is vacant; it is, however, not
necessarily combined with the Catholic belief. Thus, if there is no
legitimate pope now, than every Catholic is necessarily sedevacantist,
but sedevacantists are not necessarily Catholics.
The arguments for and against sedevacantism can be studied in the
internet. The topic of this press release is the persecution of
sedevacantists in Germany.
As mentioned, Father Lingen shall be imprisoned for at least two years.
According to German justice, he is not allowed to call himself a
"Roman-Catholic priest". Germany claims that only the white-clothed man
in the Vatican is the pope and that only his followers are Catholics.
Therefore, sedevacantists are not allowed to call themselves Catholics.
There is, however, no such anti-sedevacantist law. In fact: Even if
such a law existed, it would be illegal, e.g. because of the fact that
white clothes alone do not make someone pope, not even in the Vatican,
and because of the fact that there have been several false popes, even
in the Vatican.
As an occupied country, Germany has no constitution. But at least
Germany's basic law includes the principle "no penalty without a law":
No one may be punished for an act unless it has been expressly declared
illegal. According to this legal principle, the persecution of
sedevacantists is absolutely impossible.
But is it not obvious that sedevacantism is wrong? Well, obviously
there are sedevacantists. Obviously there are many people who do not
know the Catholic faith and therefore do not care about sedevacantism.
Obviously even the indictment against Father Lingen already begins with
the absurdly false claim that sedevacantists are a group within the
Church, so it is based on false premises. And in the whole long
indictment, not a single word explains why sedevacantism should be
false, by what law sedevacantism is prohibited or anything. And if
sedevacantism is an error? Obviously, Father Lingen is convinced of
sedevacantism, as he calls this position absolutely unavoidable.
Therefore he is persecuted by the German justice for nearly all of his
fifteen years as a priest now. Obviously, according to the law,
unavoidable error cannot be punished.
In essence: Germany simply punishes sedevacantists for being
sedevacantists.
Furthermore: In 1948, the United Nations defined Genocide as "any of
the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in
part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing
members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members
of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life,
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; forcibly
transferring children of the group to another group."
Obviously, Germany has the intent to destroy sedevacantism. Obviously,
Catholic sedevacantists are a religious group. Obviously, persecuting
and even arresting Catholic sedevacantists causes serious bodily or
mental harm. Obviously, hindering sedevacantist priests from serving
sacraments and hindering sedevacantists from receiving sacraments
inflicts on the group conditions of life.
So regardless of one's personal view on sedevacantism: Obviously,
Germany itself heavily violates even the most elementary principles of
law.
Author:
Father Rolf Hermann Lingen, Goldbrink 2a, 46282 Dorsten
See also: Genocide in Germany
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