Posted on 06/08/2020 9:21:46 AM PDT by ebb tide
The controversy over President Donald Trump’s visit to the St. John Paul II National Shrine highlighted a potential new development in the Catholic Church’s relationship with the presidency in the United States. Prominent voices, led by the local ordinary, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., thought that the visit should have been canceled; moreover, that it was a betrayal of Catholic values not to have canceled it.
No presidential visit to a Catholic institution has roused such controversy since the University of Notre Dame conferred an honorary doctorate on President Barack Obama in 2009. The circumstances are both similar and different: similar, in that critics thought the president should not have been invited; different, in that Obama was being honored by Notre Dame, while the Trump visit was (ostensibly) to honor Pope St. John Paul II.
The visit to the St. John Paul II National Shrine, operated by the Knights of Columbus, had been planned some time ago specifically for June 2, the date in 1979 when John Paul arrived for the first time in Poland as pope. That visit marked the beginning of the end for the Soviet empire.
Trump has honored that papal pilgrimage before; on a trip to Warsaw in 2017 he spoke at length about St. John Paul II’s homily on June 2, 1979, in Warsaw’s Victory Square.
Trump’s visit was intended to be an homage to John Paul and the occasion for signing a new executive order elevating the importance of religious liberty in U.S. foreign policy. The order mandates training in religious liberty for all State Department employees.
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
Ping
In other, more edifying news, Archbishop Vigano writes letter to President Trump to encourage him in his secular struggle with the Deep State, which closely parallels the Christian struggle with the Deep Church.
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/archbishop-vigano-issues-open-letter-to-president-trump
I know that at least once Obama visited a Catholic Church and at his request, all the crucifixes, statuary ans similar religious icons were concealed under purple velvet sacks.
Funny how the clergy were fine with that, but have a case of the vapors when Mr. Trump wants to visit.
Same at Georgetown, I think
But then, when the Pope addressed the US Congress, he hid his crucifix
That was Georgetown Universty, run by Jesuits, and established with seed money from the Jesuit's sale of slaves.
All churches belong to Christ.
No person (Pastors, Priests, Popes.Fathers) or any other clergies has any authority to criticize anyone who honors it.
The bishop defiles old ground.
Archbishop Gregory has shown Catholics the way..No more turning the other cheek..Go after the enemy full throttle....God must be loving this since it came form one of his beloved priests...
He did a great job hiding it.
Must have been one of his other addresses in the USA then, UN perhaps
Tucked in a tidy pocket
Extremely odd because I distinctly remember his effort to be PC and commented at the time!
Whichever one he hid it in, he must have realized the criticism because it was out for his next speech!
The simplest explanation is that it slid underneath his mozzeta when whichever picture you saw was taken. It is on a chain, it can move from side to side a bit.
Georgetown University was in serious trouble at one point and sold many of its slaves to stay solvent. That episode has become famous (Henry Louis Gates had a descendant of one of the slaves on his “Finding Your Roots” program a while back). As to whether the Jesuits had to sell slaves to start the college, I don’t know, but it had been in existence for decades before the famous incident.
Not everything that Pope Francis does is meant to deliberately undermine the Church. I think some things he does are meant to build up the Church.
Those statements are compatible with saying that it is possible that nothing that Pope Francis does is meant to deliberately undermine the Church and everything that he does is meant to build up the Church in some way.
Who am I to judge?
just another democrat. He broke his own rules by engaging in partisan politics and showed the world that he suffers from trump derangement syndrome. He is pathetic and frustrated and obviously dislikes republicans.
Where was he when obama voted pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, lying about keeping your plan, no increases, you can keep your doctor and your conscience protection rights? where was he...
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