For those of you not familiar with the language of diplomacy, the Holy See is the Vatican. It is an independent city-state as negotiated with Mussolini under the Lateran Treaty of 1929. It has ambassadors and a government. As such, it should be held accountable as a government. That government is headed by the Pope.
This is why, given the Pope’s recent funding to the tune of $500,000 of caravans headed to our border intending to illegally cross it, the United States should immediately recall our ambassador to the Holy See, if not break off relations altogether while this pope serves in office.
I say this as a loyal Roman Catholic who believes this pope is blind to his duty to the faith. Instead, leftist politician that he is, he indulges in the favorite pastime of the global left for over a century, trying to injure the United States. If another state had done this there would be repercussions. But this pontiff cowardly hides behind the throne of St. Peter to do his mischief.
He regularly makes common cause with regimes such as Iran and Venezuela. He hypocritically criticizes the U.S. on border walls and holds forth on issues like climate change he has no expertise in or brief to comment upon. He seems to think Roman Catholics want politics from the pulpit, not God.
In this he is sorely mistaken.
And his handling of the priest scandals has been nothing short of evil, promoting and protecting clerics known to have covered up the abuse of innocent people. There are excellent prelates, like Cardinal Sarah of Guinea, who are fighting this pope. They deserve the support of anyone who opposes the actions of Francis on social policy and church matters.
I can hear some of you now, as you empty your drool buckets, “The Pope is anti-Christ and the Catholic Church be the Whore of Babylon.” Not quite hayseeds. The Church has had bad popes before, learned from their mistakes, and survived and prospered to the betterment of the The Church and mankind. Adherents of certain other faiths also have little room to talk. I don’t remember a lot of Roman Catholics amongst the Ku Klux Klan, etc.
But inane anti-Catholic bigotry aside, the U.S. must step up and treat this move by Pope Francis for what it is, a hostile maneuver against this country deserving of the same response as we would give any other government engaged in this type of provocation.
Francis I is far from holy. Thus the current Vatican should not be able to use that status as a shield. If the Pope wants to act just like another far-left politician who loathes the U.S., then treat him like one.
