2. Roman and Apostolic Catholics

The TFP is a civic, not a religious organization. However, the directors, members and militants of the TFP are Roman Apostolic Catholics. Conse­quently, in all of the campaigns under­taken by the TFP for the good of the country, the inspiration which keeps them in motion is Catholic.

The fundamentally anti‑Communist position of the TFP is a result of the Catholic convictions of those who form it. The directors, members, and mili­tants of the TFP are anti‑Communists, because they are Catholics acting in the name of Catholic principles.

The Vatican policy of distention to­ward the Communist governments cre­ates a situation which affects anti-­Communist Catholics deeply, but much less, however, as anti‑Communists than as Catholics. For at any moment a su­premely embarrassing objection may be put to them: Does not their anti-­Communist action lead to a result that is precisely opposed to the one intended by the Vicar of Christ? And how can one consider a Catholic to be consist­ent if he moves in an opposite direc­tion from the Pastor of Pastors? This question leads all anti‑Communist Catholics to a consideration of these alternatives: To cease the struggle? Or to explain their position?

To cease the fight, we cannot. And we cannot cease it because of a de­mand of our conscience as Catholics. For if it is a duty of every Catholic to promote good and fight evil, our conscience imposes on us the respon­sibility of propagating the traditional doctrine of the Church, and of fight­ing Communist doctrine.

Everywhere in the contemporary world the words "liberty of consci­ence" resound. They are pronounced throughout the Occident and even inside the dungeons of Russia . . . or of Cuba. Many times this expression, as it is so frequently used, acquires even abusive meanings. But of what there is in it of the more legitimate and sacred, it affirms the right of a Catholic to act in the religious and in the civic life, according to the dictates of his conscience.

If we could not act in consonance with the documents of the great Pon­tiffs who enlightened Christendom with their doctrine, we would feel more enchained within the Church than Solzhenitsyn was in Soviet Russia.

The Church is not, the Church never was, the Church never will be such a prison for consciences. The bond of obedience to the successor of Peter, which we will never break, which we love in the depth of our soul, to which we give the best of our love, this bond we kiss at the very moment in which triturated by sorrow we affirm our position. And kneeling, gazing with veneration at the figure of His Holi­ness Paul VI, we express to him our fidelity.

In this filial act we say to the Pas­tor of Pastors: Our soul is yours, our life is yours. Order us to do whatever you wish. Only do not order us to stay idle in face of the assailing red wolf. To this, our conscience is opposed.