A Letter from Benedict XVI to the Buddhists of Mt. Hiei
Here is a letter written by Benedict XVI to the Buddhists of Mt. Hiei on June 23, 2007. The site of Tecla's martyrdom lies almost literally in the shadow of this mountain in the heart of the City of Kyoto. The letter was written in the year prior to Benedict's travel to Nagasaki, Japan, for his "beatification" of the "188 Martyrs of Japan," which included Tecla and the Martyrs of Kyoto. One might therefore guess that such a letter was written to these Buddhists to invite them to the ceremony in a beautiful sign of reconciliation and conversion.
But alas, the letter makes no mention of Tecla and the 52 + 1 Martyrs of Kyoto at the Foot of Mt. Hiei, but, rather, congratulates these same Buddhists of Mt. Hiei on the Twentieth Anniversary of the "Religious Summit Meeting" on Mt. Hiei, which had been an outgrowth of JP II's own "Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi"* with various pagan religions on October 27, 1986.
This letter's submissive, obsequious tone (which is all part of the "ecumenism" and "interreligious dialogue" of Vatican II) helps us understand much better why the
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Modern Vatican might have wanted to bury Tecla's martyrdom, and the sacrifice of all 52 + 1 Martyrs of Kyoto, beneath that of various other martyrs (of course great in themselves). Promotion of such a sacred site as Tecla's martyrdom would be a great embarrassment to Buddhists since it was their co-religionists who killed Tecla and her family (not that the Buddhists of Mt. Hiei had anything to do with her martyrdom--they were apparently under interdict by the Shogun at the time), so instead of drawing attention to her site as sacred, the "pope" pulls a switcheroo and calls Mt. Hiei "sacred" instead (and its leader as "venerable")!
Ironically, this letter, with its complete denial of and/or silence about the sacred martyrdom that took place in the shadow of "sacred" Mt. Hiei, was written in the exact middle (timewise) of the two "pastoral" letters on the same martyrdom by "Bishop" Paul Yoshinao (these two letters published on January 1 of 2007 and 2008 respectively, with the "pope's" letter written in June of 2007).
It is as if there is a concerted effort from the Vatican down to the archdiocese of Kyoto to cover up, downplay, ignore, or be silent about: 1) Tecla Hashimoto, who is arguably the most extraordinary martyr in Catholic history (due to her unique pregnancy among various other aspects of her martyrdom); 2) the child in her womb, which is arguably the most poignant incident of martyrdom in history (because unborn); and 3) the 52 + 1 Martyrs of Kyoto, arguably the most extraordinary mass martyrdom in history, not only because of Tecla's presence with her family and unborn child, but because it is one of the largest, if not the largest, exclusively lay martyrdoms in history; in order to appease Buddhist sensibilities in the world captial of Buddhism (which is Kyoto).
I have in fact been told by a member of the modern church hierarchy in Japan that the only reason there is nothing more than a small memorial stone hidden in bushes at the site of Tecla's martyrdom is because the local Buddhist authorities who are in charge of such things wouldn't allow anything larger. This is to be expected, but is papal and episcopal acquiescence to such unjust requirements to be expected as well?
It goes without saying, but it is very ironic that the supposed head of the Church Tecla died for in order not to become Buddhist is writing congratulatory letters to those who have kept the Buddhist faith throughout the centuries on the mountain she died at the foot of; especially considering that that same supposed head would be supposedly "beatifying" Tecla and the 52 + 1 Martyrs of Kyoto in the following year! Is this yet another sign of the the Apocalypse?
* The link provided unequivocally describes JPII as an "antipope." While we at teclahashimoto.com do not unequivocally take that stand, we also question if JPII (along with all the other "popes" since Pius XII's death in 1958,)can truly be a pope considering all the points mentioned therein.