Pope Francis Warns Against Trump

[MikeWB]

In a speech delivered at the Vatican just three days before the U.S. presidential election, Pope Francis urged social justice activists from around the world not to give into the politics of fear by building walls but instead work to build bridges.

"Because fear—as well as being a good deal for the merchants of arms and death—weakens and destabilizes us, destroys our psychological and spiritual defenses, numbs us to the suffering of others," he said.

"In the end," he continued, "it makes us cruel."

The pope did not mention the Nov. 8 U.S. election, but many of the themes he touched on have played out in debates between Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton in recent months.

For example, the pope reiterated his plea for nations to respond more generously to the global refugee crisis, which he blamed on "an unjust socio-economic system and wars."

He pointed specifically to the hundreds of thousands of people who have died in the Mediterranean Sea seeking entry into Europe in recent years and, he said, "no one should be forced to flee their homeland."

The United States accepted about 10,000 Syrian refugees this year fleeing a brutal civil war but not without controversy.

Several Democratic and Republican governors said last year that the refugees would not be welcome in their states.

Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has said that if he is elected he will ban all Muslims and migrants from countries experiencing terrorism from entering the United States.

A newly named U.S. cardinal, Archbishop Joseph Tobin of Indianapolis, clashed with Mr. Trump's running mate, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana, over the issue last year. Mr. Pence had asked the archbishop not to resettle a Syrian family in Indiana, a request the archbishop refused.


The Obama administration announced last month that the United States would seek to welcome 110,000 refugees in 2017. A vice president at Catholic Relief Services told The Washington Post that the group welcomed the news, but that it did not go far enough in addressing the needs of "the 65 million globally displaced people around the world right now."

The pope echoed that refrain, describing the refugee crisis "a problem of the world" and urging political leaders to do more.

On the issue of migration more generally, Francis devoted several minutes of the speech to condemning "physical and social walls" that "close in some and exclude others."

Mr. Trump has proposed building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, which led to a tussle with the pope earlier this year.

In February, following a visit to the border, the pope said in response to a question from a journalist that politicians who propose building walls instead of bridges are "not Christian," leading to objections from the Trump campaign. The Vatican later clarified the remark, saying that the pope was not speaking about specific candidates.

It is not just Republicans on the receiving end of Catholic criticism around immigration.

Some Catholic immigration activists have been critical of the Obama administration for its mass deportations of undocumented people living in the United States and for what they say are human rights abuses in U.S. detention centers along the southern border.

For her part, Mrs. Clinton said that she will push comprehensive immigration reform during her first 100 days in office.

The pope said on Saturday that Christians should not give into the temptation to build walls, even in the face of "hateful and cowardly attacks," a reference to global terrorism.

"Dear Brothers and Sisters," he said, "all walls fall."

The speech, given in Spanish to representatives of grassroots social justice organizations from 60 countries, included a lengthy a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Francis has previously held up the civil rights leader as a great American in his speech to the U.S. Congress last year and he included a quote from King in "Amoris Laetitia," his apostolic letter about family life.

On Saturday, the pope invoked King to urge the audience to combat fear with bridge building and love.

Francis said "mercy is the best antidote against fear" and that it "is much more effective than walls, that barbed wire fences, than alarms and arms, and it is free. It is the gift of God."

He also touched on the need for individuals at the grassroots level "to revitalize" democracy around the world that are imperiled due to "the enormous power of economic and media groups that seem to dominate" and repeated his condemnation of placing money above human beings.

Christians have a duty, he said, to be active in political life, but he warned against corruption and arrogance.

"Anyone who is too attached to material things or the mirror, who likes money, lush banquets, sumptuous mansions, refined suits, luxury cars," he said, should avoid going into politics—as well as the seminary. Instead, political leaders must lead by example, living frugally and humbly.

Francis also offered some advice on how to fight terrorism and oppression, saying, "the best antidote is love. Love heals everything."

[Christopher Marlowe]

Worse than worthless. As Vatican II popes go, Francis is exceedingly dull.

[rmstock]

Pope Francis is both a Jesuit and a Mason, which basicly contains the
core of the problem. Not so long ago a Jesuit could never be a Mason
and a Mason never be a Jesuit. These days its tempting to conclude that
both Masons and Jesuits are bad, which makes the current Pope a very
suspicious man. However a lot of drivel about the Jesuits was written
by the Protestants, who as a Christian congregation themselves are
overseen by the Freemasons.  Here's from Gibbon how the Jesuits were
expelled from AEThiopia in the 1630s :

[MikeWB]

Catholicism is a failed religion. Francis will basically do them in now.

[rmstock]

Catholicism is a failed religion. Francis will basically do them in now.

No it certainly is not, in fact old school Catholicism is more alive
than ever. For many centuries have the evil powers tried to take down
or take over Catholicism, but every time the culprits got exposed. In
principle now also Francis has been exposed. The beauty of it is that
it happened on the very day of Bergoglio's inauguration :

Apparently the fresh Pope elect Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was
walking up the balcony with his right hand in the Napoleonic position,
which is the Masonic sign of recognition. Within the second that this
happened the Cardinal on the righthand side of Bergoglio grabbed the
Pope's elbow and moved his arm upward , so instead Pope Francis can be
seen with his right arm all up  wave to the public in the Vatican
square. A lot of footage of the Pope election on youtube strangely enough
have hidden this, by placing logo's, news tickers and other banners in front.
Inside The Sky News footage one can indeed see it happen (at 22:25) :

In addition Bergoglio wrote a book together with a Rabbi, Abraham Skorka, titled :


On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century
by Jorge Mario Bergoglio and Abraham Skorka
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Image (April 19, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0770435068
ISBN-13: 978-0770435066
http://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Earth-Francis-Twenty-First-Century/dp/0770435068

which seems to throw a lot of qualities and dignity of Christ away
with the bathwater, amongst others the transcendence of God.

See also :

Francis, Pope from Hell?
August 31, 2015

[MikeWB]

All the Catholic countries in Europe are being overrun by muslims. Catholicism is dead... or it will be in a generation or two.

[Christopher Marlowe]

Christ said that His Church (which historically can only be the Catholic Church) would never be defeated:

And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Of course we know that nations can abandon the faith, like the protestant nations did after Martin Luther. And we know that Christian nations have been overrun by Muslims, like modern day Turkey, and all of North Africa.

But the apostasy of nations, or their defeat by heathens, does not mean that the Church is dead or dying. This current crisis was prophesied long ago.  The first I can think of was by St Paul: (2 Thess 2:3)

Let no man deceive you by any means, for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition...

Note that in the Vulgate, the word translated as "revolt" here is "discessio", which means "withdrawal| dispersal".  So many Church fathers believed that this was showing that the Faith would be abandoned by many. 

In the 7 ages of the Church, which is based on the letters to the Churches in Revelation, this current age is the age of the apostasy. It is roughly 500 years long, beginning with Martin Luther.   Luther's revolt began in 1517. Thus we can see that this age is nearly at an end. 

Our Lady of Fatima appeared in October 1917, and performed the greatest public miracle ever. Some 70,000 people saw the sun dance in the sky. 1517. 1917. 2017. This makes me think that big things are afoot this coming year. If the 7 ages theory is correct, we are entering into a new age. This coming age is the letter to the Church at Philidelphia, which promises great things. If we make it through these days, it is said that this coming age will be one of peace and the universal Church. But it is also said that the age will be brief, perhaps just 20 years. Then the last age is that of the anti-Christ, which lasts only 3 1/2 years. Then the second coming of Christ.