Several Catholic bishops criticize the corona measures and resort to widespread conspiracy theories. You see the “prelude to a world government”. The German Bishops’ Conference is harshly criticized.
Several Catholic bishops, including Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, see the measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic as a world conspiracy aimed at permanently restricting personal freedoms. In a call published in several languages, they warn of the “prelude to the creation of a world government that is beyond control”, using a currently widespread conspiracy theory.
There is reason to believe that “there are forces who are interested in causing panic among the population,” the good three-page letter said. The signatories also express “doubts about the actual risk of infection” of the coronavirus.
The call is an initiative of the former Pontifical Ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, and was signed by Cardinal Müller, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun from Hong Kong and other Catholic clergymen, doctors, journalists and lawyers. The Prefect of the Congregation for Services, Cardinal Robert Sarah, said on Twitter that he shared the “concerns” of the appeal that it expressed. But he did not sign it.
Vigano is one of the harshest critics of Pope Francis. He accused the head of the church of dealing with abuse cases in the United States last year of the “obvious lie”. Sarah and Müller had already criticized bans on worship in the fight against the corona virus in the past few days as an inappropriate interference with religious freedom.
German Bishops’ Conference distances itself
The letter met with clear criticism – also within the Catholic Church. The chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, explained to this tagesschau.de:
“The German Bishops ‘Conference generally does not comment on calls from individual bishops outside Germany. However, I would add that the assessment of the corona pandemic by the German Bishops’ Conference differs fundamentally from the call published yesterday.”
Everyone who signed the call exposes himself, wrote the Vicar General of the Diocese of Essen, Klaus Pfeffer, on Facebook. He was “simply stunned by what is being spread in the name of Church and Christianity: crude conspiracy theories without facts and evidence, combined with right-wing populist battle rhetoric that sounds scary.”
“This has to be contradicted! Jesus Christ, to whom the signatories refer, has such confused theses that stir up fears, pursue black-and-white thinking, draw evil images of enemies and poison the coexistence in our societies,” says so Pepper on.
Warning of “information fight”
Politicians have been dealing with the spread of conspiracy theories around the corona virus for a long time. The chairman of the conference of interior ministers, Thuringia’s interior minister Georg Maier, said to the “Spiegel”: “The idea that the pandemic was deliberately brought about to control the people and that Bill Gates or other supposedly dark powers are behind it reaches far into the middle of society “. This protest threatens to tip “into anti-Semitic”.
Maier is also concerned about demonstrations on the streets. “When people criticize it is of course okay,” said Maier: “What alarms us is the attempt by extremists to hijack the protests.” The SPD politician therefore wants to put the topic on the agenda of the next Interior Ministers’ conference.
Markus Kerber, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, spoke of a “worldwide information fight” about Corona. The ministry first noticed an increase in disinformation and propaganda from abroad. Meanwhile, conspiracy theories were also spreading domestically, Kerber said: “We have to take action against this, with facts, transparency and a defense of science.”
