The Pope Francis Thread

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The Pope Francis Thread

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Biff wrote: 22 Mar 2023, 16:58 The more of these posts I see, the more I think Frank (Jorge) is retarded. Or maybe an impostor. Or, perhaps an alien. The shape-shifting kind.
Pope Francis is a normal guy.... it's easy to imagine any normal guy (Biff, for example) as a retarded shape-shifting alien, if all we know of him is what the National Catholic Reporter wants us to tell us.

NCR is a leftist political rag. They target gullible Catholic readers, but they exist to encourage votes for Democrats. Like the mainstream media, they tell us the story that they want us to hear, which may or may not overlap with the truth somewhat. And they go silent on the parts that they don't want us to know. Through that lens, of course Pope Francis looks like a retarded alien. Overall, he looks like a faithful Catholic sometimes.... other times he looks like a pagan American Democrat.

Don't trust what the leftist media (including NCR) say about Pope Francis. Don't trust secular right-wing media either -- as they are usually just reacting to the leftist media, and the round-trip through two twisted prisms is not sharp.

Trust authentic Catholic media, like EWTN or National Catholic Register. Or read what Francis himself has written. Or pledge to politely ignore the secular chatter about Catholic stuff altogether.
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Pope calls for Indigenous quotas in world's legislatures

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Participants at a conference on colonialism pose for a photo with Cardinal Peter Turkson, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, standing in the bottom row second from left, outside the Casina Pio IV at the Vatican March 31, 2023. (CNS photo/Courtesy Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences)

Vatican City — Parliaments and legislatures should have quotas to include Indigenous people and members of displaced ethnic groups in political processes, Pope Francis said.

"Representative bodies are inconceivable when only the dominant power occupies spaces," he said, suggesting the need to establish a quota system that "reintegrates" historically marginalized groups "into the decision-making space that has been taken away from them."

The pope's comments were contained a message to the participants at a conference hosted by the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences March 30–31, titled "Colonization, Decolonization and Neocolonialism from the Perspective of Justice and the Common Good."

[…]

In his message, the pope wrote that even "subtle" forms of colonialism that exploit nations and groups through force or political and cultural influence are a crime.

"No power — political, economic, ideological — is authorized to determine unilaterally the identity of a nation or social group," he wrote. "There is no chance for peace in a world that discards and oppresses populations in order to plunder" their resources.

The pope said that while some places remain colonized in the traditional sense of the word, economic and ideological colonialism is much more common.

Colonialism, he said, "camouflages and hides itself, making its detection and neutralization difficult."

As an example, Francis mentioned his February trip to Congo, a country that has been independent for more than 70 years but "today is subject to actions that, on the one hand guarantee it certain benefits, and on the other lead to the exploitation of its resources."

Although Congo has great natural wealth and holds about 70% of the world's cobalt — a precious metal used in energy technologies, such as batteries for electric vehicles — nearly 62% of its population lived on less than $2.15 a day in 2022, according to the World Bank.

Similar situations, often linked to a country's geopolitical situation, can be found in "many countries and regions in the world," the pope said.

But he also warned against what he called "ideological colonialism," which attempts to "eradicate (a people's) traditions, history and religious ties."

Those elements that form a group's identity "give meaning to decisions about what is just and good."

Francis repeated his apology for the "actions of some believers that contributed in a direct or indirect way to the processes of political and territorial domination of various peoples of America and Africa."

The pope issued a similar apology to members of Canada's Indigenous communities at the Vatican in April 2022 and again during his trip to Canada in July that same year, saying he was "deeply sorry" for the ways in which "many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous peoples."


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The Pope Francis Thread

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If you get your Catholic news from the National Catholic Reporter, you might start thinking that Pope Francis never talks about Jesus Christ or the Catholic Church.
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Gender

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Pope Francis: Gender ideology is ‘one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations’ today

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Pope Francis speaks at the general audience in Vatican City's Paul VI Hall on Feb. 22, 2023. | Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom — Pope Francis has said that gender ideology is “one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations” today.

In an interview with journalist Elisabetta Piqué for the Argentine daily newspaper La Nación, Pope Francis explained the reasoning behind his strong statement.

“Gender ideology, today, is one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations,” Francis said in the interview published on the evening of March 10.

“Why is it dangerous? Because it blurs differences and the value of men and women,” he added.

“All humanity is the tension of differences. It is to grow through the tension of differences. The question of gender is diluting the differences and making the world the same, all dull, all alike, and that is contrary to the human vocation.”

Pope Francis has frequently used the term “ideological colonization” throughout the 10 years of his pontificate, particularly to describe instances when aid money for developing countries has been tied to contraceptives, abortion, sterilization, and gender ideologies.

In a conversation with Polish bishops in 2016, Pope Francis said: “Today children — children — are taught in school that everyone can choose his or her sex. Why are they teaching this? Because the books are provided by the people and institutions that give you money. These forms of ideological colonization are also supported by influential countries. And this is terrible!”

The pope told Piqué that he was not currently writing a new encyclical and denied that he had been asked to write a document on the subject of gender.

While he is not writing something on gender ideology, the pope said that he talks about the subject “because some people are a bit naïve and believe that it is the way to progress.”

He said that they “do not distinguish what is respect for sexual diversity or diverse sexual preferences from what is already an anthropology of gender, which is extremely dangerous because it eliminates differences, and that erases humanity, the richness of humanity, both personal, cultural, and social, the diversities and the tensions between differences.”

The pope noted that he always distinguishes “between what pastoral care is for people who have a different sexual orientation and what gender ideology is.”

“They are two different things,” he added.

When Piqué asked Pope Francis if he knew that in Argentina people are asked to indicate on official forms if they are male, female, or non-binary sex, the pope said that it reminded him of the “futuristic” novel, Lord of the World, written by Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson in 1907.

He said that the book presents the idea of “a future in which differences are disappearing and everything is the same, everything is uniform, a single leader of the whole world.”

In the interview with La Nación — the third papal interview published on March 10 — Pope Francis also reflected on the 10 years of his pontificate, his concern for the war in Ukraine, and why he has not traveled to his native Argentina.

[…]

Asked to identify any mistakes he might have made in the past 10 years, the pope regretted times when he had lost his patience.

“More than once. It did not appear in the newspapers, but more than once,” he added with a laugh.


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The Pope Francis Thread

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"Chromosomes Rule
Pronouns Drool"
Said the National Catholic Reporter, never.

I'm putting that on t-shirts and bumper stickers and waiting for the DOJ to come knocking.
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On 60th anniversary of 'Pacem in Terris,' pope calls for disarmament

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Pope John XXIII sits at his working desk on April 15, 1962, in his studio in a tower in the Vatican gardens. In the background is the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. (AP Photo/Luigi Felici, File)

Vatican City — The idea that stopping the arms race is essential for stopping war is not utopian but is "healthy realism," Pope Francis wrote.

"Only by stopping the arms race, which takes away resources for fighting hunger and thirst and ensuring medical care for those who have none, can we avert the self-destruction of our humanity," he wrote in an article for L'Espresso, an Italian magazine.

The article, released April 7, marked both Easter and the 60th anniversary on April 11 of St. John XXIII's encyclical Pacem in Terris ("Peace on Earth").

After the resurrection, Jesus goes to the Upper Room "where his apostles were gathered, full of fear" after watching him die on the cross, the pope said. His greeting to them is, "Peace be with you!"

[…]

"Peace be with you is the greeting we exchange on this day," the pope wrote in L'Espresso. "To truly say 'no' to war and violence, it is not enough just to silence weapons and stop the aggressors. It is necessary to uproot the roots of wars and violence, which are resentment, envy and greed."

"One must have the courage to 'disarm' hearts, to 'demilitarize' them, to remove poison and resentment," he wrote.

In the article, like in his Easter message, Francis called particular attention to Russia's war on Ukraine while also urging people not to ignore "other forgotten conflicts, other hotbeds of violence, the many 'pieces' of the Third World War that we are unfortunately living through."

Peace, he said, also requires having the courage to stop the stockpiling of weapons "because true peace cannot be born of fear."

"What is needed is what 60 years ago St John XXIII, in his encyclical Pacem in Terris, called 'integral disarmament,'" he said. The idea that peace can be based on an equal balance of weapons ready to use "must be replaced by the principle that true peace can only be built in mutual trust."

Francis wrote that he knows that "to some ears these words may sound utopian, especially at this time. But it is not utopian, it is healthy realism," and the only way to move toward lasting peace.


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The Pope Francis Thread

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The Right to Migrate

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Pope Francis in Orbán's Hungary: Christians must accept refugees

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Pope Francis attends a welcoming ceremony with Hungarian President Katalin Novák at Sándor Palace in Budapest, Hungary, April 28, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — Pope Francis on April 28 launched his closely watched three-day trip to Hungary by telling the country's staunchly anti-immigrant political leaders that if the country wants to remain true to its Christian roots, it must be willing to accept migrants and refugees.

" 'I urge you to show favor not only to relations and kin, or to the powerful and wealthy, or to your neighbors and fellow-countrymen, but also to foreigners and all who come to you,' " said Francis, quoting St. Stephen, the country's 10th century king who spread Christianity throughout Hungary.

In the presence of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — one of Europe's most polarizing leaders who has previously lambasted migration as a "Trojan wooden horse of terrorism," while styling himself as a defender of traditional Christianity — the pope recalled the country's heritage of Christian leaders whose lives have been marked by openness towards others and a "gentleness" of spirit.

Francis' appeal offered a stark contrast to Orbán, who over the last decade has seized on migration as a wedge issue, often using coarse language characterizing migrants as "invaders" who threaten the country's national identity.

The pope, drawing on Hungary's own past, offered a different perspective.

" 'I urge you to welcome strangers with benevolence and to hold them in esteem, so that they prefer to be with you rather than elsewhere,' " Francis said, again quoting St. Stephen.

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Pope Francis gives his first speech in Hungary to government and civic leaders and diplomats serving in Budapest at the former Carmelite monastery that now houses the office of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, on April 28. (CNS/Vatican Media)

While acknowledging that welcoming new arrivals can be a "complex" issue, the pope said that "for those who are Christians, our basic attitude cannot differ from that which St. Stephen … having learned it from Jesus, who identified himself with the stranger needing to be welcomed."

[…]

Against the backdrop of war, the pope delivered an impassioned appeal for united Europe in a country that earlier this year hinted that it might seek to leave the European Union.

Francis, urging a return to multilateralism, went on to cite from the founding fathers of the European Union who after the Second World War sought to forge together in hopes of preventing future conflicts.

"We seem to be witnessing the sorry sunset of that choral dream of peace, as the soloists of war now take over," he lamented.

Now is the time, said the pope, "to recover the European spirit: the excitement and vision of its founders, who were statesmen able to look beyond their own times, beyond national boundaries and immediate needs, and to generate forms of diplomacy capable of pursuing unity, not aggravating divisions."

While only directly mentioning the conflict in Ukraine once, the pope quoted from the 1950 Schuman Declaration that inspired today's 27-member European Union: "World peace cannot be ensured except by creative efforts, proportionate to the dangers threatening it."

"At the present time," Francis added, "those dangers are many indeed; but I ask myself, thinking not least of war-torn Ukraine, where are creative efforts for peace?"

In her opening remarks to the pope, Hungarian President Katalin Novák praised the pope for coming to Hungary, saying, "Hungarians and millions of people all over the world see in you the man of peace!"

"Speak to Kyiv and Moscow, to Washington, Brussels, Budapest and with all those without whom there can be no peace," she pleaded. "Here, in Budapest, we ask you to kindly personally intercede for a just peace as soon as possible."

[…]

Yet while the majority of the pope's 20-minute address offered a markedly different vision for Europe than that of the current Hungarian government, Francis commended the country's pro-family policies that seek to promote traditional marriage and limit legal abortion.

"How much better it would be to build a Europe centered on the human person and on its peoples, with effective policies for natality and the family — policies that are pursued attentively in this country — a Europe whose different nations would form a single family that protects the growth and uniqueness of each of its members," said the pope.

As the pope concluded his opening remarks in Hungary — his second visit in less than two years — Francis again praised the country's strong national identity, but said it must also be marked by an "openness towards others."

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Pope Francis meets with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at Sándor Palace April 28 in Budapest, Hungary. The pope was beginning a three-day trip to Hungary's capital with meetings with government officials. (CNS/Vatican Media)

[…]

After dedicating the majority of his inaugural remarks to the theme of migration, Francis will begin his second-day in the Hungarian capital by meeting with refugees, including recent arrivals from Ukraine.


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Ukraine

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Ukraine

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Wosbald wrote: 30 Apr 2023, 18:34 +JMJ+

ImagePhilip Pullella @PhilipPullella | TwitterImage
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It's a long shot, but Pope Francis just might be the last person with a chance of talking some sense into Joe Biden.
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