POPE FRANCIS SPEAKS OUT…A LOT!:
- “IF TRUMP RESCINDS DACA, HE’S NOT PRO-LIFE”
- “CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS ARE ‘STUPID, STUBBORN PEOPLE’
- “DONALD TRUMP IS NOT A CHRISTIAN IF HE BELIEVES IN ‘BUILDING WALLS’ TO KEEP ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS OUT”
BUT, AS IL PAPA HIMSELF, IN ALL HIS SELF-PROCLAIMED ‘HUMBLENESS’ HAS SAID:
- “WHO AM I TO JUDGE?” (at least on the subject of gays…)
——–excerpts from various accounts of Pope Francis many expressed opinions——-
Aboard the papal plane (CNN)If US President Donald Trump considers himself “pro-life,” he should reconsider his decision to end a program that allows the children of undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States, Pope Francis said.
“The President of the United States presents himself as pro-life and if he is a good pro-lifer, he understands that family is the cradle of life and its unity must be protected,” Francis said.
The Pope’s comments came during a news conference Sunday aboard the papal plane, as he returned to the Vatican after a five-day trip to Colombia. In the wide-ranging Q&A with reporters, the Pope also said history will harshly judge deniers of climate change.
The Pope acknowledged that he was not familiar with the specifics of DACA. “I think this law comes not from parliament but from the executive,” the Pope said. “If that is so, I am hopeful that it will be re-thought.”
Trump and the Pope have tussled over immigration before, with the Pope saying last year that anyone who thinks only of building walls instead of bridges is “not Christian.”
Trump fired back, saying that no religious leader should question another man’s faith.
The US Catholic bishops have also battled a former Trump administration official on DACA in recent days.
Steve Bannon, who until recently was Trump’s chief strategist, accused the bishops of having an ulterior motive in advocating for families affected by the decision to revoke DACA. They have called the decision “heartless” and “reprehensible.”
Bannon said the bishops “need illegal aliens to fill the churches,” a charge the bishops called “preposterous” and “insulting.”
——–excerpt——-
History will judge climate change deniers
As the papal plane prepared to cross over Hurricane Irma’s path on its way back to Rome from Cartagena, Francis issued a stern warning to climate change deniers.
“If we don’t go back, we will go down,” the Pope said, referring to a study which suggested the world must reverse course within the next few years or suffer dire consequences.
Francis said he was particularly struck by news last week of a Russian boat that managed to go through the North Pole without an icebreaker.
“Whoever denies it has to go to the scientists and ask them,” he said. “They speak very clearly, scientists are precise.”
“Then they decide and history will judge those decisions.”
When asked why some governments refused to see the importance of the issue, Francis quoted the book of Psalms in the Old Testament.
“Man is a stupid and hard-headed being,” he said
——–excerpt——-
North Korea / Columbia
Francis said he did not fully understand the crisis in North Korea. “I’ll tell you the truth, I don’t really understand the world of geopolitics,” he said. “I think what I see there is a fight for political interests.”
Ed Note: “Political interests”, seriously, threats to incinerate freedom loving people are reduced to “political interests”. The mans ignorance of “geopolitics” not to mention geomorality knows no bounds.
Francis’ message throughout his five-day visit to Colombia had been one of forgiveness and reconciliation. It is a hard message for many Colombians, who still have the trauma of kidnappings and killings fresh in their minds, but one which seems to have already had an important effect.
The leader of the guerrilla group FARC, Rodrigo Londono, asked forgiveness on Friday for the suffering his group caused to the Colombian people, in an open letter to Pope Francis.
“Your repeated expressions about God’s infinite mercy move me to plead your forgiveness for any tears and pain that we have caused the people of Colombia,” Londono wrote.
Ed Note: OK fine, what about the other side
——–excerpt——-
Border protection
——–(CNN)Thrusting himself into the combative 2016 presidential campaign, Pope Francis said Thursday that GOP front-runner Donald Trump “is not Christian” if he calls for the deportation of undocumented immigrants and pledges to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.
The Pope, who was traveling back to Rome from Mexico, where he urged the United States to address the “humanitarian crisis” on its southern border, did not tell American Catholics not to vote for Trump.
But Francis left little doubt where he stood on the polarizing issue of immigration reform.
“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not the gospel,” the Pope told journalists who asked his opinion on Trump’s proposals to halt illegal immigration.
Ed Note: Then tear down the Vatican walls, . . . what’s that you say . . . no because of great historical significance . . . you mean like repelling Muslim invaders . . . wall for me, not for thee.
——–excerpt——-
Climate change doubters
Pope Francis on Monday slammed climate change doubters as “stupid” in the wake of a spate of hurricanes that have thrashed the US, Mexico and the Caribbean.
“Those who deny it (climate change) should go to the scientists and ask them. They are very clear, very precise,” the pontiff said Monday during a press conference on the return leg of a five-day Colombia trip.
“A phrase from the Old Testament comes to mind: ‘man is stupid, a stubborn, blind man’,” he added.
Francis said individuals and politicians had a “moral responsibility” to act on advice from scientists, who had clearly outlined what must be done to halt the course of global warming.
“These aren’t opinions pulled out of thin air. They are very clear,” he said.
“They (world leaders) decide and history will judge those decisions,” he added
Ed note: In all of this , does it not strike objective people as the Pope being one: a person who, while preaching the significance of an issue, has not attempted to read the objective evidence countering the matter, and two: a person enamored with the managed society, scientific materialism and dialectic i.e. Marxism, which by the way he does not object to being called. See also here and here The only apparent wrong with Marxism by the Pope’s lights seems to be that it fails to recognize Jesus as the first Marxist, or something.
“When I meet a gay person, I have to distinguish between their being gay and being part of a lobby. If they accept the Lord and have goodwill, who am I to judge them? They shouldn’t be marginalized. The tendency (to homosexuality) is not the problem … they’re our brothers.”
The problem, he said was, lobbies that work against the interest of the church.
In 2005, during the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican issued directives barring from the priesthood men “who are actively homosexual, have deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called ‘gay culture.'”
Francis’ brief remarks seem to signal a sharp shift from that policy.
DLH with R Mall
