"The deadliest opponent of the Catholic Church, until yesterday, was Communism. Today, the power elite of this same Communist system have become her allies. What has prompted the Catholic Church to align herself with her former enemies? The answer to that question is to be found in the logic of events. It lies in the Church's realistic assessment that capitalism is doomed; that democracy has failed; that traditional Western culture is disintegrating; and that the West's ability to defend itself is being eroded on all fronts. That erosion, which the Vatican views as a threat to the Church's survival, is taking place now, simultaneously, everywhere. It will be finalized by the end of the century when, in the Church's estimation, the void will be filled by Communism. Democracy will be replaced by authoritarianism; the preeminence of the West will be reduced by impotence; and the Christian-inspired, Euro-American civilization will have been vitiated by Eastern and African influences. For the Church, this is not a mere theoretical abstraction. It is, rather, the most portentous reality of the present, the most ominous prospect of the future...."