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CONSERVATIVE CRITICISM INTENSIFIES AGAINST POPE FRANCIS

Our_Lady_of_Mount_Carme_l-Church_theridgewoodblog

BY NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Conservative criticism of Pope Francis intensified Saturday after his intervention in the Knights of Malta order, with posters appearing around Rome citing his actions against conservative Catholics and asking: “Where’s your mercy?”

The posters appeared on the same day that Francis cemented his authority over the Knights by naming a top Vatican archbishop, Angelo Becciu, to be his special delegate to the ancient aristocratic order.

Francis gave Becciu, the No. 2 in the Vatican secretariat of state, “all necessary powers” to help lay the groundwork for a new constitution for the order, lead the spiritual renewal of its professed knights and prepare for the election of a new grand master, expected in three months.

The Vatican’s intervention with the sovereign group had provided fuel for Francis’ conservative critics, who until Saturday had largely confined their concern with his mercy-over-morals papacy to blogs, interviews and conferences.

https://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_REL_VATICAN_KNIGHTS_OF_MALTA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-04-12-23-33

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Vatican back peddles on Trump remarks

Pope Francis

Vatican: Pope Francis’ Comments About Donald Trump Not ‘Personal Attack or Instruction on How to Vote’

by THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D.19 Feb 20165,343

The Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, has issued aclarification regarding the Pope’s remarks to journalists Thursday, when he said, in answer to a question about Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, that a person who only thinks of building walls and not about building bridges is no Christian.

Aboard the plane returning from Mexico to Rome, the Pope answered Reuters reporter Phil Pullella by saying, “I would only say: if he said these things, this man is no Christian. But we’d have to see whether he said these things. And in this matter, I would give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Since news reports bore headlines suggesting that the Pope had denied Trump’s Christianity, and other comments by the Pope had also caused some confusion, the papal spokesman released a statement Friday in an effort to clarify what the Pope was trying to say.

Lombardi said that Pope-watchers know that Francis is always repeating that we should not build walls but bridges. “He repeats this over and over, constantly, and he has also said it many times regarding the issue of migration in Europe,” he said. “So it is not a specific issue, limited to this case” but part of his general attitude, consistent with “following the Gospel directives of welcome and solidarity.”

The spokesman also insisted that the Pope was not intending a personal judgment on Trump, or trying to tell Catholics how to vote at the upcoming election.

“This case drew a lot of attention,” Lombardi said, “but he never intended it to be in any way a personal attack or an instruction on how to vote. The Pope has made it clear that he would not meddle in the voting issues in the election campaign of the United States.”

The priest said that media reports often overlooked that the Pope had said that his words “depended on the accuracy and truth of what he had been told regarding the Republican candidate’s positions, thus also giving him the benefit of the doubt.”

https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/02/19/vatican-pope-on-trump-not-meant-as-a-personal-attack-or-an-instruction-on-how-to-vote/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

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POPE PICKS FIGHT WITH TRUMP ENTERS U.S. ELECTION BATTLE

Vatican wall

 

February 18,2016

the staff if the Ridgewood blog

Pope  Frances entered the fray of US election politics saying, “a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel. As far as what you said about whether I would advise to vote or not to vote, I am not going to get involved in that. I say only that this man is not Christian if he said things like that. We must see if he said things in that way and in this I give the benefit of the doubt.”

In response to the Pope, Donald  Trump released a statement and held a press conference :

If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened. ISIS would have been eradicated unlike what is happening now with our all talk, no action politicians.

The Mexican government and its leadership has made many disparaging remarks about me to the Pope, because they want to continue to rip off the United States, both on trade and at the border, and they understand I am totally wise to them. The Pope only heard one side of the story – he didn’t see the crime, the drug trafficking and the negative economic impact the current policies have on the United States. He doesn’t see how Mexican leadership is outsmarting President Obama and our leadership in every aspect of negotiation.

For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful. I am proud to be a Christian and as President I will not allow Christianity to be consistently attacked and weakened, unlike what is happening now, with our current President. No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith. They are using the Pope as a pawn and they should be ashamed of themselves for doing so, especially when so many lives are involved and when illegal immigration is so rampant.

Donald J. Trump