Hoooo boy. Someone whose name we will mention shortly has really put his foot in it big time, and this is most assuredly *not* in a good way. Pissing off the church is a Very Bad Thing. And he has done it in spades just by one pseudo-simple action. It’s stunning. He has no idea what he’s done that has angered them so badly. He’s about to find out. From “Morning Joe” via Raw Story:
Comments made by Pope Leo and a widely spread attack on President Donald Trump by Catholic bishops on his harsh immigration policies should give his administration pause that the ground beneath them is shifting — and not in a good way, it was warned Monday. The hosts of “Morning Joe” noted the Pope calling the treatment of undocumented immigrants a “grave injustice” and combined that with a statement from America’s Roman Catholic bishops asserting, “We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement. We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.”
Holy crap!!! The POPE. The BISHOPS. Those are some hard hitters! They are unhappy about the treatment of immigrants. And they have said so IN PUBLIC. This is not a few minutes of contacting the administration and talking about it, or a sermon on Sunday. No, this is coming out and saying “You stupid piece of sh!t,” only in a much more polite and restrained manner. Now, how someone chooses to worship or not worship is their own business, and none of us should say otherwise. It doesn’t count if people are the dumber part of the country. And we’ll just stop right there on that one. Religion discussions are messy.
That led MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough to tell his panel, ”One of the most remarkable things I’ve seen is Pope Leo, Catholic bishops, doing something unbelievably radical. I’m sure the White House thinks this is radical Republicans. They are quoting Jesus Christ, and they are quoting Jesus Christ from the pulpit, and they are showing how un-Christ-like these ICE raids are, where they’re ripping children from their mothers’ hands.”
We can’t let ourselves get numb to the actions of ICE and CBP. Immigrants are people, just like us. ICE is secure in their abuses, hiding behind their masks so they can do whatever they want to. They don’t care about the religious backlash; that’s a lot more important than they realize. The messages reach a LOT of people. And maybe, just maybe, it will cause others to act with us. We can’t stop now.
“They are going into schools. They are tearing teachers out. I mean, this is the Catholic bishops and Pope Leo. This is a game changer.” “I know, I know, people have people outside the faith community may not understand this, but this is a game changer,” he added. “And Pope Leo saying, ‘Oh, really? You call yourself pro-life just because you’re against abortion, but you support this inhumane treatment of immigrants?’ No, no, no, those two don’t square up.”
Wow. Again, the bishops. The POPE. This is no small piece of news. This is major. And Trump has no earthly idea about it. We can be pretty sure that religion is not his thing, even if he tries to pretend it is. Remember having a path cleared so he could stand in front of a church with a Bible up in his hand for a photo? Or the Trump Bible? Yea, all pretense. Just a pretense. But there are a lot of people in this country who listen to their religious leaders. And many of those may find the courage to stand up now. We hope they can.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
What a difference a comma makes:
“ICE are people just like us.”
:”ICE are people, just like us.”
Yes, they are people, as we are, but they are not just like us.
Trump’s little stunt of holding a Bible up in front of a church just shows how brainless he really is. That gesture needed to have a strong statement as to why he did it, to support it. But NOOO!!! He just stands there, seemingly dumbfounded.
on the other side there are a lot of catholics who think the pope and the bishops should stay out of politics. never mind that the teachings of christ are unequivically in opposition to conservative dogma. you have vance. rubio vought and a whole lot of others. beyond the administration you have five scotus justices and i’m pretty sure abbott, desantis and a whole lot of other big name republicans. i’ve long thought that if the church excommunicated a bunch of these sociopaths people might take them more seriously as purveyors of the teachings of christ and they might stop bleeding membership. the equivalent might work for other denominations as well.