In Brief

• The Facts:

  Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, former head of the Vatican Supreme Court has shared his opinion that "evil" forces are using COVID to manipulate human consciousness and bring about a "Great Reset" that is not in the best interests of humanity.

• Reflect On:

  Why do we have such a hard time having appropriate discussions about controversial issues? Why are so many people completely unaware of why people don't feel the same way they do? Should we make an effort to look at evidence on both sides?

It wasn’t long ago when the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America, Carlo Maria Viganò, wrote a letter to Donald Trump mentioning the “deep state” and the manipulation of human consciousness. Although the idea of a deep state that exercises great power over multiple governments has been heavily ridiculed by mainstream media, countless amounts of politicians, academics and journalists have described and exposed it for decades. Take Theodore Roosevelt for example, he told the world that “Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today.”

There are many examples. If one dives deep into the power that various corporations exercise over government and policy, this idea of a “deep state” also becomes quite clear.

Vigango’s letter claimed that the COVID pandemic is a “colossal operation of social engineering.” He also penned another letter months later claiming that  “The Great Reset” will be used to “drastically limit human freedoms.” This is something we are seeing with COVID right now, according to many, all under the guise of goodwill supposedly to protect us.

Many doctors, scientists, journalists and citizens have also expressed the same sentiment. NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, for example, has raised concerns about the exact same thing, claiming that the pandemic is being used to take away more of our freedoms and to justify a heightened national security state and to “monitor us like never before.” It’s similar to what happened after 9/11, there are rights being taken away and laws being based that will remain in place, and have remained in place long after the event.

As authoritarianism spreads, as emergency laws proliferate, as we sacrifice our rights, we also sacrifice our capability to arrest the slide into a less liberal and less free world. Do you truly believe that when the first wave, this second wave, the 16th wave of the coronavirus is a long forgotten memory, that these capabilities will not be kept? – Snowden

But is all this talk just a “conspiracy theory?”

What Happened: Vigano has recently been joined by another Vatican ‘insider.’ His name is Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke. Burke is the founder of The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, former head of the Vatican Supreme Court and patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

According to Burke as he said during a Saturday homily, “Then there is the mysterious Wuhan virus about whose nature and prevention the mass media daily give us conflicting information. What is clear, however, is that it has been used by certain forces, inimical to families and to the freedom of nations, to advance their evil agenda. These forces tell us that we are now the subjects of the so-called ‘Great Reset,’ the ‘new normal,’ which is dictated to us by their manipulation of citizens and nations through ignorance and fear.”

He is referring to the manipulation of human consciousness, something we here at CE talk about quite a bit.

Burke has come under sharp criticism for his views many times, and if someone popular speaks up against “The Great Reset” or paints a picture of COVID that doesn’t match the narrative we constantly receive from mainstream media, their words usually remain unacknowledged and, if they get big enough and achieve some sort of virality, they’re usually labelled as a conspiracy theory or “fake news.”

Why This Is Important: The idea that COVID is being used to implement measures that are not at all necessary, and ultimately for ulterior motives under the guise of good will and the protection and safety of everybody, again, is a controversial topic. Today, society is failing to have conversations around these ideas and other controversial subjects. We are so polarized in what we believe that we have trouble entertaining another viewpoint that opposes it, no matter how much information and evidence is presented that contradicts what we believe in.

It doesn’t help that thousands of doctors and scientists are being censored for simply sharing information, data, and opinions that completely contradict the information we are receiving from our federal health regulatory agencies.

One thing I’m noticing now more than ever before in my experience as a journalist and researcher, and as a human in general, is that people are hungry for information that is deeper than what they are getting through the mainstream media. It feels as though people are beginning to recognize that there is a degree of corruption involved in our world and that politicians and traditional media outlets have been compromised in the process.

How can you weed through the confusion? What media can you trust? What is the truth? These are all big questions many are now having. We are also seeing a lack of trust in many professional or societal experts due to a felt sense that they have been compromised as well. By who? I guess it depends on the situation. In an attempt to get answers to these questions, people have been looking for alternative information or perspectives about many current events in an attempt to make sense of the world. – Joe Martino

I’m not sure what the solution is, but I do know that staying silent and not expressing ourselves is not an option. I’ve written in depth about the concerns that are being raised during this pandemic that have served as a catalyst for more people to start questioning the information we are receiving.

Over the last few months, I have seen academic articles and op-eds by professors retracted or labeled “fake news” by social media platforms. Often, no explanation is provided. I am concerned about this heavy-handedness and, at times, outright censorship. – Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH (source)

The Takeaway: Perspectives like this are often deemed as “conspiracy theories” by the mainstream, and many onlookers follow suit to this cultural explanation. But is this not worth discussing on a larger level? I recently wrote an article diving deep as to why such thoughts regarding The Great Rest and a “New World Order” are far from a conspiracy theory and are worthy of legitimate discussion: “COVID-19: A Precursor To A ‘New World Order?’ aka “The Great Reset.“

It feels as though it is time we must pull ourselves out of this adolescent, dismissive culture when it comes to these ideas, and begin looking at what they truly are.

My invitation here is, why are these topics not more widely discussed and critiqued? Why are they always deemed a conspiracy theory and constantly ridiculed? Sure, there may be aspects of the population that will agree with The Great Reset the way it is being presented, and it’s important to empathize with these individuals because we need to understand where they are coming from, and why they feel that way. But, it’s just as important for these people to empathize with the thoughts shared in this article, and the one linked above, to understand where another huge aspect of this population is coming from and why they feel more authoritarian control is not necessarily the incredible future humanity is capable of.

Only then can we start understanding one another and start having real discussions. This is far better than constantly being divided all the time. One thing is for certain, if we are constantly arguing with each other and believing those with opposing viewpoints are incapable of reasoning and examining evidence, we are not going to get anywhere. Nobody is stupid.

It doesn’t matter so much whether or not we agree that something like The Great Reset is planned conspiracy, it’s more important to deeply ask: is this the world we truly want to create? Is this what we are limited to creating, and if not, what holds us back? What power would we have if as a collective to come together and do something?

If we don’t want people who don’t truly represent us to have tremendous amounts of power, then we have to wake up and realize that it’s not them who has to change, it’s us.

If you’re feeling called to become a more effective change-maker in this critical time, consider becoming a member of CETV where this is the main focus of our conversations, original shows, and courses.