I mean no disrespect to Pope Francis as the head of the Catholic Church or as a man of faith . . . but he shot himself in both pontifical feet today.
While speaking to reporters on the papal plane, [the Pope] was asked what he thought of Trump's campaign pledge to build a wall along the entire length of the border and expel millions of people in the U.S. illegally.
"A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," he said. While Francis said he would "give the benefit of the doubt" because he had not heard Trump's border plans independently, he added, "I say only that this man is not a Christian if he has said things like that."
There's more at the link.
How did the Pope shoot himself in both pontifical feet? Because of this:
That's part of the walls marking the boundary of Vatican City, the temporal home of the Catholic Church, where the Pope lives. As Wikipedia notes:
The territory of Vatican City is part of the Mons Vaticanus, and of the adjacent former Vatican Fields. It is in this territory that St. Peter's Basilica, the Apostolic Palace, the Sistine Chapel, and museums were built, along with various other buildings. The area was part of the Roman rione of Borgo until 1929. Being separated from the city, on the west bank of the Tiber river, the area was an outcrop of the city that was protected by being included within the walls of Leo IV (847–55), and later expanded by the current fortification walls, built under Paul III (1534–49), Pius IV (1559–65) and Urban VIII (1623–44).
When the Lateran Treaty of 1929 that gave the state its form was being prepared, the boundaries of the proposed territory were influenced by the fact that much of it was all but enclosed by this loop. For some tracts of the frontier, there was no wall, but the line of certain buildings supplied part of the boundary, and for a small part of the frontier a modern wall was constructed.
There's more at the link. Bold, underlined text is my emphasis.
The Vatican is a walled city and an independent state . . . and it has some of the most restrictive immigration policies of any nation on the planet. Therefore, Pope Francis' criticism of Mr. Trump's policies and intentions on immigration, including his proposal to erect a border wall, not only mark him as a hypocrite on this subject; they also win him our Doofus Of The Day award.
Peter
EXACTLY! How many are going to see the truth? Sadly very few.
ReplyDeleteThe Pope refuses to meddle with Italy's gay unions bill debate because according to him, Italy is a sovereign state and he should not be meddling with its politics.
ReplyDeleteSo why is he meddling with ours?
But why wonder? The Pope has no regard preaching on the Sixth Commandment, why should he, on the Tenth?
Doofus, indeed.
ReplyDeleteHere is what Trump should say:
ReplyDelete"Vatican, tear down your wall!!!"
So the last work on the walls was about 400 years ago and that is relevant how, exactly?
ReplyDeletePeter?
ReplyDeleteSorry, but on this one, Pope Francis got it exactly right and you fell for a hatchet-job.
Re-check the quote: "A person who thinks ONLY about building walls..." [emphasis mine]
Ummm did you read this bit? Here: "...he added, "I say only that this man is not a Christian if he has said things like that."..."
DeleteIE: he says "who thinks 'only' of building walls. Then makes sure people understand that, in his opinion, if Donald Trump holds the beliefs about border walls and illegal immigrants that the Pope was told he holds...Donald Trump is not a Christian. Now, the folks who told the Pope what Trump believed about border walls etc might have misled the Pope about those beliefs...but the assumption ought to be that they simply relayed Trumps statement about border walls etc and the Pope was responding (with the "if he believes that" caveat) to that. I felt hopeful when I read "only". But the rest of the statement dashed those hopes. Supporting secure borders is not an unchristian position. Not at all.
DON'T mix thing and DON'T TWIST them either.
ReplyDeleteRome and the Vatican are ancient cities.
The wall in the Vatican are not to keep people out they were meant to protect the Vatican just like in ancient mediaval cities there were walls to protect the city.
BUT that is not the same with the border and the wall Trump wants to build.
Many immigrants ONLY want a better lives for themselves and their families.
Countries like the U.S. and other first world countries have taken over many countries resources while exploiting the people of those countries. Making many of these people want to immigrate and leave their families behind to find a better life in the north.
Trump and many in north America are racists and through lies they are inspiring people in the U.S. xenophobic fear of strangers.
It is ok it seems to welcome immigrants from white countries like other European countries to immigrate to the West but not people who are poor, brown or black.
This is what to what Pope Francis is referring.
He is NOT stupid and people who are well verse in politics know this.
Trump ideas are evil and those who agree with him are stupid and selfish and as Francis says they cannot be Christians.
Western countries have taken over many resources from countries in Latin America and over the resources of the Africa continent that is why there is so much poverty in those countries and that is why many people in those places feel the forced to leave their lives of misery behind.
Let us be honest and stop pretending that we don't know this.
Selfishness is behind the wall that Trump wants to build is not the fear of terrorism. Actually there are many well informed people like political experts, and many Media people who claim that U.S. is the one behind the creation of many terrorist groups.
Watch a couple of these documentaries and you will see that many people in poor countries are the victims of many international Corporations supported by Western governments.
WATCH
Bananas!* Documentary FULL
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRaJxLTGmFm6YtfVpRtHlN-XDtkd-q2tl
WATCH
The True Story of Chevron's Ecuador Disaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_azgdnGBdh8
This is my point DON'T attack the Church unjustly, DON'T attack the Vatican for having its ancient architecture and DON'T attack Francis for saying the truth.
True Christians are not selfish or racists, Trump should be ashamed of himself attacking immigrants because all his hotels and golf courses etc. are cleaned by immigrants while he pays them a low wage.
Trumps buildings are clean up by immigrants, the glass cleaners in his hotels are cleaned by immigrants, the grass in his golf courses is cut by immigrants, the hotel suites in his hotel and casinos are cleaned by immigrants, his casinos are cleaned by immigrants.
All Trumps Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc are cleaned and maintained by the sweat of illegal immigrants while Trump only pays these poor workers who as Jeb Bush rightly said come as act of love to help their poor families in their poor countries.
All the while people like Trump get richer and gets to talk about his millions but in reality he is only instigating people to hate and to surround themselves with walls but only to keep the poor and the brown out of the country. Whites and rich Asians are most welcome.
Wake up people don't let yourselves be deceive and be lied to study and read books so you can be better informed and don't allow people from blogs to tell you lies either.
Trump should make latin america one giant resort! Hey how come you guys down south just dont fix up your own place anyway? I mean stay put. Maybe build your own hotels and stuff so you dont have to come here and cut grass and make beds. Why dont you pay attention to your grandparents and chill out like them. It is a long walk to the US for cable TV, plus there is nothing on anyway.
DeleteThe walls Trump is proposing are meant to exclude and that is simply not Christian.
ReplyDeleteIf anything Trump is a perfect prototype of Antichrist!
Rofl! Christianity is a religion of exclusion, my hyperbolic, ill-informed friend! "For I am the Way and the Truth and the Light. No one gets to the Father except through me." Heck! The New Jerusalem has blasted walls you ninny! Educate yourself before opening your mouth or touching your keyboard. Be well.
DeleteHis Holiness also has the use of a private army *coughSwissGuardscough* who have a pretty darn sweet armory. It's not all pikes and halberds, just sayin.
ReplyDelete@TGreen:
ReplyDeleteRe-check the quote:
That's even worse! His Holiness is no mind-reader. Face it, Bergoglio is a "liberation theologist" deeply steeped in Marxist ideology. Being true to form. And an accessory to Islam's ever-widening ambition to dominate and oppress.
ReplyDeleteS said... - You are a complete ignoramus!
And this is the problem people like you should not be allow to speak and should not be allow to vote.
Very true, I had forgotten how restricted access to the Vatican is. Reminds me of Mexico complaining about their citizens are treated when illegally immigrating here. They should be thankful the U.S. does not have the laws that Mexico has for their illegal immigrants
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 10:34.
ReplyDeleteThere is a difference between legal immigrants and illegal aliens.
Legal immigrants follow the law, work hard to improve their lot, pay taxes, learn the language and assimilate into the culture. The only thing they can't do is to vote. They more often than not, apply for naturalization [citizenship] and learn to love their adopted country like a native.
Illegal aliens break the law. Lawbreakers are not good people. If they want to be good, they should get out of the country and apply to enter legally at the U.S. Embassy in their native country. It's not a guarantee they'd be admitted, but they have to try like everybody else who want to follow the law.
The lines for legal immigration are a bottleneck. A lot of people from other countries are waiting their turn to legally enter. The decent thing to do is to stand and the end of the line and not demand your "rights." Everyone has "rights," yours are not given priority over the others'.
Trump said it will be unfair to those who have been waiting in line for ten - twenty - years if illegals are given priority to enter. I think he's right.
So, remember: There are legal immigrants [sometimes called "permanent residents"] who obey the law, work and pay taxes.
There are also illegal aliens who break the law - the immigration law. That is why they are called illegal.
Marie said... - Marie what you are saying is nonsense.
ReplyDeleteMarie - Stop being so ridiculous! And don't patronize me.
ReplyDeleteYou are selfish and paranoid!
What Trump is doing is lying to people and provoking a culture of racism and fear.
The man is lying and like I said before he is a perfect prototype of Antichrist the problem is that people are being fool and believe the lies just like it happen under McCarthyism.
@ Deoacveritati and Anonymous at 7:04 AM: Gentlemen (?), you're becoming unacceptably rude. This is a family friendly blog, and I require my commenters to respond accordingly. If you can't argue intelligently and logically and rationally, kindly don't argue here at all. My blog, my rules.
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth, I agree with Marie. I might add that I'm a legal immigrant, who jumped through all the legal and financial hoops to qualify to live in the USA. I have little time for those who try to sneak in illegally.
Anon at 10:24pm
ReplyDeleteWow. Interesting view.
Some questions to ask:
1. Why did some extremely poor countries in 1960 now are rich? Korea, Taiwan, Singapore come to mind. They were colonies...
2. Colonial empires ended 50+ years ago. The us was a colony. Why is this still an excuse for poverty?
3. Who are you to judge how Christian somebody else is? Seems not very Christian....
4. The immigration act in the 1960s changed the flow of immigration.
5. Have you read victor Hanson on the impact of illegal immigration in California's Central Valley?
6. Why is such a high % of mexicos population in the us? 20% if I remember correctly?
7. How does Mexico treat illegal immigrants to their country?
8. If the us is so racist, why does the us lead the world in charitable contributions?
9. Can a non White be racist?
Another anon
. I find the Pope's statement appalling considering he has had plenty of time to point out an even more important political figure as being "not a Christian" and that is our president OBAMA. He has been unrepentant over his steadfast promotion of ABORTION his whole career, and that is one of the worst crimes against humanity there is. SO, where is the Pope's accusation that anyone who would promote the killing of unborn babies (specifically Obama AND Biden supposedly Catholic too) that they are NOT CHRISTIAN?? hmmmmm.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Peter. Francis tripped up. Other wiser heads of state have declined to comment on US politics during this election period. I think Francis is being a bit too coy here. He got his message across loud and clear - but with sufficient plausible deniability to muddy things up, all to no greater good. Could he be as big a media hog as The Donald?
ReplyDeleteWhile I would agree that the walls around the Vatican were built hundreds of years ago and the current Pope could not be expected to remove them, I would also call him out for being a hypocrite. There are only about 800 people living in Vatican City, and every one of them is a part of, an employee of, or a family member of an employee of the Vatican.
ReplyDelete74% of them are clergy. 20% of them are in the Vatican military, 4% in the Fire Department, and the remaining 2% are the wives and children of the employees. The remainder of the employees are Italian, and live in Rome.
While it is true that the Vatican allows visitors, there are NO immigrants allowed to Vatican city. None. That is what makes the Pope a hypocrite.
I disagree with the Pope.
ReplyDeleteHowever, that picture is of an exterior of the Vatican museum. It's a shot of a building, not a wall. The entrance to the Vatican is wide open. This isn't really a commentary on any of the political or spiritual debates, merely observing that you are arguing from a false premise. Some pictures of entrance to Vatican City.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cbhdv4jUYAATzLK.png
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CbhcS9mUMAAU8VD.jpg
On another blog the Pope was criticized for the same silly statement criticized here. Some asked if the Pope was catholic. I was tempted to say, "No. He's a Jesuit," But restrained myself. Those familiar with the writings of Malachi Martin would get the joke.
ReplyDeleteRofl. I'm not familiar with those writings, but I'm familiar enough (not very, but more than the average layman) with the history between the Church and the Jesuits that I laughed out loud upon reading your joke. Nicely done. :-D
Delete