Posted on 06/24/2015 6:56:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Over the weekend, Pope Francis made a statement that should be of deep interest to the many thousands of faithful Catholics who work in the American defense industry or to the countless more who’ve invested in American arms companies. Speaking Sunday, the pope said, “If you trust only men, you have lost.” He continued, “It makes me think of . . . people, managers, businessmen who call themselves Christian and they manufacture weapons. That leads to a bit of a distrust doesn’t it?”
Interestingly, in that same speech the pope wondered aloud why the Allies didn’t do more to stop the Holocaust: “The great powers had the pictures of the railway lines that brought the trains to the concentration camps like Auschwitz to kill Jews, Christians, homosexuals, everybody. Why didn’t they bomb [the railway lines]?” Presumably this desire for specific air strikes can be reconciled with his condemnations of arms makers so long as the bombs are manufactured by, say, Hindus. And are the weapons that his security detail carries made by Buddhists?
I respect the pope and appreciate his deep concern for the poor and vulnerable, but these comments, while admittedly off-the-cuff, were incoherent. Even worse, they reveal a mindset that affects all too many of the world’s most influential Christians — where their heartfelt desire for peace has exactly the wrong impact, often sending a message that the West is weak-willed, its nerve lost. There was a time when the world’s great conflicts were fought largely between its traditional Christian powers, including nations with large Catholic populations and Catholic leadership. And not all these wars were launched or conducted according to just-war principles. Thus, there was a crying need for a powerful and — just as important — influential Christian witness for peace.
We live in an era of Christian persecution not seen since the Roman Empire.
But there are other wars — wars launched and fought by those who have little use for just-war doctrine and no regard for Christian leadership. There was a time when the Catholic Church understood the distinction, when it refused to cry out “peace, peace” when there was no peace. Instead, it girded the people of Christ for just and necessary conflict — helping forge military alliances among fractious and often incompetent kingdoms, the alliances that helped save Christendom. Pope Pius V was indispensable to the creation and success of the Holy League at Lepanto, the miraculous naval victory that shattered jihadist-Muslim naval power in the Mediterranean. An explicitly Christian alliance defeated the Ottoman Empire at the gates of Vienna in 1683. Examples are simply too numerous to mention. In fact, Western civilization arguably owes its continued existence to the military resolve of the Church, not to its pleas for peace.
We live in an era of Christian persecution not seen since the Roman Empire. Christians face systematic beheadings, church burnings, slavery, religious cleansing, and, if they don’t flee fast enough, genocide. In the face of these realities, the Church’s plea for peace rings hollow. When the pope called for peace in the Middle East in his Christmas address, the only nations likely to heed his call were the very nations most well-positioned to defend the innocent and helpless members of the Body of Christ. The jihadists and Islamic radicals persecuting them care not for the pope’s words. Indeed, they are only too eager take advantage of moral doubt and confusion among their opponents.
We seem incapable of calling for courage and resistance, if courage and resistance mean taking up arms.
The days are long past when the pope or any other Christian leader could speak the word and cause the Christian world to take up arms. But that’s not to say that Christian leaders, or Christians in general, lack influence. All too often they use their influence to support a naïve but culturally popular yearning for peace and sometimes cultivate the destructive belief that Christians are in part responsible for the current wave of jihad. Guilt-ridden over sins committed in the thousand-year war that ultimately saved Christendom from expansionist Islam, we seem incapable of calling for courage and resistance, if courage and resistance mean taking up arms. Instead, all too many shake their heads at the mere thought of religiously motivated conflict, embarrassed by, for example, Chris Kyle’s cross tattoo in American Sniper — way too “Crusader-y” for modern tastes.
In a long war where the difference between military victory and defeat comes down to the will of the historically Christian West, it is incumbent on Christian leaders to strengthen our resolve, not plunge parishioners into self-doubt. The book of Ecclesiastes teaches us that there is a time for peace and a time for war. In the Middle East, with jihad on the march, now is the time for war. Pope Francis has, in the past, acknowledged this reality, calling for international action to stop ISIS. Yet wars are fought with weapons, and condemning their makers is hardly the clarion call the West so desperately needs. Now is not the time for mixed messages. If war is necessary, it requires moral leadership from people of faith. Popes have done it before. Can they do it again?
— David French is an attorney, a staff writer for National Review, and a veteran of the Iraq War.
When he condemns the kidnapping, rape and slavery of three hundred Christian girls, I might listen. Until then STFU pope.
So sayeth the man with a large private army at his beck & call.
He is nothing more than a Latin American Socialist. This is why he & obama get along so well.
The actions of this Pope are utterly indefensible.
The Church has made huge errors over the centuries and this one is one of its biggest.
The Church is far from perfect and is certainly not infallible.
I’m getting sick and tired of all of the Papal Bulls-—
uh...Who’s gonna stop the slaughter of Christians throughout Muslim territory?
I don’t care what the man with the funny hats says.
I miss John Paul.
When he condemns the kidnapping, rape and slavery of three hundred Christian girls, I might listen. Until then STFU pope.
—
And he doesn’t seem to have much time for the thousands and thousands of Christians being slaughtered by ISIS. He seems more interested in global warming and the left’s political agenda.
wait for it...
wait for it....
wait for it...
The Pope has lost his marbles.
Make no mistake, this is all coming together now for a reason. Obama knows he must act quickly, and to have the ear and words of the Pope himself, he feels he’ll cow the country into submission.
This is going to be a bumpy ride, folks.
It is long past the hour for Christians to organize and defend their brothers in foreign lands.
But will our pathetic president do anything? Nope - too busy bending over backwards to make certain we don’t “offend” those who behead our brothers.
He is a radical marxist and is a discredit to the Church. The pope, the alleged successor of Peter, is a disappointment. He just repeats standard marxist propaganda and every so often says something sounding Catholic.
The arms makers that supply the vatican security forces....
Pope Francis has gone beyond Catholicism as his statements are pure political and align with the Globalist Agenda. He is a Globalist much like the Catholic Leadership was with Rome....and when Hitler was on the move.
This is just pure Marxism coming out of the mouth of the pope....Francis is regurgitating the agenda for One World Governance because he “believes” it.... He says that the global economy needs government control which puts him in league with the World Order to come...and which is quickly coming into place.
Rush once stated...”truth takes a long time to catch up when the lie gets out of the gates first.”......we would do well to take that to heart when political speeches are give....how things appear and are perceived is often clouded in deception.
When did he have his marbles? Seriously.
He’s the wrong pope for a time that only exist in commie brains.
The Pope’s statement on weapons makers was just like that I would have made in my idealist teenage years.
Then I grew up.
The imbecile pope must have missed that part of the bible where Jesus instructs his followers to sell their cloak and buy a sword. And the part about turning plows into swords. This guy is a total buffoon. In the end, he will further radicalize millions of catholics.
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