Posted on 05/18/2015 7:56:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Sunday morning, Americans awakened to headlines proclaiming that Pope Francis had called Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas an angel of peace during an event at the Vatican the day before. News organizations gleefully printed this claim across newspapers and news sites around the globe. Agence France-Presses headline: Pope meets angel of peace Abbas after treaty announcement. BBC: Pope Francis calls Palestinians Abbas angel of peace. The New York Times: In Vatican, Abbas Is Praised as Angel of Peace. Even Jonathan S. Tobin of Commentary magazine published a piece entitled, Sorry, Your Holiness, But Abbas Is No Angel.
Of course, this reveals the eagerness of some in the media to paint His Holiness as some valiant advocate for the progressive cause, and thus, an ally of Palestine over Israel. If the Pope indeed called Abbas an angel, it would, in their eyes, be yet another example of his putting conservative Catholics, many of whom are likely to be pro-Israel, in their place; progressives have wrongly portrayed the pope as taking a progressive stance on other issues about which they care deeply. To them, its about time that traditional Catholics get with the program, and, thankfully, Pope Francis is going to set them straight.
But they couldnt be more wrong. Here is the account of Pope Franciss remarks by the Vatican reporter for La Stampa, an Italian newspaper:
As is tradition with heads of State or of government, Francis presented a gift to the Palestinian leader, commenting: May the angel of peace destroy the evil spirit of war. I thought of you: May you be an angel of peace. Pope Francis had called Abu Mazen a man of peace when he visited Bethlehem in May 2014, just as he called the then Israeli prime minister, Shimon Peres, a man of peace during his subsequent visit to Jerusalem. The Argentinian pope had then invited both leaders to a prayer vigil for peace in the Vatican Gardens which took place on 8 June that year and was also attended by the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew.
To be clear, his statements to the Palestinian Authority president were a reminder of Abbass obligation to become a channel of peace, not praise for Abbass ethereal personality. This distinction is one of intent, and that is crucial in this discussion.
Oh, and that gift he gave Abbas? A copy of the Holy Sees own Evangelii Gaudium. In it, Pope Francis explains: We hold the Jewish people in special regard because their covenant with God has never been revoked. . . . Dialogue and friendship with the children of Israel are part of the life of Jesus disciples.
Pope Francis knows whats in the book he wrote. He is the leader of a faith that, as a rule, requires deep ecclesiastical justification for even the simplest gesture, so one cant help but think that the popes gift to Abbas was unmistakably purposeful: Perhaps he meant it to demonstrate Catholicisms admiration for Jews and Israel.
The misleading coverage of the Abbas exchange is troubling on many counts.
First, it is yet another example of the willful misrepresentation of the views of the Vatican under the leadership of Pope Francis. While it is true that the Catholic Church often leans to the political left of American conservatism (this is nothing new or profound), the mainstream press has wildly exaggerated the degree to which this occurs. Indeed, they can hardly contain their excitement when presented with an opportunity to portray Church leadership as being at odds with conservative political philosophy.
Second, because the media are determined to politicize every moment of every day, they view in a political light everything Pope Francis does. Catholics believe that God loathes violence and loves peace. These are ideals that exist irrespective of changing geopolitical landscapes. As the head of the Catholic Church (and consequently, the faith leader of the largest single religious denomination, representing 1.2 billion people worldwide), Pope Francis has an obligation to use his platform in the pursuit of peace. His encouraging words to world leaders, including Abbas, are meant to achieve these ends.
Its astonishing that international news sources have continued to print false information, even after the popes remarks were made available in English.
But that doesnt mean the Church remains silent in the face of evil. While President Obama, for instance, refuses to call the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians a genocide, Pope Francis stood up to Turkish leaders by insisting that the slaughter of these Christians a century ago was, indeed, genocide. As ISIS continues to massacre countless Christians in the Middle East, Pope Francis has called for the United Nations to mobilize troops to fight the jihadist network a particularly striking statement given that the Catholic Church is often reluctant to endorse military conflict. Its noteworthy that neither of these positions is strongly supported by progressives.
Finally, its astonishing that international news sources have continued to print false information, even after the popes remarks were made available in English by an Italian newspaper. The media are eager to paint Pope Francis as a progressive messiah who is ready to condemn the idiocy of conservative Catholics worldwide and they wont let accuracy stand in their way.
There are real geopolitical consequences for such shoddy reporting, and those in the media who misrepresented the Holy Sees comments should be held to account. Its time for a retraction and an apology.
Ellen Carmichael is president of The Lafayette Company, a Washington, D.C.-based political-consulting firm. She has served as a senior communications adviser for a Republican presidential campaign, members of Congress, and statewide elected officials. Follow her on Twitter @ellencarmichael.
All righty then. Now we can all focus on the Vatican’s recognition of “the State of Palestine.”
Pope Francis is probably one of the most”misunderstood” Pope’s in my lifetime.
From Homosexuality, to Wealth Redistribution, to Capitalism, to Palestine, every time he makes a statement, it has to be re-clarified by either the Vatican or some other Catholic agency or spokesperson.
I’ve never seen anything like it, at least not with Pope John Paul II or Pope Benedict.
OK. Maybe he didn’t call Abbas an “Angel of Peace.” But this Pope makes so many off the wall statements that clearing up this one mistake is like winning one battle in a losing war. This Pope needs to shut up for a while.
Why anyone believes anything they say or print on any topic whatsoever eludes me.
Conservatives, especially conservatives on this forum should be extremely skeptical of Big Media. It is wise, I think, to be most skeptical when Big Media says something that panders to one's own prejudices.
Regardless, he’s still an imbecile and an idiot.
He's definitely the most deliberately and repeatedly slandered individual that I can ever remember.
Hugging and kissing the slime was enough.
How could anyone not know by now that the narrative must be propaganda that fits the libtard agenda.
First, his naivete gets him into compromising situations he shouldn’t be in. Second, he makes off-the-cuff statements that can be construed in a number of ways. The United States and the Roman Catholic Church have similar leadership at the top, if you want to call it that.
Unfortunately for the author, the Pope’s Marxist views cannot be hidden. Not surprising — supporters of a centralized church are going to be pulled toward a centralized economy.
No pun intended but Pope Francis is a prime example of the Peter Principle.
WHO REALLY IS POPE BERGOGLIO?
Pope Francis first miracle, the conversion of Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the terrorist PLO, from an angel of death (Abbas was one of the principal planners of the Munich Olympics terrorist attack. He was the guy who wrote the checks and embraced the operatives as they headed off to one of the most sensational terrorist attacks of its time in 1972), into an angel of peace. With one hand Francis was blessing the Islamic terrorists and with the other hand he strikes a dagger at the heart of Israel.
Pope Francis, before going to the Middle East, called himself the Che Guevara of the Palestine people, a flabbergasting affirmation to identify with and to use El Che as model and inspiration, a mass murderer and genocide of the Cuban people. While Muslims keep mass murdering Christians, Francis allied himself with the terrorists of the PLO and Hamas recognizing a no existent Palestine State.
Dont be surprise of Francis veneration for the monster of la Cabaña. On 1998, Archbishop Bergoglio attributed Cubas evils not to the communist dictatorship but to which he called the blockade of the United States; later he disparaged against the capitalist system and, finally it affirmed that the political and social system closest to the social doctrine of the catholic church was a socialism like the Cuban whenever the idea of God was added to him.
Thousands of Cubans murdered by the Communist tyranny while imprisoned and tortured hundreds of thousands of patriots, more than 25,000 Cubans were drown on the Florida Straits trying to escape from the Communist paradise in makeshift drafts, over one million Cubans forced into Exile in their quest of freedom, didnt diminished Pope Francis admiration for the Cuban Stalinist regime, so much so, that he concocted with comrade Obama a plan to keep afloat the regime prolonging the oppression of the Cuban people while forcing the American taxpayers to play the role of sugar daddy of the regime, a role played before by the Soviet Union and later Venezuela that ended with their ruin.
So, he says that the Pals can have their terrorist State...he invites the PLO leader for a visit and gives him and “Angle of Peace” medallion...shakes his hand...
Why? For what reason did he do this?
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