Embroiled in a financial scandal and hemorrhaging support from members of his own party, the mayor of Rome, former surgeon Ignazio Marino, resigned Thursday evening, saying that he only had “the best interests of Italy’s capital” at heart.
Pope Francis says that he had wanted to remind U.S. leaders “that the greatest wealth of the country and its people are its spiritual and ethical heritage,” built on the founding principle “that all men are created equal by God and endowed with inalienable rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
He said the trip was “beautiful” and summed up the welcome he received in the three cities of his tour by saying that in Washington the welcome was “warm but more formal”; in New York the people were “exuberant” and in Philadelphia they were “very expressive.” The Pope also said he was “very struck” by the kindness of the people and by their “piety and religiosity,” evidenced during the religious ceremonies.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
A gay lobbying group is pushing its preferred script for media coverage of Pope Francis’ visit to the United States.
GLAAD’s guide, titled “The Papal Visit: A journalist’s guide to reporting on Pope Francis and the LGBT community,” sets its preferred terms for covering homosexuality. It also suggests a series of story lines and plots to portray the lives of gays, lesbians and transsexuals as happy and positive, except when they’re supposedly victimized by the Catholic church.
New details are coming out regarding a terrorist attack planned against Pope Francis during his U.S. visit next week, after a lawmaker revealed on Sunday that an attempt had been derailed by Federal agents.
A star-studded cast of celebrities is slated to perform for Pope Francis during his upcoming visit to the United States. Notables like Aretha Franklin, The Fray, Sister Sledge, Andrea Bocelli, Juanes, and the Philadelphia Orchestra are scheduled to grace the stage in preparation for the Pontiff’s meeting with the people.
In a stunning show of chutzpah, a group of some 93 Democrats signed a letter to Pope Francis outlining the talking points they would like him to touch upon in his address to the U.S. Congress on September 24.
