Pope Francis greets Sister Marie Mathilde, 102 years old, at the Jeanne Jugan Residence in Washington, D.C., Sept. 23, 2015. Photo courtesy of the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Posted on 09/24/2015 8:51:43 AM PDT by NYer
.- Pope Francis paid a short visit to the Little Sisters of the Poor community in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to support them in their court case over the contraception mandate, the Vatican's spokesman revealed.
It was a “short visit that was not in the program,” Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Holy See Press Office, said at an evening press conference during the papal visit to the nation's capital.
“This is a sign, obviously, of support for them” in their court case, he affirmed.
The sisters had filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration for its 2012 mandate that employers provide insurance coverage for birth control, sterilizations, and drugs that can cause abortions employee health plans. The sisters have maintained that to provide this coverage would violate their religious beliefs.
Even after the Obama administration modified the rules as an “accommodation” for objecting organizations, the sisters held that even under the revised rules they would have to violate their consciences.
The majority of a three-judge panel for the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that the Little Sisters of the Poor did not establish that the mandate was a “substantial burden” on their free exercise of religion, and thus ruled they still had to abide by the mandate.
The papal visit was not on the official schedule for Pope Francis’ Washington, D.C. visit, which included Wednesday visits to the White House, a midday prayer service with the U.S. bishops at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, and the canonization mass for St. Junipero Serra at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
It was a “little addition to the program, but I think it has an important meaning,” Fr. Lombardi said.
He added that the visit “is connected” to “the words that the Pope has said in support of the position of the bishops of the United States in the speech to President Obama and also in the speech to the bishops.”
Pope Francis, with President Obama at the White House, called religious freedom “one of America’s most precious possessions” and had hearkened to the U.S. bishops’ defense of religious freedom. “All are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it,” he had said.
In response to the news of the visit with the sisters, Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville, president of the U.S. Bishops Conference, said that he was “so pleased” to hear of the visit.
“As you know the last thing the Little Sisters of the Poor want to do is sue somebody. They don’t want to sue in court,” he insisted. “They simply want to serve people who are poor and elderly, and they want to do it in a way that doesn’t conflict with their beliefs.”
The archbishop had previously warned against a “interpreting freedom of religion in a very narrow way” in the press conference, and emphasized that religion is not something practiced just for an hour on Sunday but something lived out. To prove his point, he used the Little Sisters as an example.
“We need to make room within our nation for people who have deeply held religious beliefs not to be forced to do that,” he added.
Pope Francis' impromptu visit to the Little Sisters of the Poor in Washington DC :) Photos courtesy of the Little Sisters of the PoorPosted by Catholic News Agency on Wednesday, September 23, 2015
God bless the work of these selfless women, ping!
Where was his support in front of their oppressor?
Stopping by to show support is an assumption. In today’s upside down political correctness and rabid degeneration of traditional western morals, I can envision the Nuns being told to back down.
Did you read the original post?
“Little Sisters of the Poor” - Isn’t that who Ohio State plays this weekend?
Indeed! I don't like this Pope and I am a cradle Catholic and very active in my Parish. My gut feeling is that the Cardinals made a grave mistake in electing a leftist from Argentina. Time will tell but so far it looks like the Pope is a dyed in the wool socialist/Peronista.
From Wikipedia:
Peronism, or Justicialism, is an Argentine political movement based on the legacy of former President Juan Domingo Perón and his second wife, Eva Perón. The party, the Justicialist Party, derived its name from the Spanish words for "social justice".The Catholic Church these days is way too enamored of "social justice". What is the definition of Social Justice anyway??
No, (I am Ex-Cath). The Cardinals intentionally elected a leftist because they are mostly leftists pushing leftism on the flock in the name of one world/communism.
They do not want JP2 repeated.
I think you may be right but I pray that you are not. JPII is now a saint because he acted as Christ’s true vicor on earth. He lead by example. Francis is no John Paul II!
I am. And history will prove it.
I wish I wasn’t. But the facts in evidence are what they are. I’m just not afraid to see them and accept their truth.
Why would he/she? It is easier to make a snap judgment that has no relation to the facts. Kind of like Ann Coulter lately.
Yes I did. What’s your point? You really want to debate a cynical hypothetical?
You want to knock your self out over a cynical hypothetical go for it.
But if you really want to know, no, I did not read the OP, I went straight to the source link and read that. Does that count?
Too bad the pope didn’t mention Obama’s crackdown on the Little Sisters in his speech before Congress, and religious persecution all over the world, especially Christians in the United States. Guess he didn’t want to make his buddy Obama mad. His luck-warm comments towards abortion (never saying the word) compared to his rant on the evils of the death penalty is also troubling. He also never mentioned Christians that are getting their heads cut off daily all over the world, by, you guessed it, MUSLIMS. He did say that all faiths have religious fanatics. Sounds exactly like something Obama would have said.
But you still made a snap judgment ignoring what was written.
I made no judgement snap or otherwise. I just made a cynical hypothetical based on today’s standards of discourse in news, politics and religion.
Those nuns must have been delighted.
How nice for them
.
It's not like this was done "in a corner." Everyone --- even Obama, if he's not as stupid as he looks --- will get it.
It's been announced on the news for days. How was it a "surprise"?
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