ROME — Pope Francis renewed his appeal for an end to war Sunday, condemning the “bestiality” of the Russian war on Ukraine.
“More than a month has passed since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, since the beginning of this cruel and senseless war which, like any war, represents a defeat for all, for all of us,” the pontiff told the 30,000 pilgrims gathered in the Vatican for his weekly Angelus address.
The Catholic leader has been criticized for being too soft on the Ukraine invasion
On February 25, the day after Russia invaded Ukraine, Pope Francis met with Aleksandr Avdeyev, Russia’s ambassador to the Holy See. Yet rather than summoning Mr. Avdeyev to the Vatican, Francis called at the Russian embassy, just two blocks from the Castel Sant’Angelo.
The visit was a violation of diplomatic protocol. Heads of state don’t just pop ‘round to the local embassy.
Over the next couple of days, it became clear that Francis wouldn’t be paying the same honor to Ukraine’s ambassador. Even more strikingly, Francis refused to condemn Russia for the attack. Vatican-watchers fumed.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano sheds a disturbing light on the “Deep Church.”
“A non-Catholic Pope”? It sounds like a contradiction in terms. But those are the words used to describe Pope Francis by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. In fact, he rarely uses the term “Pope Francis.” He refers to him instead as “Bergoglio” and to his pontificate as the “Bergoglian papacy.”
Vigano has a following in some Catholic circles but it’s likely that the vast majority of Catholics have never heard of him. Yet the questions he raises about Pope Francis are of great consequence, not just for Catholics but for non-Catholics as well.
It strikes me as difficult, if not near impossible to take stock of the world today and think, “Gee! What a marvellous environment to bring new life into!” One only has to log on to Twitter to see a real-time feed of parents on the brink because their children are on the brink, backed up by data and reports from emergency rooms that adolescent mental health has never been worse. The kids aren’t alright.
ROME — Pope Francis appeared to take a shot at Hungary on Wednesday, insisting “no country can exempt itself” from the obligation to take in migrants.
On Tuesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán rejected a ruling by the European Union’s (EU) Court of Justice that his government had “failed to fulfil its obligations” to relax its immigration laws.
Lust is not the worst of the seven deadly sins, according to Pope Francis.
There are worse indiscretions than sex outside of marriage, the leader of the Catholic Church told reporters on the papal plane while en route from Greece to Italy on Monday, Reuters reported.
“Sins of the flesh are not the most serious,” the 84-year-old religious leader said regarding sex outside of marriage. Top transgressions instead include pride and hatred, according to Reuters.
Pope Francis has called for caution in the “interpretation” of a damning report released in October that found as many as 330,000 children may have been sexually abused by clergy and lay members of the Catholic Church in France.
The pontiff said on Monday that the “historical situation” must be framed in context when conducting studies that explore incidents dating back decades. The inquiry behind the report, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE), examined allegations of sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic church in France from the 1950s to 2020.
Pope Francis has used a trip to Greece to hit out at Europe for the divisions it has exhibited over migration while also warning against the perils of populism.
In Athens, on the second leg of a Mediterranean tour that has highlighted the plight of migrants and refugees, the pontiff also expressed concern over democracy’s retreat globally. Greece has long been on the frontline of the refugee crisis.
“The European community, torn by nationalist self-interest, rather than being the engine of solidarity, appears at times blocked and uncoordinated,” he said in an address at Greece’s presidential palace on Saturday.
“In the past ideological conflicts prevented the building of bridges between eastern and western Europe; today the issue of migration has led to breaches between south and north as well.”
Frankie’s scolding shows he is just another out of touch member of the well insulated elite that doesn’t have to personally deal with the consequences of his screeds.
Pope Francis traveled to the island nation of Cyprus Thursday, where he told a gathering of priests and religious that there are “no walls in the Catholic Church.”
New poll among American Catholics shows high degree of trust in Pope Francis.
Recent polls show that a majority of Americans seem to have lost faith in President Joe Biden. His approval ratings have dropped and many believe he is taking the country in the wrong direction. Many conservatives believe that he is destroying America. And some believe that he is doing so deliberately.
Ironically, the world’s other best-known progressive Catholic—Pope Francis—is prospering in the polls. A recent poll of Catholics by The Pillar, a Catholic news organization, found that American Catholics put more trust in the Pope than in their local bishop or in American bishops taken as a group.
The Pontiff slammed the pre-COVID world, which he said was plagued with capitalistic oppression, corruption, and war.
“The reality we knew before the pandemic was that wealth and economic growth were reserved for a minority while millions of people were unable to meet the most basic needs and lead a dignified life,” the far-left Pope said.
Two Catholic newspapers battle it out over the U.S. president’s visit to Rome.
The gap between liberal and conservative Catholic news outlets in the U.S. intensified significantly after President Biden’s jocular meeting with Pope Francis in Rome on October 29. The 75-minute meeting barring reporters and live streaming was purportedly about climate change although what emerged as the big news afterwards was Biden’s middle finger metaphorical ‘f—u’ to those U.S. Catholic bishops who would bar him from receiving Communion over the abortion issue.
The potential $50 million to $100 million cost of a Canadian papal visit isn’t far off the amount the Catholic Church still owes residential school survivors, say advocates.
They say that bill — estimated at slightly more than $60 million — must be paid and all documents about the schools disclosed before one dollar is committed to bringing Pope Francis to Canada for an expected apology. One Vatican expert says that’s highly unlikely, but survivors say they’ll keep pressing.
Just before noon on Friday, Joe Biden met Pope Francis to discuss a crisis that allegedly keeps both of them awake at nights: a climate crisis exacerbated by the burning of fossil fuels. To underline the importance of the event, America’s second Catholic president sailed into the Vatican in a motorcade of 85 vehicles. Even Mussolini might have balked at such a shameless display of gas-guzzling.
In the days of John F. Kennedy, the Democrats emphasized their political distance from the pope. Kennedy promised Americans that he would never let the pope influence him on “matters of public policy.” How times have changed. Today’s Democrats boast of their political alliance with Pope Francis. They openly confer with him on matters of public policy, as evident in Joe Biden’s latest visit to the Vatican. After he met with the pope last Friday, Biden praised him for “fighting the climate crisis, as well as his advocacy to ensure the pandemic ends for everyone through vaccine sharing and an equitable global economic recovery.”
