Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.—Gustav Mahler

Thursday, September 24, 2015

The Pope's speech before Congress

The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every state of development.
That was it, no more. Pope Francis did not mention abortion specifically and this gloss-over was glaringly obvious, but then he went on at length about the death penalty.  The entire speech was numbing pablum, except for death penalty part. I happen to agree with the Vatican's position on it, but by pointedly glossing over abortion--a non-negotiable Catholic teaching whereas capital punishment is not--Francis diminished the pro-life message, straining leftists their gnat while swallowing their camel.

But basically, he's succeeding in getting the world [esp the Left] to forget the stench of the priest child abuse scandals, which I believe was the primary reason for the election of a pastoral Barney-type non-European liberal. The hard-minded philosopher-theologian Pope Ratzinger could never get that done.

Update:  here's video of the Pope's speech in front of Congress, courtesy of C-Span.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

"But basically, he's succeeding in getting the world [esp the left] to forget the stench of the priest child abuse scandals, which I believe was the primary reason for the election of a pastoral Barney-type non-European liberal."

This is an excellent thought, and one that I confess had not occurred to me.

Tom Van Dyke said...

Thx for commenting, and you are obviously an astonishingly supercalifragilisticexpialidociousally intelligent person. Welcome, Anon, and next time pls do state a name even if it's a fake name. ;-)



Best, TVD

Mrs. Webfoot said...


Pope Francis quoting el ChapulĂ­n Colorado, “No contaban con mi astucia.”

There is more to that sweet, grandfatherly gentleman than meets the eye.

Those must be magic glasses that help you see clearly, Tom Van Dyke. So, instead of the left going on and on and on and on about the scandal, they are talking about their favorite themes. They don’t even notice his strong pro life comments for the joy of mining his liberalism.

Right?

Tom Van Dyke said...

Yup. It's not as though Obama or the Dems would be moved an inch if Francis had taken on abortion frontally. Pick your battles.

Mrs. Webfoot said...

Yes. Pick your battles. Grassroots Catholics are on the front lines of the pro life movement, as are many Evangelicals. The Pope is pro life. He doesn’t have to let the US Congress and the leftists in the media crucify him.

Jesus gave the leaders of His day the slip a few times until it was His time to lay down His life for us.

Tim Kowal said...

I missed this post until now, TVD. At the time, I would have objected that, fine though the point is, Christians are starting to go underground, so cold comfort that the Pope might enjoy beltway cocktail parties again. But his subversive visit to that subversive Kim Davis was a wink to the flock that he's still with us...and we're still in this.