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Francis Contradicts Previous Popes: Immigration Issue Just as Important as Abortion
LifeSite News ^ | 4/9/18 | John-Henry Westen

Posted on 04/09/2018 6:00:54 PM PDT by marshmallow

VATICAN, April 9, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) -- In his lengthy exhortation released this morning, Pope Francis chastised those who would see abortion as a more important issue than migration. “Some Catholics consider (immigration) a secondary issue compared to the ‘grave’ bioethical questions,” he said. “That a politician looking for votes might say such a thing is understandable, but not a Christian.”

The Pope decries the "harmful ideological error" of those who dismiss the importance of the "social engagement of others," such as in immigration or service of the poor.

He criticizes those who "relativize" these issues, "as if there are other more important matters, or the only thing that counts is one particular ethical issue or cause that they themselves defend."

“Our defence of the innocent unborn, for example, needs to be clear, firm and passionate,” he said, but should not supercede the defense of the poor or migrants.

The contrast with Pope Benedict XVI is evident from Benedict’s 2006 remarks to members of the European People’s Party. “As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable,” he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at lifesitenews.com ...


TOPICS: Catholic; Ministry/Outreach; Religion & Culture; Theology
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1 posted on 04/09/2018 6:00:55 PM PDT by marshmallow
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To: marshmallow

Tear that (Vatican) wall down, Francis!


2 posted on 04/09/2018 6:16:44 PM PDT by SharpRightTurn (Chuck Schumer--giving pond scum everywhere a bad name.)
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To: marshmallow

If we can abort unborn, we can abort illegals and even use comtraceptive measures to prevent them, like maybe Walls. YOU KNOW LIKE THE VATICAN USES. AND ARMED GUARDS WITH ASSAULT WEAPONS LIKE THE SWISS GUARD USES.


3 posted on 04/09/2018 6:20:02 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: marshmallow

If he isn’t the end of the Roman Catholic Church, I don’t know what.


4 posted on 04/09/2018 6:24:07 PM PDT by dr_lew
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To: marshmallow
He criticizes those who "relativize" these issues, "as if there are other more important matters, or the only thing that counts is one particular ethical issue or cause that they themselves defend."

Does this criticism apply to Jesus when He prioritized the "weightier matters of the law"?

5 posted on 04/09/2018 6:26:13 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: marshmallow

WRONG!


6 posted on 04/09/2018 6:38:01 PM PDT by Campion (Halten Sie sich unbedingt an die Lehre! [Hold absolutely onto the Teaching! -- BXVI])
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To: marshmallow

The ImPopester’s mission is to prepare his flock for slaughter by muslims.


7 posted on 04/09/2018 6:43:14 PM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizen Means Born Here of Citizen Parents__Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: marshmallow

Where’s the joy?


8 posted on 04/09/2018 6:44:26 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: dr_lew

Pope John Paul II

Pope Francis

I can’t even believe two more different men ever existed on this earth.


9 posted on 04/09/2018 7:12:45 PM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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To: marshmallow

The major fallacy of so called “liberation theology” is the notion of the seamless garment.

That somehow we are morally and theologically impaired, and unable to prioritize between protecting innocent life and imposing socialism on well functioning, capitalist, Constitutional Republics.


10 posted on 04/09/2018 8:40:12 PM PDT by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
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To: dr_lew

“...And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Perhaps you could study the period before the reformation?

Human error isn’t going to break it.


11 posted on 04/09/2018 8:45:30 PM PDT by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
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To: rlmorel
Alas, although a great Pope, many of John Paul II's faults prefigured those of Pope Francis. To the humor of journalists, John Paul was notorious for routinely issuing florid apologies for various sins of the past by the Church, sometimes losing track and apologizing more than once for the same supposed offenses. Pope Francis's exaggerated penitential reflexes are hardly unique.

Moreover, as his papal name indicates, Pope John Paul II was theologically a modernist in tune with Vatican II. Despite the recent preferred conservative interpretation of Vatican II so that it is consistent with Catholic tradition and the magisterium, the modern Catholic Church hierarchy almost entirely scorns the Latin Mass and traditional doctrines and attitudes. Since John Paul failed to give traditionalists the safe harbor of express and enduring official papal sanction, the way was left open for Pope Francis to further marginalize traditionalists -- and he has.

In Church administration, Pope John Paul II proved to be more a clever operator than a consistent and determined reformer. Thus many financial and moral scandals festered and the fidelity of most Catholic seminaries and educational institutions declined. Now, under Francis, these adverse trends have accelerated, often abetted by the Pope and his key allies. Corruption scandals and evidence for a newly aggressive gay clerical mafia are in full bloom.

Perhaps most foolishly of all, Pope John Paul II was noted for a friendly embrace of Muslims and Islam. Again, although Pope Francis has taken this policy further and to an even more dangerous degree, he did not create it. Pope John Paul did.

I acknowledge that the fullness of time may diminish these criticisms to minor quibbles. Instead of heresy, schism, organizational collapse, and dhimmitude in its European heartland, the Catholic Church may recover its bearings, convert Europe's burgeoning Muslim communities, and gain new strength in drawing the world toward Christ.

Indeed, the Catholic Church has gone through numerous crises in its long history before recovering and finding new strength. We should be clear-minded about the abyss that now beckons before the Church -- and we must pray that the Church will recover yet again.

In charity, I offer a sincere appreciation of Pope Francis in one respect: he speaks of Satan and the demonic as real and has spurred the training and deployment of exorcists. For all his faults, Pope Francis knows that Christ and we His followers are engaged in a profound struggle for eternal stakes against an enemy whose powers transcend our limited perception.

12 posted on 04/09/2018 10:39:39 PM PDT by Rockingham
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To: rlmorel
"Pope John Paul II ... Pope Francis ... I can’t even believe two more different men ever existed on this earth."

I left the Catholic Church, becoming an evangelical Christian, for many reasons, but one of them was the Catholic claim of "papal infallibility."

As I watch Francis continue to tear apart the church, I am more and more convinced that I was right. He is nothing more than a socialist pretending to be a Pope.

13 posted on 04/09/2018 10:46:05 PM PDT by tom h
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To: G Larry
The Catholic Church can fall apart yet Jesus's church will remain. All denominations are flawed, and some will fail. Jesus' church has nothing to do with cathedrals, lovely frescoes, robes and vestments, and gilded Bibles.

The Vatican can vanish tomorrow, and the entire Catholic Church can fall apart due to scandal, and Jesus' church will be wounded but will recover.

14 posted on 04/09/2018 10:50:02 PM PDT by tom h
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To: marshmallow

The Pope is right, for once. Stopping abortion is an extraordinarily important moral imperative:

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee.

Stopping illegal immigration is also an extraordinarily important moral imperative:

Matthew 22:21 Jesus said “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”

Romans 13:1 “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities.


15 posted on 04/10/2018 2:48:36 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed")
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To: Rockingham
"...Pope John Paul II was noted for a friendly embrace of Muslims and Islam..."

I think things were at a different stage back then. We had a variety of things going on, but even then, far less than it was later. I give him a pass on that, since I believe his thought was to embrace moderate muslims.

We have since come to understand that it is one of two things that cause this to fail: There either are no moderate muslims, or those who are moderate are completely cowed by the devout/radical muslims and cannot be counted on.

16 posted on 04/10/2018 4:40:26 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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To: tom h

Much the same path I am following.


17 posted on 04/10/2018 4:40:54 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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To: rlmorel

I agree with your point about the different circumstances that Pope John Paul confronted as to Muslims, but his articulations on the issue lacked the cautionary qualifications and historical depth that popes customarily bring to their duties. Consequently, Pope Francis has portrayed his public statements as being simply an extension of what his illustrious predecessor offered. In any event, under either pope, it is hard to see the Vatican’s approach as a success in that it has failed to alleviate the persecution of Christians in Muslim lands but, by supporting Muslim immigration into Europe, has introduced the prospect of Muslim oppression in the Christian heartland.


18 posted on 04/10/2018 6:11:17 AM PDT by Rockingham
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To: tom h

The “denomination” is NOT flawed.

It’s members are.

The Catholic Church will continue to endure.


19 posted on 04/10/2018 7:01:15 AM PDT by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
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To: Rockingham

I certainly cannot disagree with you on the overall point you make...


20 posted on 04/10/2018 7:39:05 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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