February 18, 2021

Dear Professor,

I apologize for choosing the path of an open letter, but led by the fact that you also responded to me with a public statement, I resort to also publicly answering you in the matter of the sermon of February 6, 2021 in the Cathedral of St. Vitus.

I do not know if you listened to my entire sermon, which did not primarily address the issue of coronavirus. If I talked about it, a well-known preaching figure was used, where preaching is also somehow a literary form: it is the use of hyperbole, an exaggeration that should stir and increase the listener's attention.

The content of my sermon was a theme that goes into the inner life of the church, the topic of strengthening the position of aid. Attitudes are made available to people who suffer and are plagued by existential fears or fear of death. To give you an example, Pope Francis uses this exaggeration when, for example, he speaks of the ideology of gender, such as a nuclear catastrophe or abortion, which he calls a form of appointed murder. The audience knows that this is not a legal or factual designation of the phenomena. Such a hyperbole should, among other things, lead the listener to reflection and deeper knowledge or thinking. That was also my goal. If I have used the term “biological Chinese bomb”, this exaggeration must be understood in a similar way to the case of Pope Francis above. I claim that I had the opportunity to talk to experts who have considered this hypothetical idea of the unintentional leakage of a substance possible for the manufacture of a weapon. Would you be prepared to take responsibility and provide evidence that this eventual statement of mine cannot be true?

A biological weapon does not primarily kill. It can paralyse the enemy fighting units and paralyse the civilian population when taken in. As a result, economic and social life will be disrupted. This is causes a political upheaval. We can also slowly observe that around us. I do not pass on the views of experts that this is a targeted weapon – but it could have been an unfortunate mistake. In order to maintain peace in the world, great attention needs to be paid to the production of not only nuclear weapons, which are talked about extensively, but also to the biological weapons. Unfortunately, these are the possible future of war. Here, I consider it my duty to recall my membership of the Pontifical Commission Iustitia et Pax, which is part of the Papal Office for Integral Human Development. The existence of COVID – 19 was kept secret in the People 's Republic of China, and its announcement was accompanied by the persecution of doctors in the same nation who themselves warned that China was downplaying the problem.

Preaching is a specific form of communication. It is part of the religious expression, that is, religious freedom, which is one of the core, fundamental human rights. It is also a literary form and I believe that I have the same rights to use metaphorical expression as the theatre in Brno, which according to the decision of the courts, did not insult Christ, but only hyperbolically expressed a certain position.

As a member of the Cardinal Congregation, and a bishop who also maintains collegiality, I have recently responded to statements by federations of Asian and Australian Episcopal Conferences condemning the PRC's actions, as well as the laxity of the WHO and the UN. It amazes me that the majority of the mainstream media does not react to such texts and they are not interested in my positions. My mission is not to spread fake news and alarming news, as you think. I would like to point out that my father, a soldier on the Western Front, was imprisoned for talking about indications of the imprisonment and liquidation of participants in the Communist foreign resistance. Yes, at that time he spread “fake news” in the words of the Communist Party. Today, we know he was telling the truth.

Let us not forget that human rights are not fully respected in the PRC. Above all, religious and political freedom is severely curtailed. Bishops and priests, as well as believers of the Catholic Church and other Christian churches, as well as other religious groups, are imprisoned and subjected to repression in the PRC. We can observe rapid restrictions on freedoms and non-compliance with the agreements in Hong Kong. My support for Cardinal Zen during his visit to Prague again went completely unnoticed. In such situation, I am obliged to follow my conscience and not keep silent about possible contingencies.

It amazes me how we have lost in our country a sense of solidarity with those who are exposed to the totalitarian pressure. In both Africa and Asia, millions of people are being persecuted and murdered for their personal faith. The virus is delaying the solution to these problems, with tens of thousands of people dying not from the virus, but from core indifference.
My stated suspicion is indeed hypothetical, and therefore now difficult to prove, but I would like to draw attention to the published WHO report, when I quote [1]:

1) "The virus was already circulating widely in December (2019) in Wuhan, a new finding," Danish scientist Peter Ben Embarek, WHO team leader, told CNN.
2) Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist who also participated in the investigation, told NPR that the market is "not the whole story" and that the virus has spread beyond it.
3) German scientist Fabian Leendertz stated that the team agreed to include the theory in its hypotheses of "respect" for Chinese colleagues, although he himself considered the idea to be "a very unlikely scenario ’.
4) The WHO has not ruled out the possibility advocated by former US President Donald Trump that the coronavirus escaped from a Chinese laboratory. However, Embarek called it "highly unlikely."
5) The US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the report must not be affected by "adjustments by the Chinese government."
6) The current administration of Joe Biden expresses dissatisfaction with the WHO report and calls for a new in-depth investigation, according to the Chinese side.
I appreciate this WHO report for its commitment to objectivity!

To the statement of the Embassy of the PRC, I would like to add that during the visit of the President of the PRC, I personally submitted a letter in which I noted certain improvements that have taken place in recent years in the PRC. However, I also recalled a certain deterioration in the situation in the PRC with regard to human rights and religious freedoms. The letter that I personally handed over to the President was taken over and accepted, and the President personally promised me an answer through the embassy – which actually never came. After the mentioned deadlines, I published this letter on the website, and again without the interest of our media.

My words spoken of the homily were intended for religious people and are neither a political statement nor a professional or scientific discussion. They should lead to reflection. As a member of the Roman Congregation for Religion, I cannot fail to recall the fate of nuns in the PRC. My words are to be a challenge to the path of redress, so that even the great Chinese nation can live in full freedom, both spiritual and social, and can speak freely like you. Because freedom of speech is as important as religion freedom.
Regards,

Cardinal Dominik Duka
Archbishop of Prague and Primate of Bohemia

P.S.: It is also important and worth considering why the United Kingdom is not protesting against the British mutation, Africa is also not protesting against the African mutation, Brazil is not protesting against the called Brazilian mutation - but China is opposing the Chinese virus denomination...