Cardinal Francis George Anticipates Persecution of Christians

Cardinal George warns Catholic hospitals will close in two years.

If the proposed HHS mandate is implemented, Cardinal Francis George of the Chicago archdiocese warns all Catholic hospitals in the United States will close within two years.

The cardinal further stated in a CatholicNewWorld column that this subtle act of “the State [is] making itself into a church” is “a form of theft” from the Catholic Church, which is being “despoiled of her institutions”.

The situation of despoiling the Church is remarkably similar to Henry VIII’s actions taken against England’s ecclesiastical communities (who also had charge of the country’s health care facilities) under the guise of “Church reform”. His Eminence though used a closer example, comparing the implication of the proposed HHS policies to the Soviet Union’s restrictions on the practice of religion:

Freedom of worship was guaranteed in the Constitution of the former Soviet Union. You could go to church, if you could find one. The church, however, could do nothing except conduct religious rites in places of worship—no schools, religious publications, health care institutions, organized charity, ministry for justice and the works of mercy that flow naturally from a living faith. All of these were co-opted by the government. We fought a long Cold War to defeat that vision of society.

The conclusion of another report by LifeSiteNews offered this dire prediction:

Because of increasing state intrusion into Christian affairs, he [Cardinal George] forecast in 2010, “I expect to die in bed. My successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.”