EWTN News reports on the testimony of Kian Tajbakhsh, a geopolitical expert and former political prisoner in Iran, who described the brutal reality of life under the Islamic Republic, where “religious freedom does not exist.” Tajbakhsh estimated that only 10-15% of the population supports the current regime, while the majority either fears repression or actively opposes the government. His account reveals a systematic denial of civil rights, including access to lawyers and fair judicial processes, with political prisoners subjected to prolonged solitary confinement and harsh interrogation. Tajbakhsh expressed hope for a future Iran characterized by “political, social, and religious freedom,” a vision starkly at odds with the integral Catholic understanding of the proper ordering of society under Christ the King.
The Illusion of “Religious Freedom” in a Secularist Framework
Tajbakhsh’s concluding hope for “political, social, and religious freedom” in Iran, while understandable given his personal suffering, inadvertently echoes the very errors condemned by the Catholic Church. His vision of a “free, liberal, secular, and Westernized government” that “respects all religious values” is a direct reflection of the modernist and liberalist errors anathematized by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors. Specifically, Proposition 77 states: “In the present day it is no longer expedient that the Catholic religion should be held as the only religion of the State, to the exclusion of all other forms of worship.” This proposition, along with others promoting religious indifferentism and the separation of Church and State, was unequivocally condemned as contrary to Catholic doctrine.
The Catholic Church has always taught that the state has a duty to recognize and promote the true religion, as articulated by Pope Leo XIII in Immortale Dei: “The Almighty, therefore, has given the charge of the human race to two powers, the ecclesiastical and the civil, the one being set over divine, and the other over human, each supreme in its own kind, and each fixed within limits which are defined by its proper nature and special object.” The notion of a “secular” state that treats all religions as equally valid is a direct assault on the Kingship of Christ and the Church’s divinely appointed mission. As Pope Pius XI declared in Quas Primas, “The Kingdom of our Redeemer encompasses all men… His reign, namely, extends not only to Catholic nations or to those who, by receiving baptism according to law, belong to the Church, even though their erroneous opinions have led them astray or discord has separated them from love, but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” Tajbakhsh’s aspiration for a “secular” Iran is thus a capitulation to the very errors that have led to the spiritual and moral decay of Western nations.
The Brutality of Iran’s Regime: A Consequence of Rejecting Christ the King
Tajbakhsh’s harrowing account of his imprisonment — solitary confinement in a cell “barely 6 feet across,” denial of access to lawyers, and brutal interrogation — is a stark reminder of the consequences of a state that rejects the divine law. While the Islamic Republic’s persecution of political dissidents is abhorrent, it is a natural outcome of a system that does not recognize the sovereignty of Christ the King and the inherent dignity of the human person as understood by Catholic teaching. The regime’s imposition of Islam as the state religion, while persecuting those who dissent, is a perversion of the proper relationship between Church and State.
The Catholic Church, in contrast, teaches that the state must recognize the true religion and protect the rights of the Church, as stated by Pope Pius IX in Etsi Multa: “The Church is a true and perfect society, entirely free, and endowed with proper and perpetual rights of her own, conferred upon her by her Divine Founder.” The absence of such recognition in Iran leads to the very tyranny Tajbakhsh describes. However, the solution is not a “secular” state that relegates religion to the private sphere, but a state that embraces the Catholic faith and orders its laws according to divine revelation. As Pope Leo XIII wrote in Libertas, “The best parent of public liberty is the Church, because she teaches that the source of all authority is God, and that the ruler is bound to obey the divine law.”
The Silence on the True Source of Freedom
Notably absent from Tajbakhsh’s testimony is any mention of the Catholic Church as the true source of freedom and justice. His hope for a “freer, more liberal, and democratic government” reflects the naturalistic and rationalist errors condemned by the Syllabus of Errors, particularly Proposition 3: “Human reason, without any reference whatsoever to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, and of good and evil; it is law to itself, and suffices, by its natural force, to secure the welfare of men and of nations.” This proposition, along with others promoting the autonomy of human reason from divine revelation, was condemned as a denial of the need for religion in public life.
The Catholic Church has always taught that true freedom is found only in submission to the divine law. As Our Lord Himself said, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32). The modernist notion of “religious freedom” as the right to choose one’s religion or no religion at all is a direct contradiction of this teaching. Pope Pius IX condemned this error in Quanta Curi, stating: “The liberty of conscience and of worship is the proper right of every man, and this right ought to be proclaimed in every rightly constituted society; and the right to this liberty is truly a natural right, which the state must protect.”
Tajbakhsh’s vision for Iran, while born of genuine suffering, is ultimately a call for the very errors that have led to the spiritual and moral decay of Western nations. The solution to Iran’s tyranny is not a “secular” state that treats all religions as equal, but a state that recognizes the Catholic Church as the one true Church and orders its laws according to divine revelation. Only then can true freedom and justice be achieved.
The Complicity of the Post-Conciliar Church
The article’s source, EWTN News, is part of the post-conciliar structures that have systematically promoted the very errors condemned by the pre-conciliar Magisterium. The network’s coverage of Iran, while highlighting the persecution of political dissidents, fails to condemn the modernist errors that have led to the spiritual and moral decay of Western nations. Instead, it promotes a vision of “religious freedom” that is indistinguishable from the liberalist errors anathematized by Pope Pius IX.
This is symptomatic of the broader apostasy within the post-conciliar Church, which has abandoned the integral Catholic faith in favor of a naturalistic and humanistic approach to social issues. The conciliar sect’s promotion of “dialogue” and “ecumenism” with non-Catholic religions, including Islam, is a direct betrayal of the Church’s mission to convert all nations to Christ. As Pope Pius XI declared in Mortalium Animos, “The union of Christians can only be promoted by promoting the return to the one true Church of Christ of those who are separated from it, for in the past they have unhappily left it.”
The post-conciliar Church’s failure to condemn the errors of liberalism and secularism, and its promotion of a false “religious freedom,” has contributed to the very conditions that allow regimes like Iran to persecute their people. By abandoning the integral Catholic faith, the conciliar sect has lost its prophetic voice and its ability to offer true solutions to the world’s problems. The testimony of Kian Tajbakhsh, while highlighting the suffering of the Iranian people, also serves as a reminder of the urgent need for a return to the unchanging teachings of the Catholic Church.
Source:
Former political prisoner shares what life is like in Iran (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 05.05.2026