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Pope Francis denounced attempts to close the southern US border as ‘madness’ in his interview with CBS' Norah O'Donnell on "60 Minutes" Sunday evening.
In her pre-recorded interview with the Pope, he chastised conservatives, both in the Catholic church and the culture at large.
Apparently, he feels very strongly about his position, or he would not have deliberately alienated about half the people in America.
Be informed, not misled.
Pope Francis denounced efforts to limit migration at the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday, calling out a Texas effort to shut down a Catholic charity “madness.”
The Catholic leader said that American leaders should instead embrace forgiveness toward migrants entering the country.
"Migration is something that makes a country grow,” he said. “They say that you Irish migrated and brought the whiskey and that the Italians migrated and brought the mafia. Migrants sometimes suffer a lot. They suffer a lot.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in February attempted to subpoena Annunciation House, a Catholic charity that acts as a temporary boarding house for migrants from Mexico. He accused the group of “alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house.”
“That is madness. Sheer madness,” Francis said. “To close the border and leave them there, that is madness.”
“The migrant has to be received,” he continued, advocating against GOP efforts to close the southern border. “Thereafter, you see how you are going to deal with him. Maybe you have to send him back, I don’t know, but each case ought to be considered humanely.”
The Pope addresses his conservative critics in the church.
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 16, 2024
"Conservative is one who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that. It is a suicidal attitude," says Pope Francis. This Sunday on 60 Minutes, the Pope sits down with @NorahODonnell. https://t.co/mEN4CWeXMW pic.twitter.com/HPYgVm4kIp
The Pope’s comments come as America faces a national crisis at our southern border.
A U.S. president who professes to be a devout Catholic yet embraces nearly none of the Catholic beliefs appears to come together with the Pope on the one thing they both embrace---the destruction of America through an open borders policy.
The Pope also denounces conservatives in the interview.
He asserts that a conservative “is someone who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that. It is a suicidal attitude.”
He says, “One thing is to take tradition into account and consider situations from the past but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box."
During his 11-year pontificate, Pope Francis had never before sat down for an extensive interview one-on-one with a U.S. television network.
Breitbart News notes that "Pope Francis has never hidden his disdain for Americans, and, in August 2023, he publicly lamented the 'backwardism' of conservative Catholics in the United States.
He said this to a group of Jesuits: “The situation is not easy in the United States, where there is a very strong reactionary attitude. It is organized and shapes the way people belong, even emotionally.”
“I would like to remind those people that ‘backwardism’ is useless, and we need to understand that there is an appropriate evolution in the understanding of matters of faith and morals,” the Pope said.
“Our understanding of the human person changes with time, and our consciousness also deepens,” he stated. “The other sciences and their evolution also help the church in this growth in understanding.”
A Christian faith built on "relativism?" Is Jesus Christ not the same yesterday, today, and forever?
Is Jesus evolving? Is the Bible an evolving document? Is "Truth" relative?
This is not a "Catholic" or "Protestant" issue. It's a personal issue about what you believe to be true, and who you believe God to be.
To be sure no one misses his point, he continues: “The view of church doctrine as monolithic is erroneous."
“The problems that moralists have to examine today are very serious, and, to deal with them, they have to take the risk of making changes,” he asserted.
A “climate of closure” can be experienced in some situations in the United States, he continued, and, there, “you can lose the true tradition and turn to ideologies for support.”
“In other words, ideology replaces faith, membership of a sector of the church replaces membership of the church,” he said, in an apparent reference to conservative or traditional Catholics.
If one believes in the inerrancy and inspiration of the Bible, and fixed biblical Truth, is that person someone who is holding to the past and clinging to ideologies?
Those American groups, he says, “are isolating themselves.”
In late April, CBS released a segment of his hour-long interview in which Francis asserts that climate change skeptics are “stupid” to refute compelling evidence of a climate emergency.
“Some people are stupid (necios)…even if you show them research, they don’t believe it,” the pontiff tells O’Donnell when asked what he would say to the deniers of climate change.
Profile of a real Catholic?
What did the Super Bowl-winning Catholic football player say?
Butker accused President Joe Biden of vocally supporting the “murder” of the unborn and also lamented “dangerous gender ideologies,” among other issues.
Of particular note, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker highlighted the disparity he sees between Biden’s stated Catholic faith and his pro-choice proclivities.
“Bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues,” Butker said. “Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values in media all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder.”
The football star then further turned his attention to Biden. Without naming the president, he made it clear he believes the commander-in-chief’s comments and actions violate the Catholic faith.
“Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally,” Butker said, referring to a recent rally where Biden went viral for doing that very thing.
He continued, “He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I’m sure, to many people, it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice.”
But Butker said Biden isn’t alone in improperly leading people to believe pro-choice values work within the Catholic framework.
“From the man behind the COVID lockdowns to the people pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America, they all have a glaring thing in common,” Butker said. “They are Catholic.”
He continued, “This is an important reminder that being Catholic alone doesn’t cut it.”
Watch his 20-minute speech here.
Takeaway
Butker received a standing ovation from graduates and other attendees, the Associated Press reports.
However, not all Catholics were pleased with his remarks. They felt he was clinging to the past, holding on to the old ways. He was not "progressive enough."
And the NFL ensured the public knew his remarks did not represent the National Football League.
The Pope's preferred segment of the church, has started a signature drive to demand the NFL fire him.
However, his football jersey, #7, is the highest-selling sports item in the country this week---in all sports.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Bold. Be Courageous. Be Prayerful.