Among the dozens of babies and infirm people that Pope Francis has kissed during his three-city tour of the United States, perhaps none made him laugh louder than the tot decked out as the Bishop of Rome–complete with white cassock and matching papal miter.
Pope Francis warns marriage has been stretched and distorted in the United States, to the point where it is no longer even similar to the Christian sacrament of matrimony. The pontiff noted the “unprecedented changes” taking place in contemporary society, “with their social, cultural – and sadly now juridical – effects on family bonds,” referring to the Supreme Course decision in June to legalize same-sex marriage for the entire nation in Obergefell v. Hodges.
In an unscheduled introduction to his address to U.S. Bishops, Pope Francis reflected on his meeting with the victims of clerical sexual abuse, promising “zealous vigilance” to protect minors and bring to justice those responsible for this crime.
Pope Francis is reminding Americans of the centrality of religious liberty in their lives. During an address in the evocative venue of Philadelphia’s Independence Park, the pontiff called the park “symbolic of the American way.”
Abortion giant Planned Parenthood is lashing out at the Pope, after he’s repeatedly spoken up for the right to life of the unborn in his visit to the United States, accusing him of limiting women’s rights and hampering “women’s health.”
In his first address in Philadelphia Saturday morning, Pope Francis urged those listening to embrace their call to be missionaries and evangelizers, instead of waiting for someone else to preach the gospel.
In his address to the United Nations, Francis told the assembly that the limitation of power is “an idea implicit in the concept of law itself.” Citing the classic definition of justice as giving to each his own, Francis said that “no human individual or group can consider itself absolute, permitted to bypass the dignity and the rights” of others.
The Pope encouraged the children to live with joy in their hearts. “I see you smiling. Keep living like this,” the Pope said. “Help others to experience joy. It’s not easy. In every home there are problems, difficult situations, sickness. But don’t stop dreaming of living with joy.” Departing from his written text for a moment in his meeting with Harlem schoolchildren Friday afternoon, Pope Francis turned to one of his favorite topics, telling the students and their teachers that the devil is a killjoy who tries to spoil our dreams and destroy our happiness.
Pope Francis says “religious freedom and, more generally, spiritual freedom” are “pillars of integral human development,” his most recent in a chain of appeals for religious liberty during his U.S. visit.
Pope Francis is appealing to “a moral law written into human nature itself” to assert the sacredness of every human life, including that of the unborn. A “fight against exclusion,” the Pope said in his address before the United Nations General Assembly Friday, demands “absolute respect for life in all its stages and dimensions.”
In his historic speech to the joint session of the U.S. Congress, Pope Francis addressed the topic of immigration for the third time since arriving on American soil, urging Americans not to “repeat the sins and the errors of the past” by treating immigrants as North America’s earlier settlers treated the American Indians.
Among the several controversial points in his historic address to the U.S. Congress Thursday, Pope Francis lobbied strongly for the abolition of the death penalty, while remaining mostly silent on the issue of abortion. Pro-abortion Catholic politicians including Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden will undoubtedly capitalize on the Pope’s omission to continue snubbing Church teaching on the sanctity of life.
Pope Francis took advantage of his historic address to the U.S. Congress to lecture politicians on the importance of wealth creation for lifting the poor out of poverty.
On Wednesday afternoon, Pope Francis canonized Father Junípero Serra, a Franciscan friar who founded a chain of Catholic missions up and down the coast of California, each of which would become a major Californian city, such as San Diego, Santa Clara. and San Francisco.
Pope Francis urges Catholic bishops in the United States to open the doors of the Church to immigrants, asserting that “these people will enrich America and its Church. As a Latin American, the Pope apologized for “pleading my own case,” when speaking about the influx of Hispanic immigrants into the United States. He also thanked the bishops for the work they have done for immigrants in this country.
Pope Francis has come out swinging in his very first public address on American soil, telling President Obama that “climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation” while calling religious liberty “one of America’s most precious possessions” that must be defended from all threats.
Everyone knows that Pope Francis is capitalism’s number one critic, and he has been waiting for his U.S. visit to scold Americans on the economy, right? Not so fast. The fact is, that Francis has never been an enemy of capitalism and actually believes the free market is a good thing, as long as it has “limits.”
A Reuters piece Tuesday accuses certain U.S. bishops of open opposition to Pope Francis’ call for respect for the environment, citing several new contracts for drilling rights to oil and gas companies.
According to the theologians at the New York Times, a “strong Catholic Faith” and “abortion rights” coexist without contradiction in the person of Nancy Pelosi.
Over and over again during his four day visit to Cuba, Pope Francis drew attention away from the Castro Revolution of 1958 to the deeper Christian roots of the Cuban nation.
The President and his staff showed tremendous disrespect for the Pope by intentionally inviting a series of individuals who publicly thumb their noses at Catholic teaching, including a pro-abortion religious sister, a transgender woman and at least two Catholic gay activists, along with Bishop Robinson. Moreover, they were invited precisely because of their anti-Catholic positions. It was only after Breitbart News publicized the discordant tone of the Obama guest list that the Holy See reacted by expressing its disapproval. In doing so, it made known its concern that any photos of the pope with these guests at the White House ceremony might be misconstrued as an endorsement of their activities.
Just before leaving for Cuba on Saturday morning, Pope Francis met with the Syrian family of refugees he has invited to take up residence in the Vatican. The family—comprising mother, father and two children—went to the Casa Santa Marta residence
The undercover investigation of Planned Parenthood’s abortion-and-organ-trading business demonstrated three undeniable facts, says the person who ran the careful and comprehensive operation.
President Obama may have gone too far by packing the Pope’s receiving line with a coterie of public dissenters from Catholic doctrine to greet him at the White House during his U.S. visit next week.
Six U.S. Bishops are sufficiently principled to earn a place on a hate list published by the GLAAD gay lobby, just prior to Pope Francis’ visit to the United States. Through its guide, GLAAD hopes to dictate to the media which terms to use and which to avoid in discussing homosexuality, as well as pointing out possible “pitfalls” in reporting on LGBT Catholics. It also suggests a series of story lines and angles to take in reporting to highlight the positive sight of LGBT life.
