Order of Pope V’PAC I medallion. GET YOURS TODAY!
- Francis’s award of Order of St Gregory to abortion proponent can only mean Trump is to be named next Cardinal of the Church
- News breaks the week of the March for Life in the U.S.
- Trump first US president to address marchers in real time
- Debasing the medal’s raison d’être debases the office awarding it
- Order of St Gregory now available in Vatican gift store, next to snow globes showing the Nativity
- Order of Pope V’PAC I to anyone sending us 500 simoleons, that’s s i m o l e o n s , not Somalis as that might be misinterpreted
Via Breitbart: (excerpts)
Pope Francis has conferred the title of “Commander of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great” on Lilianne Ploumen, a Dutch politician and vocal agitator for abortion rights.
Last year, Ploumen founded a pro-abortion organization called She Decides, which offers funding and support for international NGOs that provide, facilitate or campaign for abortion.
In an email to the Catholic Herald, Ms. Ploumen said that she was “very honoured” by the pontifical medal, which was sent via the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs last month.
In an interview with Dutch radio, Ploumen said she views the honor as a sign of the pope’s progressivism, as well as acknowledgement for her work in supporting abortion rights.
Ms. Ploumen said that the award came after much personal investment in contacts with the Vatican, which she defined as “lobbying.”
“Yes, because you know, the Vatican, especially under prior popes, had a rather rigid attitude when it came to the rights of girls and women,” she said.
The Order of St Gregory the Great was founded by Pope Gregory XVI in 1831, under the patronage of Pope St Gregory I. It is bestowed on those who have distinguished themselves in public service or given support to the Church.
During the investiture ceremony, the prelate sponsoring the candidate recites a formula noting that membership in the Pontifical Order of St Gregory the Great “is conferred as a reward for services to the Holy See and the Church on gentlemen/ladies of proved loyalty who must maintain unswerving fidelity to God, the Supreme Pontiff, the Holy See and the Church.”
“Becoming a Knight/Dame does not merely mean receiving a title of honour—even though it is well deserved—but fighting evil, promoting good and defending the weak and oppressed against injustice,” the rite continues.
The approval of candidates for this high honor must be given by the pope himself.
The Vatican press office has confirmed that the honor was indeed awarded to Lilianne Ploumen, but insists that it was not meant to signal approval of her pro-abortion activities. . . .
“The honor of the Pontifical Order of St. Gregory the Great received by Mrs. Lilianne Ploumen, former Minister of Development, in June 2017 during the visit of the Dutch Royals to the Holy Father, responds to the diplomatic practice of the exchange of honors between delegations on the occasion of official visits by Heads of State or Government in the Vatican,” García said.
“Therefore, it is not in the slightest a placet [a mark of approval] to the politics in favor of abortion and of birth control that Mrs. Ploumen promotes,” she added.
According to the National Catholic Register, abortion is just one area where Ploumen’s public advocacy departs from Catholic moral teaching. . . .
LifeSiteNews reports this analysis (excerpt)
Vatican explanation still lacking
OnePeterFive’s Steve Skojec points out that the Vatican’s press release about the matter raises more questions –– and suspicions –– than it answers. He asks:
Why was no vetting process applied to the distribution of these awards?
Why was a 186-year-old papal decoration created to bestow a supreme honor on those who have served the Church well being given out like a commemorative Vatican snow globe or a pope pencil in a VIP visitor goody bag?
Why was there no statement condemning or distancing the Vatican from Ploumen’s public comments in which she says she was awarded a “prize” by a Vatican that probably knew what she was about in confirmation of her work?
Why was there no expression of remorse that an award was given to one of the most effective single promoters of abortion in the world today?
Why was the award not recalled?
If the reward could not be recalled without creating a diplomatic crisis, why was there nothing in the statement encouraging Ploumen to voluntarily return it, or at the very least stop using it to mislead people into thinking the pope was rubber stamping her agenda?
Ploumen’s activism extends beyond abortion to outrageous promotion of gay rights.
“In 2010, she urged homosexuals to disrupt Mass in a Dutch cathedral after an openly homosexual man was denied Holy Communion” the NCR report by Pentin continues. “Last September, Ploumen was a prominent speaker at the LGBT’s Core Group at the United Nations. The Vatican statement made no explicit mention of her political activism in that area.”
We at Veritas PAC wonder that if the award is just a tchotchke for visitiong “dignataries” . . . as the “deputy spokesperson” tasked to respond to churlish critics seems to indicate . . . or whether it is an attempt to equivocate on matters as if no other aspect to the personage’s history, ethical or moral corruption is notorious, controlling or overwhelming . . . well then Mussolini, a baptized Catholic, ought to be up for one posthumously as he made the trains run on time and always tried to be diplomatic toward the Church.
Now if it is either of the above then, to be meaningful, what is left for President Trump the next time he visits the Vatican given that he has done more to safeguard the prerogatives of the Catholic Church and religious liberty in general than any president and more to protect life in his first year in office, not to mention increase employment/decrease poverty and make moves to help religious schools? All maters of social justice we are told. Our conclusion is that President Trump should be awarded a Red Hat and installed as a Cardinal of the Catholic Church, albeit a Lay Cardinal. Francis could make it happen, make the necessary dispensations, actually should make it happen if he has any sense of balance given what he has done with the Order of St Gregory.
R Mall with DLH
