5. Since Communism is so anti-natural, its ex­istence is necessarily ephemeral. Thus, the Church could accept a "modus vivendi" with it, only for a time, until it falls from rottenness, or at least attenuates itself.

To this, various answers can be given:

a) This "ephemeral" character is, to say the least, very relative. For more than half a century Com­munism has been dominant in Russia. Except God, who knows the future, who can say with certainty when Communism will fall?

b) By the very fact of attenuating itself, such a regime would become milder and would, as a con­sequence, prolong itself, since it would be less anti­-natural. This attenuation then would not be a march toward ruin but a factor of stability.

c) There are regimes which are profoundly con­trary to the fundamental demands of human nature but which subsist by themselves indefinitely. Such is the case with the barbarism of certain aboriginal peo­ples of America or Africa, which lasted for centuries, and which would have lasted still longer by their intrinsic vitality if extrinsic factors had not elinii­nated them. And even so, how costly is this process of replacing an anti-natural order by another one which is more natural!