Sanctions as Secular Substitutes for Christ’s Kingdom
Catholic News Agency reports (December 10, 2025) that U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing sanctions against Nigeria for alleged Christian persecution, as announced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-New Jersey) at a summit organized by the nonprofit “For the Martyrs.” The article quotes Smith calling Nigeria “ground zero” for anti-Christian violence, while Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) and Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Indiana) praised Trump’s designation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern.” The piece frames religious persecution through geopolitical lenses, celebrating state intervention while ignoring the Church’s supernatural mission.
Naturalism Masquerading as Religious Advocacy
The article’s central error lies in its reduction of spiritual warfare to political mechanisms. When Smith declares that “religious freedom will now be at the forefront of the U.S.-Nigeria bilateral relationship,” he substitutes the God-given duty of nations to submit to Christ the King (Pius XI, Quas Primas) with secular diplomacy. Nowhere does the text acknowledge Pius XI’s condemnation of states that “renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior” as the root cause of societal collapse.
Hawley’s theatrical quoting of Revelation (“They love not their lives, even unto death”) exemplifies modernist sentimentality. Sacrificium laudis (sacrifice of praise) becomes political theater when divorced from the Church’s true weapons: prayer, penance, and the propagation of Catholic social order. The article’s celebration of sanctions reveals a naturalistic mindset condemned by Pius IX: “The state is happy not by one means, and man by another; for the state is nothing else than a harmonious association of men” (Syllabus of Errors, §30).
Omission of Nigeria’s True Crisis: Conciliar Betrayal
Silence envelops the conciliar sect’s complicity in Nigeria’s chaos. The article fails to note that Nigerian “bishops” promote interfaith dialogues with Muslim leaders while their flocks suffer jihadist attacks—a direct fruit of Vatican II’s false ecumenism condemned in Lamentabili sane (1907). When Smith references China’s persecution, he ignores how Bergoglio’s 2018 accord with Beijing betrayed underground Catholics.
The text’s reference to “Pope” Leo XIV appointing a Nigerian priest to the Secretariat of State exemplifies the conciliar sect’s clericalism. True Catholic governance demands bishops who publicly denounce heresy, not bureaucrats collaborating with communist persecutors. As Pius X warned: “The enemies of the Church are no longer outside the Church; they are within” (Encyclical Pascendi).
False Martyrology and Neglect of Supernatural Remedies
Stutzman’s question—”What is the threat of Christians in Nigeria to the government?”—betrays Protestant individualism. The true threat is Christ’s Social Kingship, which demands states abolish false religions (Canon 1374). Neither Trump nor the quoted congressmen call for Nigeria’s conversion to Catholicism—the only lasting solution.
Hawley’s romanticized martyrdom narrative omits the sine qua non of true witness: membership in the Catholic Church (extra Ecclesiam nulla salus). By lumping all “Christians” together, the article implies parity between Catholic truth and Protestant errors—a relativism Pius XII condemned in Humani Generis.
The nonprofit “For the Martyrs” operates within the conciliar sect’s paradigm, reducing persecution relief to activism while ignoring the need for exorcism of modernist influences. No speaker mentions the Rosary, Eucharistic adoration, or the Immaculata’s role in crushing heresies—the very remedies Our Lady of Fatima (rightly rejected as a Masonic deception per FILE: False Fatima Apparitions) purportedly offered.
Source:
Trump to create sanctions plan for Nigeria, congressman says (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 10.12.2025