European Church Leaders: Populism ‘Compromises’ the Truth

The Catholic Herald (UK) ^ | 10/28/17 | Carol Glatz

[marshmallow]

When you have the idea that your nation is higher, is better than other nations, that is not Christian'

Healthy patriotism is different from nationalist, populist fervor that manipulates people for political ends, said two top Church leaders.

“When you have the idea that your nation is higher, is better than other nations, that is not Christian, that is not according to the Christian faith,” said German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE).

“If you say, love your neighbour like yourself, that’s Christian,” he said during a news conference with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican foreign minister. The two were part of a high-level meeting of politicians and Church leaders in the European Union to rethink how the Church could contribute to the future of Europe.

When asked about the rise of nationalism and populism in Europe and how the bishops were navigating these movements, the cardinal said he was not following what every bishops’ conference was saying, but it was true that for some time, a more rigid mentality of black or white thinking was on the rise in some political and social movements.

Every nation in Europe was dealing — albeit differently — with large influxes of migrants, but all the bishops were following the direction of the Pope, he said.

“We are Catholic, so the line of the Pope” and what he has underlined in “his speeches is the common line of the Church,” Cardinal Marx said.

[dfwgator]

“We are Catholic, so the line of the Pope” and what he has underlined in “his speeches is the common line of the Church,” Cardinal Marx

How appropriate.

[headstamp 2]

Yes, full socialism/communism is better.

Get with it worker drones.

[Leaning Right]

> Healthy patriotism is different from nationalist, populist fervor <

And who is to decide which is which? The pampered elite, of course.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The globalists are creating “populist” and “white supremacist” straw men and pretending that defines their opposition.

[marktwain]

The idea that nation-states are obsolete is a central “international socialist”/Marxist tenant.

It is one of the principle differences with “national socialism” like NAZIsm or Fascism, as applied in Germany, Italy, or Spain.

[Spok]

Patriotic Christians never put their country over God. That’s what the communists and secularists teach is correct.

[Architect of Avalon]

Western Civilization, which was built by Christians, is superior to the Middle East, which is run by followers of a death cult.

[A_perfect_lady]

Agree. Nationalism isn’t believing your country is better than other countries, it’s believing that nationalism is better for your country than globalism.

[Pollster1]

“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” is a command to follow the rule of law. It obligates us to turn away illegal immigrants . . . just as other passages obligate us to help those same people in their home countries.

Economically, we can help 20-50 people in their own regions for the price of supporting one refugee here. Further, attracting those refugees away from their homes makes their decent neighbors a smaller group and thus more vulnerable to predators among them. Once thugs saw that decent people would flee rather than defending their communities, we had far more civil wars in the world. The Christian thing, the humanitarian thing, is not to continue on the path of mass, uncontrolled migration.