LEPANTO Institute
 
“Carthago delenda est!” The Roman statesman, Cato the Elder used to end all his political speeches with this phrase, even if his speech had nothing to do with Carthage.  The phrase means, “Carthage must be destroyed.”

Three times, Rome faced down its mortal enemy in the ancient civilization of Carthage.  The First Punic War lasted 23 long years, running from 264-241 BC.  The Second Punic War was 17 years, from 218-201 BC.  The Third Punic War took only three years, 149-146 BC.  The beginning of the war was primarily over trade and dominance of the Mediterranean.  But as the Romans got to know their enemy, they also came to realize that what was truly at the heart of their conflict were two completely incompatible ways of life.

The Romans, despite their pagan brutality in some areas, focused on the importance of and centrality of the family and never practiced human sacrifice.  The Carthaginians, however, focused on wealth, luxury, pleasure, and most certainly practiced child sacrifice.  Carthage was the center of the world at the time of the conflict with Rome.  It was the wealthiest and most impressive city-state in the world, and it truly had no equal.  But its religious practices, which were the last vestiges of the Canaanite religion, were all about the destruction of children.  Plutarch, in the 13 ^th chapter of his book, “De Superstitione” described the sacrifices like this:

“with full knowledge and understanding  they themselves offered up their own children, and those who had no children would buy little ones from poor people and  cut their throats as if they were so many lambs or young birds; meanwhile  the mother stood by without a tear or moan; but should she utter a single moan or let fall a single tear, she had to forfeit the money, and her child was sacrificed nevertheless;  and the whole area before the statue was filled with a loud noise of flutes and drums took the cries of wailing should not reach the ears of the people.”

Last week, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of the most luxurious, wealthiest, and pleasure-seeking state in the United States, signed into law a draconian bill that permits abortion to be performed for any reason up until moments before birth.  The new law even allows non-doctors to perform abortions. As bloodthirsty and evil as the Carthaginians were, they pale in comparison to what Gov. Cuomo has started.

Following Cuomo’s Law are similar bills that were introduced in New Mexico, Virginia and Vermont. 

In Virginia, for instance, State Delegate Kathy Tran admitted that her abortion bill would allow the performance of an abortion while a mother was in active labor.  Virginia Governor Ralph Northam doubled down on Tran’s shocking admission by suggesting that he even supported infanticide after a baby was born alive.

After 100 years of horrible and bloody wars, Cato the Elder had had enough and understood that there was only one solution, which was that Carthage had to be destroyed.

For the past 100 years, the Catholic Church has been locked in an epochal war with the Culture of Death, and it is time for faithful Catholics to say, “We’ve had enough!”  It’s time for us to declare that Carthage must be destroyed … and we have the weapon to do it with. 

Our Lady gave us the most powerful weapon known to man in the Holy Rosary. 

It’s time we wielded this weapon as the implement of war that it truly is!  It’s time that we rose like the army we are called to be.  It’s time that we stopped waiting for our bishops to fix a problem that is largely of their making.  And it’s time we went out into the field of battle and met the enemy face to face.

It’s time for our own Lepanto!

If we are to see true victory over the Culture of Death, it must begin by dropping the notion that this is a political fight and bore into our minds that this is a spiritual battle.  We must surround our legislative buildings as our forefathers surrounded the ancient Canaanites at Jericho.  Where they blew trumpets, we will cry out our Aves. Where they carried the Ark of the Covenant, we shall carry the banner of the Ark of the New Covenant, The Most Holy Virgin Mary.  And where they saw the walls fall to the ground, we shall witness Our Lady’s Immaculate Heel crushing the head of the ancient serpent.

And where Cato’s cry was, “Carthago Delenda Est,” ours will be “Christus Vincit, Christus Regniat, Christus Imperat!”