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The late Cardinal Carlo Caffarra

September 18, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – A global ideology powered by an “insane” and “literally mad” freedom is now attempting to destroy the “last barrier” that keeps mankind from losing what it means to be 'human,' namely, the “sexual nature of the human person in its duality of man and woman,” wrote Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, a dubia cardinal who just died, in a manuscript published for the first time on LifeSiteNews. 

Caffarra wrote the manuscript as a foreward to sociologist Gabriele Kuby’s 2015 book The Global Sexual Revolution: Destruction of Freedom in the Name of Freedom. But, the book went to press before the Cardinal's words were received. The manuscript was obtained by LifeSiteNews. 

Cardinal Caffarra was one of the four Cardinals who sent Pope Francis the dubia asking for clarity on the Pope’s 2016 Exhortation Amoris Laetitia. He died September 6 at the age of 79. 

The Cardinal outlined in the foreward how “the deceiver” by means of a global strategy is controlling man by “forming an alliance with one of his base instincts,” namely, his desire for unrestrained sexual pleasure without any rules. 

“What is its strategy? That of Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor, who says to Christ, 'You give them freedom; I give them bread. They will follow me.' The strategy is clear: to dominate man by forming an alliance with one of his base instincts. The new Grand Inquisitor has not changed strategies. He says to Christ, 'You promise joy in the wise, just and chaste exercise of sexuality; I promise pleasure without any rules. You will see that they will follow me.' The new Inquisitor enslaves through the mirage of a sexual pleasure completely deprived of any rule,” he wrote.

Caffarra said that this strategy fueled by “insane reason” is “destroying natural human sexuality, and thus also marriage and the family.”

“The last barrier which this insane freedom must break down is the sexual nature of the human person in its duality of man and woman, and in its rational institution established by monogamous marriage and the family,” he wrote. 

He warned of an “extreme freedom” championed by hedonists that, he said, “will lead to the gravest and most ferocious tyranny.”

The Cardinal called Kuby's book a “clarion call to awake from the slumber of reason that is leading to the loss of freedom and hence of ourselves.”

“And Jesus has warned us that this, the loss of ourselves, would be the most tragic loss of all, even if we were to gain the whole world,” he wrote. 

Caffarra said that “the young” will be the “first victims” of the “insane freedom.”

He noted that it's “not uncommon” for clerics to be “content to be facilitators of this euthanasia of [real] freedom,” for which Christ died to “make us truly free.”

Caffara also referenced Dostoyevsky during his talk at the 2017 Rome Life Forum. Satan wants to build an “anti-creation,” he said, which Satan will sell to people as better than God’s creation.

He said:

“This is the frightful strategy of the lie, constructed around a profound contempt for man. Man is not capable of elevating himself to the splendour of the Truth. He is not capable of living within the paradox of an infinite desire for happiness. He is not able to find himself in the sincere gift of himself. And therefore – continues the Satanic discourse – we tell him banalities about man. We convince him that the Truth does not exist and that his search is therefore a sad and futile passion. We persuade him to shorten the measure of his desire in line with the measure of the transient moment. We place in his heart the suspicion that love is merely a mask of pleasure.”

The response to this profound lie, Caffara said, must be a testimony to the truth and beauty of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the refutation of falsehood.

“It would be a terrible doctor who adopted an irenical attitude towards the disease,” said Caffara. “Augustine writes: ‘Love the sinner, but persecute the sin.’ Note this well. The Latin word per-sequor is an intensifying verb. The meaning therefore is: ‘Hunt down the sin. Track it down in the hidden places of its lies, and condemn it, bringing to light its insubstantiality.’”

Fatima visionary Sister Lucia wrote to Caffara in the early 1980s, the “final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be about marriage and the family.”

“What Sister Lucia said in those days is being fulfilled in these days of ours,” he said at the 2017 Rome Life Forum. 

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Full text of Cardinal Caffarra's unpublished forward to Gabriele Kuby’s book The Global Sexual Revolution – The Destruction of Freedom in the Name of Freedom. Translated by Diane Montagna.

Gabriele Kuby’s survey of the cultural landscape in the present book is a clarion call to awake from the slumber of reason that is leading to the loss of freedom and hence of ourselves. And Jesus has warned us that this, the loss of ourselves, would be the most tragic loss of all, even if we were to gain the whole world.

As I read each page, I heard within myself the words of the deceiver of the whole world, “You will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5). 

The human person has elevated himself to a position of sovereign moral authority in which “I” alone determine what is good and what is evil. This is a freedom that is literally mad: it is a freedom without logos (i.e., reason or ordering principle).

But if this is the theoretical context (if I may put it this way) of the entire book, the work specifically examines the destruction of the last reality that stands in its way. As I will explain, the book also shows how freedom that has gone mad gradually engenders the most devastating tyrannies.

David Hume wrote that facts are stubborn things: they stubbornly challenge any ideology. The author argues, and I think rightly, that the last barrier which this insane freedom must break down is the sexual nature of the human person in its duality of man and woman, and in its rational institution established by monogamous marriage and the family. Well today this insane reason is destroying natural human sexuality, and thus also marriage and the family. These pages, dedicated to examining this destruction, contain a rare depth of insight.

But there is another theme that runs through the pages of this book: the work of this insane freedom has a precise strategy, for it is being directed, guided and governed on a global level. What is its strategy? That of Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor, who says to Christ, “You give them freedom; I give them bread. They will follow me.” The strategy is clear: to dominate man by forming an alliance with one of his base instincts. The new Grand Inquisitor has not changed strategies. He says to Christ, “You promise joy in the wise, just and chaste exercise of sexuality; I promise pleasure without any rules. You will see that they will follow me.” The new Inquisitor enslaves through the mirage of a sexual pleasure completely deprived of any rule.

If, as I believe, Gabriele Kuby’s analysis is one that is shared, there is only one conclusion. What Plato foresaw will come to pass: extreme freedom will lead to the gravest and most ferocious tyranny. It is no coincidence that the author has made this platonic reflection the subtext of the first chapter: a kind of key to interpreting the entire book.

And clerics? It is not uncommon that they seem content to be the facilitators of this euthanasia of freedom. And yet, as Paul instructs us, Christ died to make us truly free.

I hope that this great book will be read especially by those who have public responsibilities; by those who have educational responsibilities; and by the young, the first victims of the new Grand Inquisitor.

Carlo card. Caffarra

Archbishop emeritus of Bologna