There are still many wonderful priests, sisters, and bishops in the Catholic Church, sharing the real Gospel of Christ.  They are frequently clobbered for doing so.

Father Daniel Maloney was run out of Boston last week by his archbishop for making eminently sensible comments about the George Floyd case and the wicked race violence that has sprouted from it. 

Last week, we also learned from a whistleblower it is likely Red China is paying off the Vatican to keep quiet about its human rights abuses.  This comes as no big surprise.  Brave Chinese Christians, especially the underground Catholic Church there, have long been telling what's really going on there, to little interest in the MSM.

After all, the Chicoms have paid off the NBA and shoe companies forever, and they added the Biden/Kerry clan during the Obama years.  So bribing Francis's Vatican looks like another smart investment in the Western left elite.  For them, anyway.

Compare this to Mr. Putin in Russia.  He has long had Germany's Social Democrats and their old leader, Gerhard Schroeder, in his back pocket.  But he must have passed up bribe offers from Obama, Pelosi, and the gang at some point, hence their recent hostility.  Only the wily Clintons seem to have ever gotten big money out of Putin's Russia.

The Chicoms have money to burn and a nose for a good buying opportunity.  The Catholic Church and its infamous Lavender Mafia more than fit this bill.  Those of us still faithful Catholics, we know well not to give money indiscriminately to the Church.  We give only to orders like the Little Sisters of the Poor.  Or priests and bishops who have shown they will follow Church teaching.

That's put the progressive crowd in a pinch. The lavender bishop in Chicago is even reduced to dipping  into the cemetery fund to keep his diocese open.  This also impacts the Vatican.  Most of Rome's money has always come from just two places: Germany and the United States.  The dioceses there are far and away the wealthiest in the world and could always find some cash, especially for a beloved pope like Pius XII or John Paul II.  Now there's no money to spare in either place, and Rome is pretty much on its own.  With funds drying up, the Vatican is reduced to taking from the poor box — that is, Peter's Pence, the collection for the Vatican's relief activities.  None of this money is supposed to go to any other purpose, but under Francis, it is constantly raided.

So now the Vatican is apparently reduced to begging for scraps from Chairman's Xi's table.  It won't work out well.  Deals with the devil never do.  It's also why I remain optimistic about the Church.  As Fr. Longenecker has explained, progressive-left Catholicism never made any sense, and its adherents inside the Church are fading fast. 

When the next conclave of cardinals meets in a few years to choose Francis's successor, whatever these men may think about Francis' theology, the Church will be dead broke by then and will finally have no choice but to repent. 

Frank Friday is an attorney in Louisville, Ky.