by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
The circumstances compel me to address, once again, the recent media campaign against the TFP.
However, before diving into this controversial subject, I want to treat myself by discussing a more pleasant topic and sharing it with the readers.
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What is a well-written letter? In my opinion, it is essentially one in which the author pours a part of his soul, allowing you to feel the strength of his logic, the rhythm of his heart, and even the tone of his voice, so to speak.
I feel logic and her heart beating in the letter below, sent to me by a nun. I respect her wish to remain anonymous:
In the Heart of Jesus, I ask for a much-needed gift for my beloved elderly women and children, with whom I work, and who need everything and everyone. We face many financial difficulties supporting them. I am always asking and begging my noble and charitable friends for gifts and help for my elderly people. Thank God, everyone gives me something. I received a subscription to Catolicismo, and we were very happy, as it is greatly appreciated by us eight sisters and everyone in our three houses.
The gift I humbly ask of you is a used car of any make and model because we need to pick up many goods from farms, ranches, and other supplies, and we have no transportation. I thought of asking you to make an appeal and help us obtain a used car. I don’t want a luxury vehicle. I am an older woman, over sixty, and have been working and struggling for 40 years among our dear brothers and sisters in Our Lord Jesus Christ with much love, peace, friendship, and charity.
I feel the beating of her heart and the tone of her voice in this other letter from a nun, whose name I will also keep in silence:
Our Lady is truly our Mother, Queen, and Advocate. She knows how to show kindness, which can only come from her tender and delicate Heart.
If possible, I would like to request something that aligns with the purpose of the [TFP] Society. Christmas is approaching, and it’s time for me to reach out to those who can help me provide something for my inmates’ Christmas. I prefer monetary help because I know exactly what I should buy for them.
I therefore ask you and the distinguished Society for a small contribution to help me. Any assistance, however small, will help me immensely. I will also reach out to other people.
Please let me know as soon as possible how much I can rely on your help to determine where I stand. We, the less fortunate, cannot wait until the last minute to assist those in need whom God has placed in our path.
You can always rely on the prayers and gratitude of your servant in Christ and Mary. Sincerely, etc.
In this letter from a nun, whose name I will not reveal, I can feel her heartbeat and tone of voice.
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Since we are all getting ready for Christmas, I wonder if any readers would like to add to the inner joy they will feel through prayer, their satisfaction in family celebrations, and their contentment in helping to bring joy to the Christmas of these nuns and their protégés in honor of the Child Jesus.
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That said, let’s jump into the fray.
In a previous article, I deliberately used the phrase “media uproar” to describe the wave of slander aimed at the TFP during its recent campaign.
In fact, they aimed to provoke an anti-TFP uproar intended to scare its members, volunteers, and supporters, diminish their enthusiasm, halt their momentum, and weaken their unity—truly a form of media terrorism.
As everyone observed, the impact of this sensational operation was minimal. However, analyzing this loud onslaught deserves a few minutes of our readers’ attention.
A proverb says that those who go out in the rain are bound to get wet. Nothing could be more obvious. Therefore, those who step outside their private sphere to pursue great ideals in broad daylight must be prepared to encounter contradictions, face misunderstandings, and face opposition. It is the rain…
Nevertheless, those exposed to this downpour should not consider it normal to be hit with falling stones or pocketknives. However, this was the nature of the “rain” that recently fell on the TFP, something entirely unusual in how several newspapers, television stations, and radio stations in our country operate.
While this phenomenon was most noticeable in Belo Horizonte, another of its features was visible almost everywhere.
I will mention three of these traits, or rather, three anomalies typical of the recent surge of hatred:
- Complete loss of objectivity. After a day of campaigning, our young people gathered to pray in a Belo Horizonte church located in a very busy area. Everyone in the city knows the Church of the Heart of Jesus is a Roman Catholic and Apostolic church. However, to make the TFP look bad to the city’s population, a local newspaper brazenly claimed that this is a Greek-Schismatic church, a falsehood widely circulated in the press elsewhere.
- Complete refusal to publish any TFP reply. No newspaper in Belo Horizonte printed TFP’s corrections and denials. Some papers elsewhere did the same. Others published tiny summaries of our corrections in secondary sections, even though they had run negative news about us the day before with bold headlines. Few outlets properly published our statements. All of this is also rare among us. Why did it reach such extremes with the TFP?
- Trumpeting news stories against us while silencing the truth that benefits us. Archbishop Geraldo Sigaud of Diamantina issued statements about the rift between him and the TFP during the campaign.
These statements were quoted, discussed, and publicly announced everywhere.
At the same time, Bishop Antônio de Castro Mayer of Campos wrote an excellent letter warmly supporting our campaign, which our press service widely distributed, but few newspapers published it. Once again, why did they do this to the TFP?
I have no idea, but both our readers and I know who benefits from all this: communism, which we oppose.
So, what is the connection between communism and this media campaign? How can non-communists so passionately associate themselves with it?
These are questions lacking data for now. History will reveal the answers.