Peter the Roman conspiracy

[Mark]

Pope’ Claims Mary Was Conceived ‘Without Original Sin’ During Feast of Immaculate Conception

 In one of the feasts and celebrations marked on the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar leading up to Christmas, Catholics around the world observed the Feast of Immaculate Conception on Monday, a day in which those who follow the religion commemorate their belief that Mary was born without sin.

The pontiff known as Pope Francis led Catholics in the annual observance of the holiday, delivering an Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square.

“Oh Mary, our mother, today the people of God in celebration venerates you, the immaculate, preserved from the contagion of sin from the beginning,” he prayed. “Accept the gift I offer on behalf of the church in Rome and throughout the whole world.”

“In this time that leads us to the feast of the birth of Jesus, teach us to go against the tide,” Francis continued. “The power of God’s love, which has preserved you from original sin, freed all of humanity through your intercession from every spiritual and material slavery and made the designs of God’s salvation victorious within hearts and events.”

According to the National Catholic Register, he also declared to the crowds gathered that in Mary “there was no room for sin,” because “God had chosen her to be the mother of Jesus,” which resulted in her being preserved from “original sin.”

The pontiff later venerated the Statue of the Immaculate Conception in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna and invited others to join him. The statue was created in 1857 as a mark of the Roman Catholic belief that Mary was conceived without sin.

“I ask you to spiritually unite yourselves to me in this pilgrimage, which expresses filial devotion to our heavenly mother,” he said

Francis also visited the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where he venerated the statue known as the Salus Populi Romani.

The concept of the “immaculate conception” was declared by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1844, who issued a proclamation stating, “The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”

But some state that the Roman Catholic holiday is unbiblical as there is no Scriptural basis to state that Mary was sinless, which is also noted in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

“We know from Scripture that Mary must have known she was a sinner who needed a Savior when she said, ‘My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior’ (Luke 1:47),” Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries told Christian News Network. “The infallible word of God declares that ‘all of sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Rom. 3:23). Mary was no exception. God’s word tells us that sin entered the world through Adam, ‘and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned’ (Rom. 5:12).”

“The doctrine of Mary’s pure conception without sin is pure heresy,” he continued, adding that Catholic doctrine not only teaches that Mary was sinless, but that she has power to save. “[The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)] teaches ‘Mary did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.’ (CCC, para. 969). ‘The Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things. In giving birth, you kept your virginity. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.’ (CCC, para. 966).”

Gendron said that the CCC also instructs that Mary is ” to be praised with special devotion (CCC, para, 971) and that “[s ]he was the cause of salvation for herself and the whole human race (CCC, para. 494).”

“The Catholic Church promises that all those who seek Mary’s protection will be saved for all eternity,” he stated.

Gendron, a former Roman Catholic who now leads a ministry to evangelize Catholics, stated that these teachings are unbiblical as the Scriptures give no veneration to Mary throughout her earthly life.

“These doctrines have robbed God of His glory and have resulted in Catholics showing greater devotion to Mary than to the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “When she appears with the other believers on the day of Pentecost, she’s not an object of worship or even a leader in the early church. There are no occasions of anyone ever praying to her, honoring her or venerating her. She is never mentioned in any presentation of the Gospel.”

“Jesus Christ alone is our Redeemer, Deliverer, Mediator and Advocate. He alone is to be worshiped, adored, honored and praised now and throughout all eternity!” Gendron declared. “May Catholics comes to their senses through repentance and faith in the only sinless Mediator!”

http://christiannews.net/2014/12/10/pope-claims-mary-was-conceived-without-original-sin-during-feast-of-immaculate-conception/

[Mark]

According to the National Catholic Register, he also declared to the crowds gathered that in Mary “there was no room for sin,” because “God had chosen her to be the mother of Jesus,” which resulted in her being preserved from “original sin.”

Lev 12:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Lev 12:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.
Lev 12:3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
Lev 12:4 And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.
Lev 12:5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.
Lev 12:6 And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:
Lev 12:7 Who shall offer it before the LORD, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female.
Lev 12:8 And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.

uk 2:21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Luk 2:22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
Luk 2:23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
Luk 2:24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.


hmmmmm....

[Mark]

‘Pope’ Claims Mary Was Conceived ‘Without Original Sin’ During Feast of Immaculate Conception

In one of the feasts and celebrations marked on the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar leading up to Christmas, Catholics around the world observed the Feast of Immaculate Conception on Monday, a day in which those who follow the religion commemorate their belief that Mary was born without sin.

The pontiff known as Pope Francis led Catholics in the annual observance of the holiday, delivering an Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square.

“Oh Mary, our mother, today the people of God in celebration venerates you, the immaculate, preserved from the contagion of sin from the beginning,” he prayed. “Accept the gift I offer on behalf of the church in Rome and throughout the whole world.”

“In this time that leads us to the feast of the birth of Jesus, teach us to go against the tide,” Francis continued. “The power of God’s love, which has preserved you from original sin, freed all of humanity through your intercession from every spiritual and material slavery and made the designs of God’s salvation victorious within hearts and events.”

According to the National Catholic Register, he also declared to the crowds gathered that in Mary “there was no room for sin,” because “God had chosen her to be the mother of Jesus,” which resulted in her being preserved from “original sin.”

The pontiff later venerated the Statue of the Immaculate Conception in Rome’s Piazza di Spagna and invited others to join him. The statue was created in 1857 as a mark of the Roman Catholic belief that Mary was conceived without sin.

“I ask you to spiritually unite yourselves to me in this pilgrimage, which expresses filial devotion to our heavenly mother,” he said.

Francis also visited the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where he venerated the statue known as the Salus Populi Romani.

The concept of the “immaculate conception” was declared by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1844, who issued a proclamation stating, “The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”

But some state that the Roman Catholic holiday is unbiblical as there is no Scriptural basis to state that Mary was sinless, which is also noted in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

“We know from Scripture that Mary must have known she was a sinner who needed a Savior when she said, ‘My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior’ (Luke 1:47),” Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries told Christian News Network. “The infallible word of God declares that ‘all of sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Rom. 3:23). Mary was no exception. God’s word tells us that sin entered the world through Adam, ‘and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned’ (Rom. 5:12).”

“The doctrine of Mary’s pure conception without sin is pure heresy,” he continued, adding that Catholic doctrine not only teaches that Mary was sinless, but that she has power to save. “[The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)] teaches ‘Mary did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation.’ (CCC, para. 969). ‘The Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things. In giving birth, you kept your virginity. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.’ (CCC, para. 966).”

Gendron said that the CCC also instructs that Mary is ” to be praised with special devotion (CCC, para, 971) and that “[s ]he was the cause of salvation for herself and the whole human race (CCC, para. 494).”

“The Catholic Church promises that all those who seek Mary’s protection will be saved for all eternity,” he stated.

Gendron, a former Roman Catholic who now leads a ministry to evangelize Catholics, stated that these teachings are unbiblical as the Scriptures give no veneration to Mary throughout her earthly life.

“These doctrines have robbed God of His glory and have resulted in Catholics showing greater devotion to Mary than to the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said. “When she appears with the other believers on the day of Pentecost, she’s not an object of worship or even a leader in the early church. There are no occasions of anyone ever praying to her, honoring her or venerating her. She is never mentioned in any presentation of the Gospel.”

“Jesus Christ alone is our Redeemer, Deliverer, Mediator and Advocate. He alone is to be worshiped, adored, honored and praised now and throughout all eternity!” Gendron declared. “May Catholics comes to their senses through repentance and faith in the only sinless Mediator!”

http://christiannews.net/2014/12/10/pope-claims-mary-was-conceived-without-original-sin-during-feast-of-immaculate-conception/

[Mark]

Smoking gun? Pope Francis’ critics cite new book in questioning his papacy

Was there a secret plot to elect Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio at the papal conclave last year?

Did Bergoglio — who became Pope Francis at that conclave — give the go-ahead to such a plan?

And does that campaign call his election, and his papacy, into question?
 
 

Such questions might sound like plot twists to a new Vatican thriller by Dan Brown, but they are actually the latest talking points promoted by some Catholic conservatives upset with the direction that Francis is leading the church.

The furor stems from a behind-the-scenes account of the March 2013 conclave, presented in a new book about Francis titled “The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope.”

In the last chapter of the biography, which focuses on Bergoglio’s early life in Argentina and career as a Jesuit, author Austen Ivereigh delivers an insider account of how a group of cardinals who wanted a reformer pope quietly sought to rally support for Bergoglio in the days leading up to the conclave.

Cardinals take an oath not to divulge details of a conclave and Ivereigh based his account on background interviews with cardinals who took part.

He called Francis’ boosters “Team Bergoglio.” They were led by reform-minded European churchmen like Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of England, who Ivereigh once worked for, and German prelates like Cardinal Walter Kasper, who has become a trusted theological adviser to Francis.

At one point, Ivereigh writes that members of “Team Bergoglio” sought the Argentine cardinal’s “assent” that he would not refuse the papacy if the voting turned his way. During the 2005 conclave, Bergoglio reportedly refused to take up the mantle when he was running second to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would eventually be elected Pope Benedict XVI.

This time, Ivereigh writes, Bergoglio “said that he believed that at this time of crisis for the Church no cardinal could refuse if asked.”

In conclaves, cardinals often signal whether they would refuse or go along with an election, if it happened.

Also, while overt politicking is strongly discouraged, and conclave rules expressly forbid dealmaking, cardinals often coalesce in camps behind one contender or another.

But when Ivereigh’s book was published last month (he personally presented a copy to Francis), media accounts of the politics of the conclave prompted some to question whether Bergoglio himself was involved by giving the go-ahead, and whether that could undermine the legitimacy of his election.

Murphy-O’Connor’s press secretary wrote a letter to a British newspaper saying that no approach had been made to Bergoglio seeking his assent.

And on Monday (Dec. 1), the Rev. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, issued a statement saying the cardinals cited “have expressly denied this description of events, both in terms of the demand for a prior consent by Cardinal Bergoglio and with regard to the conduct of a campaign for his election.”

Church sources said the Vatican’s quick reaction was an indication of how concerned Rome is that Francis’ opponents will use any pretext to try to sow doubts about him and his papacy.

Ivereigh, a leading Vatican expert who was in New York this week to promote his book, said Tuesday (Dec. 2) that he stands by his reporting. But Ivereigh said he regretted phrasing the episode to make it seem that Bergoglio had been approached about being a candidate and gave his backers encouragement.

“That never happened and I am sorry that I gave the impression that’s what happened,” Ivereigh told Religion News Service. “I think the whole chapter makes clear that he never had any role at all in his own election.”

Ivereigh said he was trying to show that as opposed to the 2005 conclave, Bergoglio’s supporters in 2013 “were convinced he wouldn’t resist his election.”

“The conclave rules do not prevent cardinals from urging other cardinals to vote for a particular person,” he added. “And indeed that is exactly what happens. That is part of the discernment that happens in a papal election.”

Ivereigh said he will be changing the wording of one paragraph in future editions of the book to clarify Bergoglio’s role. (NOTE: See text of the wording change at the end of this story.)

Whether that will satisfy the critics is unclear.

Some fringe elements in the Catholic Church have proposed various theories they claim might either invalidate the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in February 2013 or the election of Francis the following month.

Others see the accounts of conclave machinations as further evidence that Pope Francis is, for them, a far more manipulative and autocratic figure than the public believes.

Ivereigh says that in future reprints of “The Great Reformer,” the paragraph at the top of Page 355 will be amended as follows:

EXISTING

They had learned their lessons from 2005. They first secured Bergoglio’s assent. Asked if he was willing, he said that he believed that at this time of crisis for the Church no cardinal could refuse if asked.

NEW

In keeping with conclave rules, they did not ask Bergoglio if he would be willing to be a candidate. But they believed this time that the crisis in the Church would make it hard for him to refuse if elected.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/smoking-gun-pope-francis-critics-cite-new-book-in-questioning-his-papacy/2014/12/05/9d6dc0ec-7cb2-11e4-8241-8cc0a3670239_story.html

[Psalm 51:17]

http://qz.com/310652/2014-was-the-most-progressive-year-for-the-catholic-church/
2014 was the most progressive year for the Catholic Church
12/15/14

Pope Francis initiated a revolution in the Catholic Church in 2014—a revolution of common sense rather than ideology or doctrine.

The new tone he is trying to achieve is a lucid response to the concerns that have chased many people, especially the young, away from the Catholic Church. The logic seems clear:

Church leaders’ chilly public use of the term “disordered” for homosexuality has been replaced by the pope’s call for the church to help families better accept their gay and lesbian children—following on his famous remark, “Who am I to judge?”

With strong evidence that people are turned off if religious leaders come across as partisan, the pope has avoided the US bishops’ focus on fighting gay marriage and abortion and instead encouraged a broader agenda by emphasizing inequality, which, as he tweeted, “is the root of social evil.”

The carte blanche for bishops to abuse their authority was revoked as prelates such as Germany’s “bishop of bling,” Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, were removed from power, with the promise of more to come as Francis deals further with the clergy sexual abuse scandal.

After leaks, paranoia and corruption allegations swirled through the Vatican, Pope Francis has cleaned up the Vatican Bank, assailed clericalism, shamed other prelates with his simple lifestyle and taken unprecedented steps toward creating transparency by participating in a string of revealing media interviews.

These are all common-sense steps to address problems that have driven many Catholics away from the church, especially in Europe and the US—where lapsed Catholics would comprise the second largest “denomination” after the Catholic Church itself. Likewise, his focus on poverty and his effort to downplay “small-minded rules” in favor of the central Christian message—“Jesus Christ has saved you”—speaks especially to Latin America, where many Catholics have switched to Protestant worship.

But as Will Rogers famously said, “Common sense ain’t common,” and Francis’s open-armed approach has been labeled the source of “confusion” by some “orthodox” Catholics. In a widely discussed New York Times column, Ross Douthat warned that the church could be headed for a schism if its more welcoming attitude leads it to accept divorce.

more

[Mark]

Pope says will not be around in 10 years

Pope Francis said Friday he will not still be in the Vatican in ten years' time.

Greeting athletes and officials from the Italian National Olympic Committee, the 78-year-old pontiff wished them well with their bid to host the 2024 Games, but said he would not be around to watch them.

"Dear friends, best wishes for Rome's bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games," he said. "I will not be there. May the Lord bless all of you and your families."

It was not the first time the pope, who turned 78 on Wednesday, has hinted he does not think he will last very long at the helm of the Catholic Church.

On his way back from South Korea in August he lightheartedly remarked to reporters that he may have only two or three years left to live.

Responding to a question about how he deals with his astonishing global popularity, he replied: "I try to think of my sins, my mistakes, not to become proud. Because I know this will last a short time, two or three years, and then I'll be off to the house of the Father".

The Argentinian pontiff has also stated that he could retire if his health fails, as his predecessor Benedict XVI did last year in what was the first voluntary papal resignation in more than 700 years

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-says-not-around-10-years-153244751--oly.html

[Mark]

Pope Francis’ Image Positive in Much of World

A median of 60% across 43 nations have a favorable view of the pontiff. Only 11% see the pope unfavorably, and 28% give no rating. Francis’ strongest support comes from Europe, where a median of 84% offer a favorable rating. Latin America – the pope’s home region – also gives him high marks, with 72% saying they have a positive opinion.1   

rest: http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/12/11/pope-francis-image-positive-in-much-of-world/

[Psalm 51:17]

Pope says will not be around in 10 years

Pope Francis said Friday he will not still be in the Vatican in ten years' time.

Greeting athletes and officials from the Italian National Olympic Committee, the 78-year-old pontiff wished them well with their bid to host the 2024 Games, but said he would not be around to watch them.

"Dear friends, best wishes for Rome's bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games," he said. "I will not be there. May the Lord bless all of you and your families."

It was not the first time the pope, who turned 78 on Wednesday, has hinted he does not think he will last very long at the helm of the Catholic Church.

On his way back from South Korea in August he lightheartedly remarked to reporters that he may have only two or three years left to live.

Responding to a question about how he deals with his astonishing global popularity, he replied: "I try to think of my sins, my mistakes, not to become proud. Because I know this will last a short time, two or three years, and then I'll be off to the house of the Father".

The Argentinian pontiff has also stated that he could retire if his health fails, as his predecessor Benedict XVI did last year in what was the first voluntary papal resignation in more than 700 years

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-says-not-around-10-years-153244751--oly.html

Deep down inside, even he probably knows the end is near...

Luke 21:25  And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
Luk 21:26  Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/popes-role-cuba-deal-fractures-cuban-american-flock-160937063.html
Pope's role in Cuba deal fractures Cuban-American flock
12/21/14

MIAMI (AP) — The key role Pope Francis played encouraging talks between Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro left fractures among his flock in South Florida, where many older Roman Catholics equate the Castro brothers with the devil.

Many Catholics worldwide have expressed pride in seeing Francis stirring hopes of progress in communist Cuba, but some Cuban-Americans say their spiritual leader betrayed them.

"I'm still Catholic till the day I die," said Efrain Rivas, a 53-year-old maintenance man in Miami who was a political prisoner in Cuba for 16 years. "But I am a Catholic without a pope."

Rivas said he cried when Obama surprisingly announced a reversal of a half-century's efforts to isolate Cuba. Then, when he learned of Francis' role, he got angry.

Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski acknowledged that some Catholics are "concerned or suspicious," but said many more exiles welcome the breakthrough, despite their suffering.

"The pain is real, but you can't build a future on top of resentments," Wenski told The Associated Press in an interview.

The Vatican has been reaching out to Cuba at least since Pope John Paul II, who declared during his historic 1998 visit to the island, "May Cuba, with all its magnificent potential, open itself up to the world, and may the world open itself up to Cuba." Discussions continued under Pope Benedict XVI, who visited Cuba in 2012. And Francis, the first Latin American pope, has advocated for an end to the U.S. embargo since participating in John Paul's visit to Cuba as the soon-to-be-named Cardinal of Buenos Aires.

Cuban Cardinal Jaime Ortega, who is close to Francis, set up the papal visits and has been decisive in improving ties between the church and the officially atheist state since becoming Havana archbishop in 1981. This frustrates some older Catholics who wanted the church to use its unique position inside Cuba to take a harder line.

"The church is contaminated," said Miguel Saavedra, a 57-year-old Miami mechanic who leads an anti-Castro group and wears a gold cross as a sign of his Catholic faith.

Exiles incensed by the diplomacy openly wonder: Was Francis strong-armed by President Barack Obama? Does he understand how terrible the Castro brothers are? Was he perhaps making a foolhardy bid to cement his change-making image?

"I don't know what the pope was thinking," said Jose Sanchez-Gronlier, a 53-year-old lawyer who said he was persecuted for his faith until leaving Cuba as a teenager, and will never forget watching the government seize a convent near his childhood home. "I see a certain naivete in the pope," he said.

Sen. Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American from Florida who has led the Republicans' criticism of Obama's executive actions on Cuba, also took a swipe at the pope, telling reporters in Washington that he would "ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy."

All this is familiar territory for Francis, who has spent a lifetime navigating the after-effects of the Cold War in Latin America. In his writings before becoming pope, the Argentine church leader criticized Cuban state authoritarianism as well as the U.S. embargo, and called on both sides to talk out their differences. As pope, he wrote to both Obama and Castro suggesting that a thaw could begin by releasing prisoners.

But Arturo Suarez-Ramos, a 50-year-old Miami waiter who was a political prisoner in Cuba for 27 years, said Francis is reaching for more headlines after insisting that homosexuals and divorced people are welcome in church.

"He's trying to get a legacy at any price," Suarez-Ramos said.

The Catholic Church remains the dominant religious force in Cuba, though attendance at Mass is low after decades of official atheism. It has long provided an alternative power center where at least some criticism of the government was possible. Its mediation role could be seen as a reason to trust the promises of change that both Obama and Castro made this week, but many remain wary.

Jay Fernandez, a retiree who left Cuba in 1961, said Francis acted like a beggar, taking whatever scraps of concessions the Cuban government offered.

"He wants to be everywhere, he wants to be liked by everyone," Fernandez said. "That's his job to be a peace guy, but it doesn't accomplish a damn thing, especially in Cuba."

U.S. bishops also have long called for an end to the embargo and for improved relations with Cuba. Engagement can do more than isolation to open up Cuban society and improve human rights and religious liberty, they said.

That message seemed to connect with some attending midday Mass at Ermita de la Caridad, a church dedicated to Cuba's patron saint.

"This is the best thing that could have happened," said Lucresia Leon, 70, who left Cuba during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, when 125,000 fled the island. She smiled widely, saying "Everything will be fixed."

Draped in the bright purple vestments of Advent, the Rev. Juan Rumin Dominguez, who arrived from Cuba nine years ago, said accepting change is not a simple thing.

"It's not easy, but the faithful people in these kinds of situations know to trust in God," the priest said. "We are a faithful people. We have confidence because God has his plan."

Historian Jesus Mendez, a Cuban exile who teaches at Barry University and has written about the Latin American church, said most Catholics will welcome the pope's intervention as an effort to increase religious freedom on the island.

"He's very concerned over the decline of Catholic fervor, primarily in Europe but also even in the United States and Canada, so of course he sees it important to have a high profile for the Catholic Church in Cuba," Mendez said.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/12/pope-to-push-for-action-on-climate-change/
12/29/14
Pope to push for action on climate change
Upcoming encyclical will urge Catholics to act on "moral and scientific grounds."

Over the weekend, The Guardian reported that Pope Francis will issue an encyclical urging Catholics to push for action on climate change. The push will coincide with the efforts to follow up on the Lima agreement in the hope that they will lead to binding agreements for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Although the Vatican has not confirmed that the document is in the works, the article quotes several authorities by name, and they speak as if it is a done deal. The document would be in keeping with the Pope's messages on environmental stewardship; the article quotes Francis as telling an audience in Latin America, "Climate change, the loss of biodiversity and deforestation are already showing their devastating effects in the great cataclysms we witness.” It's also consistent with his general high regard for scientific findings.

The Pope will join a variety of voices pushing for action next year and will undoubtedly add to the political pressure for an agreement. A more relevant question may be whether Francis can sway anyone who wasn't already interested in seeing progress made on the climate.

For example, The Guardian notes that Cardinal George Pell, who is currently on staff at the Vatican, has frequently and publicly questioned our scientific understanding of climate. In a speech he gave to a UK think tank that questions the reality of anthropogenic climate change, he raised many of the tired, already-answered arguments that are features of the self-labelled "skeptic" community. (He also quotes some of the least reliable sources of climate information out there.)

There's also little indication that many Catholics actually follow their leadership on scientific matters. The church hierarchy has been nearly unanimous in its acceptance of evolution for decades, yet over a quarter of US Catholics continue to reject it.

And it's already clear that the Pope's message will be lost on non-Catholics. The Guardian quotes a representative of a US evangelical group as saying "The pope should back off" and the Vatican "has been misled on the science." That group, the Cornwall Alliance, is about as well-informed as Cardinal Pell, given that its statement on climate change contains things like "We deny that carbon dioxide—essential to all plant growth—is a pollutant."

The Cornwall Alliance's statement also makes clear that the issues it sees are as much economic as ethical. It argues that action on climate "will greatly increase the price of energy and harm economies," and that renewable energy would fail, "to provide the abundant, affordable energy necessary to sustain prosperous economies or overcome poverty."

Given the Pope's messages on environmental stewardship have tended to come wrapped in the language of social justice and questions about the ethics of laissez-faire capitalism, they're more likely to harden this opposition than convert it.

None of this is to say that the encyclical is irrelevant. The Pope could add a significant push to the building momentum for a climate agreement and may be able to sway undecided Catholics. But it's doubtful that Francis' public statements will sway the hardened opposition.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/228289-pope-francis-splits-with-gop
Pope Francis drives a wedge between Catholic Church, GOP
12/31/14

Pope Francis is increasingly driving a wedge between conservatives and the Catholic Church.


The magnetic pope has sparked new enthusiasm around the world for the church and has flexed his political muscles internationally, most recently by helping to engineer a new relationship between the United States and Cuba.



But Francis’s agenda, which also includes calls to address income inequality and limit climate change, is putting him at odds with Republicans, including GOP Catholics in the United States.


Hours after President Obama announced moves to ease trade and travel restrictions to Cuba, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a practicing Catholic and potential 2016 presidential candidate, criticized the deal and Francis's role in it.

“I would also ask His Holiness to take up the cause of freedom and democracy, which is critical for a free people, for a people to truly be free,” Rubio told reporters.

Rubio said that Cubans “deserve the same chances to have democracy as the people of Argentina have had, where he comes from, as the people of Italy have, where he now lives.”

His office declined additional comment for this story.

Fellow Catholic Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) said he wished Francis would stand up for the Cuban people "rather than their oppressors."

“Sadly, in the case of Cuba, the Catholic Church has not always applied its basic principles of human dignity and reverence for the God-given freedoms that belong to every soul. I was supremely disappointed by press reports that the Pope had a hand in urging President Obama to cede crucial leverage that could have been used to help the Cuban people become free,” Diaz-Balart said.



It's not the first time Francis has clashed with conservatives.

Since his papal inauguration in March 2013, the pontiff has publicly made policy remarks about income inequality and the environment that many American Catholics weren't used to hearing coming from the Vatican, and not just from the pulpit.

“Inequality is the root of social evil,” Francis tweeted in March, after months earlier slamming “trickle-down” economics as a “crude and naïve” theory.

Next year, as part of a speech he’ll give to the United Nations General Assembly, Francis will issue an edict urging the world's 1.2 billion Catholics to do what they can to fight climate change.


“He's modeling the church as a place for open disagreement,” said Vincent J. Miller, who chairs the University of Dayton's Catholic theology program. “In that sense, one of the most important changes he's making is that conservative politicians are now openly disagreeing with him,” Miller said.

Catholics have long been considered an important voting block in American politics and have turned out for the winning presidential candidate in the last three cycles.

A closer look at the Catholic vote reveals that white Catholics have supported the Republican candidate in each of those elections, while Hispanic Catholics have supported the Democratic candidate, according to Pew Research polling.

According to Pew, Catholics made up 24 percent of the electorate in the 2014 cycle, voting for GOP House candidates over Democratic ones 54 percent to 45 percent.

Francis himself enjoys a high favorability rating of 78 percent among all Americans, with only 11 percent disapproving of him and the remaining having no opinion, according to a Dec. 11 poll from Pew. Among Catholics, his favorability spikes to 93 percent.

Miller said Republicans are no longer able to use issues like abortion and gay marriage as the defining issues for American Catholics.



But Mauricio Claver-Carone, director of the conservative U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC, said that by injecting his beliefs, Francis has alienated Cuban-Americans who are deeply opposed to the communist Castro regime in Cuba.



“I don't want the pope running the foreign policy of the United States, just as I don't think the president wants the pope running the social policy of the United States,” said Claver-Carone, referencing the pope’s anti-abortion rights views.

Progressive Catholics, however, such as Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice organization, are cheering Francis on as he calls for the world's elite to do more to help the poor. 



“Oh my gloria, this is a definite change in tone from being a 'scolder-in-chief' to being the one who identifies with the pain in our world,” said Simone, who organized the “Nuns on a Bus” cross-country tours.

“Pope Francis's message and tone are making Catholic Republicans a little uncomfortable,” Simone said. “He's stirring the concern on issues like poverty and the economy.”

[Mark]

Obama finds an ally on political controversies at the Vatican

It’s not quite a gift from God but, politically, it may be the next best thing.

President Obama increasingly is finding a key policy ally in the Vatican, with Pope Francis standing virtually shoulder to shoulder with the White House on income inequality and a historic diplomatic reboot with communist Cuba. The pontiff next year also appears poised to offer greater support to the president on climate change initiatives and reportedly wants to be a leading voice at a U.N. global warming summit next year, where the American president will make perhaps his greatest pitch to date for more dramatic action on the environment.

For Mr. Obama and fellow Democrats, aligning with Francis offers clear benefits in the short term, as they are able to highlight agreement on controversial issues with one of the most respected figures on the planet.

But in the long term, analysts say, Democrats may pay something of a political price.

To soothe American Catholics, who may have grown suspicious of the church’s partnership with a liberal White House, the pope in the coming months and years is likely to zero in on fundamental disagreements with the Democratic Party on issues such as abortion and religious liberty, said Joseph Prud'homme, a political science professor and the director of the Institute for the Study of Religion, Politics, and Culture at Washington College.

“I believe Francis will remind the faithful in his position as supreme pastor about what he has consistently said about life and religious liberty. I hope, and I expect, that he will, after these initiatives [on Cuba and climate change], remind the faithful of the unending position of the church with respect to the sanctity of human life, the importance of religious liberty,” Mr. Prud'homme said.

He added that Francis could create a deeper, almost irreparable rift between the church and the Democratic Party and create further headaches for liberal Catholics in electoral politics unless the Democratic Party “changes and recalibrates its center of gravity away from these issues which, from the position of the church, represent grave and serious moral error.”

While abortion and other moral issues represent a philosophical chasm between the Catholic Church and the Democratic Party, the past several years have proved the two can work together.

The White House praised the pope this month for playing a critical role in a landmark deal with Cuba, one in which the U.S. will re-establish formal diplomatic ties and open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than five decades.

Francis invited administration officials and representatives of Cuban President Raul Castro’s government to the Vatican for a series of meetings this fall. The first Latin American pope also sent letters to Mr. Obama and Mr. Castro, urging the two leaders to change course and end the isolation of the past 50 years.

“He played a very important role,” Mr. Obama said of the pontiff in an interview with ABC News this month. “The pope doesn’t wield armies. He can’t impose sanctions. But he can speak with great moral authority, and it makes a difference. And it certainly made a difference in this case.”

In a Dec. 17 statement, Francis welcomed the normalization of relations, and the White House circulated his words to members of the media.

The Vatican has long been critical of U.S. sanctions against Cuba. Pope John Paul II — one of the few world leaders to have been received by longtime strongman Fidel Castro in a business suit rather than fatigues — called the embargo an “oppressive, unjust and ethically unacceptable” burden on the poor during a pilgrimage to Cuba.

The pope also has become one of the Democrats’ biggest allies on income inequality, which Mr. Obama has cast as perhaps the biggest challenge facing the U.S. economy today.

Last year, Francis offered a clear rejection of “trickle-down economics,” seemingly embracing Democratic policies of greater redistribution of wealth to struggling Americans.

Story Continues →

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/30/president-obama-sees-pope-francis-as-political-all/#ixzz3Nqopd6JR

[Mark]

Elton John Tells Crowd of Stars and Donors: “Pope Francis is My Hero–Make Him a Saint Already!”

Elton John and David Furnish threw their annual AIDS fundraiser in New York Tuesday, with Sir Elton sitting down at the piano and playing his hits for the well-heeled, formal-clad crowd at Cipriani Wall Street. (UPDATE: They raised $3.7 million.)

The audience was more star studded than usual: Alec Baldwin with wife Hilaria, Mike Myers and his wife Kelly, Al Roker and Deborah Roberts, Matt Lauer, Cynthia McFadden, even New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his lady friend, famous cook book author and lifestyle personality Sandra Lee was there. I ran into famed director Baz Luhrmann and his multiple Oscar wining wife Cahterine Martin as well.

Anderson Cooper was the emcee, as usual. Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, is a huge EJAF supporter. Other guests included Padma Lakshmi of “Top Chef,” Tommy Hilfiger, Neil Patrick Harris, and Tony winner Judith Light with actor husband Robert Desiderio.

Sir Elton spoke passionately about ending AIDS in his lifetime to the point that the EJAF could cease to exist. And he had high praise for the Vatican. “Pope Francis my hero,” he said, praising the Pontiff lavishly for his efforts to educate about AIDS and change international attitudes. The Pope should be doing the Crocodile Rock this morning after hearing so many compliments !

“He is a compassionate, loving man who wants everybody to be included in the love of God,” Sir Elton said of the pope. “It is formidable what he is trying to do against many, many people in the church that opposes. He is courageous and he is fearless, and that’s what we need in the world today.” He added: “Make him a saint already, ok?”

Elton and David are true mensches. Their charity is one of the most effective in the world when it comes to raising money and disbursing it for AIDS research and programs. They are far more frugal with their administrative money than some other more publicized groups, that’s for sure.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2014/10/29/elton-john-tells-crowd-of-stars-and-donors-pope-francis-is-my-hero

[Psalm 51:17]

Yeah - when you have the wealthy, Christ-rejecting world LOVING a "Christian" leader, you KNOW something is TERRIBLY wrong!

James 2:1  My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
Jas 2:2  For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;
Jas 2:3  And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:
Jas 2:4  Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
Jas 2:5  Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
Jas 2:6  But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
Jas 2:7  Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.inquisitr.com/1754307/pope-francis-demotes-conservative-american-cardinal-who-opposes-church-reform/
Pope Francis Demotes Conservative American Cardinal Who Opposes Church Reform
1/14/15

Pope Francis has demoted conservative American Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke in a move that was not all that unexpected, after the two clashed on several issues including the Pontiff’s wish to be more inclusive of homosexuals.

Burke — named by Pope Benedict XVI head of the Vatican’s supreme court — fell from grace after being overly vocal and disagreeing with Francis’ attempts to reform the Catholic Church and bring it into the 21st Century. Despite many expecting some action from Pope Francis, the demotion of the highest ranking American Cardinal is highly unusual.

The Catholic News Service explained why Pope Francis’ decision to demote Cardinal Burke from his powerful position, to the ceremonial post of chaplain of the charity group Knights of Malta, is not something the Vatican does lightly.

“The move had been widely expected since an Italian journalist reported it in September, and the cardinal himself confirmed it to reporters the following month.”

“It is highly unusual for a pope to remove an official of Cardinal Burke’s stature and age without assigning him comparable responsibilities elsewhere. By church law, cardinals in the Vatican must offer to resign at 75, but often continue in office for several more years. As usual when announcing personnel changes other than retirements for reasons of age, the Vatican did not give a reason for the cardinal’s reassignment.”

“A prominent devotee of the traditional liturgy and outspoken defender of traditional doctrine on controversial moral issues, Cardinal Burke had appeared increasingly out of step with the current pontificate.”

The decision to demote Cardinal Burke, 66, came on Saturday and was issued without comment from the Vatican’s spokesperson. Recently Burke has given interviews which were highly critical of the reformist Pope and has been vocally outspoken against the changes the Argentinian Holy Father is trying to implement.

Just last month, the demoted conservative Cardinal was the leader of dissent among those who think Pope Francis is going too far with this inclusive policy of homosexuals. At a meeting of Bishops it was clear that the two are at odds on this topic.

Vatican sources say the Pope Francis saw Burke’s outspokenness as part of the so-called “culture wars” among Catholics that he wants to avoid, according to Reuters. Similarly, Cardinal Burke was at odds with German Cardinal Walter Kasper, who had argued that the Church should modify teachings that ban divorced Catholics who have remarried in civil services from receiving communion.

Ever since being elected in March of 2013, Pope Francis has become extremely popular with Catholics and non-Catholics alike for his obvious interest in including those that are generally marginalized by the Church. This has gained him the admiration of millions, but has also angered the conservatives such as the recently demoted Cardinal Burke.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-visits-buddhist-temple-sees-relics-rare-honor-165133240.html
Pope visits Buddhist temple, sees relics in rare honor
1/14/15

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Pope Francis became the second pope to visit a Buddhist temple on Wednesday, changing his schedule at the last minute to pay his respects at an important place of worship in Sri Lanka's capital and to witness a key ritual for Buddhists: the opening of a casket of relics of two important disciples of the Buddha.

Francis listened respectfully as Buddhist monks chanted and prayed while opening the stupa, or casket, containing relics in the Agrashravaka Temple, the Vatican said.

Usually, the relics are only put on display once a year, and Buddhists from around Sri Lanka line up for days to pay homage to them since it is such a rare privilege.

The head monk at the temple, Banagala Upatissa, told The Associated Press that allowing the pope to witness the relics "is the highest honor and respect we can offer to his holiness."

Upatissa had invited Francis to visit the temple when he greeted him at Colombo's airport on Tuesday, the Vatican said. Upatissa, who heads the Mahabodhi Society Headquarters, an important Buddhist organization, is active in interfaith dialogue and visited the Vatican during Pope Benedict XVI's papacy; a photo of the two men is in one of the Mahabodi reception rooms.

St. John Paul II visited a Buddhist temple during a 1984 visit to Thailand.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Francis didn't pray or meditate during the visit, though he did take off his shoes as all visitors to the temple must do.

He noted that unlike Francis' recent visit to the Blue Mosque in Istanbul — where the pope did pause for a moment in prayer with the chief imam — this visit was a much shorter affair, arranged at the last minute.

"There was not a time of silence in this sense," Lombardi told reporters. "I can only say the pope was listening with great respect, and listening also to the prayer of the monk showing the relics and this was all."

The visit to the temple was one of three last-minute additions Francis made to his busy schedule Wednesday. After canonizing Sri Lanka's first saint and traveling to a northern jungle to Sri Lanka's holiest Christian shrine, Francis also met with the ousted president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, at the Vatican embassy.

Lombardi said Rajapaksa, who lost power in an election he called just days before Francis arrived, wanted to keep the encounter private.

Francis then met with Sri Lankan bishops, whose meeting had been scuttled on Tuesday because Francis was too tired after greeting dignitaries and crowds upon his arrival.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/11347931/Pope-Francis-You-cannot-make-fun-of-the-faith-of-others.html
Pope Francis: 'You cannot make fun of the faith of others'

Pope Francis says there must be limits to free speech when it comes to religion, speaking in reference to the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris last week
1/15/15

Pope Francis has weighed into the debate over freedom of expression in the wake of the murderous attacks in Paris, saying that anyone who insults a religion can expect “a punch in the nose”.

In provocative remarks which may cause consternation in France, the Pope said that freedom of expression had its limits, especially if it involved insulting or ridiculing religion.

He made the forthright comments to journalists on board his official plane as he flew from Sri Lanka to the Philippines, the two stops on his week-long visit to Asia.

Gesturing towards Alberto Gasparri, a Vatican official who organises pontifical trips and who was standing next to him on board the plane, he said: “If my good friend Dr Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch in the nose.”

Throwing a pretend punch, the Pope said: “It’s normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.”

His remarks came a week after Islamic extremists stormed into the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and shot dead 12 members of staff, including some of its best known cartoonists, who for years had poked fun at Islam as well as other religions, including Christianity.

On Wednesday the magazine released a “survivors’ issue” which featured an image of the Prophet Mohammed on its front cover.

The edition also included highly provocative cartoons about the Catholic Church.

The Pope did not refer specifically to the magazine but said that insulting religions was unacceptable and dangerous.

“There are so many people who speak badly about religions or other religions, who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others,” he said.

“They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr Gasparri if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit.”

The Pope in no way condoned the attack on Charlie Hebdo, insisting that violence carried out in God’s name was “an aberration.”

“One cannot make war [or] kill in the name of one’s own religion, that is, in the name of God.”

But those who ridiculed another religion should expect some sort of reaction, he said.

The Pope received a rapturous welcome after touching down in Manila, with hundreds of thousands of people crowding the road from the airport to the city centre to see him pass by in a Popemobile.

Millions of Filipinos are expected to turn out to see him during the five-day trip to the heartland of Catholicism in Asia.

The visit presents a massive security challenge for the Philippine authorities, not just because of the huge crowds expected but because of the Pope’s refusal to travel in bullet-proof vehicles, which he says obstruct his contact with ordinary people.

Authorities have appealed to Filipinos not to turn “a moving target into a stationary one” by inadvertently blocking his vehicle to get close to him or to snap a “selfie” photograph.

“If someone blocks the convoy by trying to get near the Holy Father and the convoy stops, what was a moving target becomes a stationary target,” President Benigno Aquino said before the Pope’s arrival. “I ask you, do you want history to record that a tragedy involving the Pope happened in the Philippines?”

Up to six million Catholics are expected to attend a Mass to be given by the Pope in a park in Manila on Sunday.

The history of papal visits to the Philippines offers little reassurance – during the first-ever pontifical visit in 1970, a Bolivian man donned a fake cassock and swung a knife at Pope Paul VI as he arrived at Manila airport, wounding him.

In 1995, a week before John Paul II’s visit, police uncovered a plot by foreign Islamist extremists to kill him by bombing his motorcade route in Manila.

An assessment of potential threats against Pope Francis, compiled by the Philippines government, identified home-grown Islamist groups as well as al Qaeda and Isil, which has repeatedly threatened to “conquer Rome” and plant its black flag on St Peter’s Basilica.

Nearly 50,000 soldiers and police are being deployed to protect the pontiff during his trip to the Philippines, where around 80 per cent of the population is Catholic.

Gridlock is expected to be so bad in Manila that 2,000 traffic police have been ordered to wear adult nappies, so that they can answer the call of nature on the spot and not have to abandon their posts.

[Psalm 51:17]

This is JMHO - I feel we're also seeing this FALLING AWAY in these other religious cults as well - look at the Mormon "church", its membership is declining(for example). Now look at what Pope Francis is doing to the RCC...

http://www.salon.com/2015/01/18/the_pope_francis_revolution_inside_the_catastrophic_collapse_of_the_catholic_right/
1/18/15
The Pope Francis revolution: Inside the catastrophic collapse of the Catholic right

Once a major political force with the power to derail presidential campaigns, right-wing Catholicism is in decline

For years they struck fear in the hearts of progressive Catholic candidates. They could, and did, help destroy presidential campaigns. The media took them seriously, reporting on their pronouncements as representative of a significant bloc of conservative Catholics. They were not legion; but they were powerful. They were the Christian right’s smaller, more shadowy counterpart: the Catholic right wing.

But now, many of their leading spokesmen—and they are almost all men—have been discredited within a stunningly short period. Former lights of the Catholic right like Bill Donohue and Cardinal Raymond Burke have seen their clout dissipate almost overnight. How did this happen and what does it mean for progressive Catholic candidates eyeing 2016?

Many on the right were the victims of their own rhetoric run amok. Catholic League President Bill Donohue is being widely pilloried for asserting in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack that “Muslims are right to be angry,” and that Hebdo editor Stéphane Charbonnier played a role in his own death. “Had he not been so narcissistic, he may still be alive,” Donohue said in a statement that horrified even fellow conservatives.

Donohue, the leading proponent of the “war on Christmas” and other ginned-up made-for-Fox-News controversies over supposedly anti-Catholic persecution, was the ringleader behind efforts to discredit John Kerry with people of faith during the 2004 presidential election. He attacked Mara Vanderslice, Kerry’s first director of religious outreach, as an “ultra-leftist who consorts with anti-Catholic bigots” because of her work with organizations like ACT UP, an AIDS advocacy group that criticized the Catholic Church’s ban on condoms. The accusations spooked the Kerry campaign enough that they removed Vanderslice as head of outreach, even as Kerry, who is a committed Catholic, faltered in the polls with people of faith.

Her replacement, minister Brenda Peterson, lasted all of eight days before Donohue got her fired for signing an amicus brief in support of removing “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. The Kerry campaign, like many in the media, believed that Donohue spoke for a wide segment of conservative Catholics and kowtowed to his demands. In hindsight, Peterson said, they didn’t understand that he was “a partisan, a member of the religious right intent on discrediting people of faith who signed on with Kerry.”

Cardinal Burke was another key player in smearing Kerry with Catholics. Shortly after it became apparent that Kerry would be the Democratic nominee, Burke began a national frenzy over pro-choice Catholics and the sacrament of communion when he asserted that he wouldn’t give Kerry communion because of his support of abortion rights. Kerry never overcame the negative publicity of paparazzi clustered around his church on “wafer watch,” and pro-choice Catholic candidates from Colorado to New Jersey found themselves under attack by culture warrior bishops following Burke’s lead.

But Burke was recently demoted by Pope Francis from his choice spot on the Vatican’s high court, basically put out to pasture as patron of a Vatican charity. And he became a laughingstock earlier this month when he claimed that an overly “feminized” church was responsible for everything from the shortage of alter boys to priests sexually abusing children.

Austin Ruse, head of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), has similarly been discredited. Ruse is the ringleader of efforts at the UN block funding and support for family planning and women’s rights programs. He organized a bloc of conservative NGOs and countries to stall reproductive health initiatives in the name of thwarting “radical feminists.” Like Donohue, Ruse specialized in over-the-top rhetoric that backed “pro-family” Republicans. In 2001, he bragged about joking with a priest on the floor of the UN about taking out Hillary Clinton, “and not on a date.”

But his organization, which was recently declared a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its anti-LGBT rhetoric, didn’t begin to lose widespread support until he asserted earlier this year that “the hard left, human-hating people that run modern universities” should “all be taken out and shot.”

This past December, meanwhile, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, a favorite of the Catholic right himself, cut ties with longtime head of Priests for Life Frank Pavone for failing to come clean about the organization’s finances. Pavone has been on the rocks with the hierarchy for years, functioning outside the normal bounds of the priesthood as a sort of freelance anti-abortion crusader. But he was useful to the right-wing elements of the U.S. bishops’ conference in that he full-throatily trumpeted the message that Catholics couldn’t vote for pro-choice candidates in ways that the conference itself couldn’t, helping to solidify the bishops’ tacit alliance with the Republican Party. Priests for Life ran a $1 million “Campaign for Life” during the 2000 elections with full-page ads in the New York Times calling pro-choice Catholics a “scandal to the church,” and Pavone recently compared the support of abortion rights to supporting terrorism.

After years of demagoguery, why are these stalwarts of the Catholic right suddenly being tripped up by their own words? According to Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, which has researched and reported extensively on the Catholic right, the answer is simple: Pope Francis. “The Catholic right found great succor—if not an outright endorsement—when Benedict was pope,” says O’Brien. “It was good times for the Catholic League and C-FAM and those who wanted a leaner and mean church. Pope Francis is no left-wing revolutionary, but he has let it be known that he doesn’t like a mean church. The leadership is no longer giving them cover.”

And politically savvy bishops like Dolan, who has noticeably softened his conservative rhetoric, are distancing themselves from loose canons like Pavone who might damage them with Rome. At the same time, right-wing Catholics amped up their rhetoric to the point where even their follow conservatives are uncomfortable. “If you let extremism, particularly religious extremism, go where it goes, eventually it walks itself off a cliff,” says O’Brien. “The rhetoric of violence embraced by the right got them on Fox and even the mainstream media was seduced for a while, but eventually they undid themselves because they are not representative of mainstream spirituality. Now, even people who are legitimately conservative want to distance themselves from people like Donohue and Ruse.”

What does this means for potential Democratic Catholic candidates for 2016 like Vice President Joe Biden or former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley? For one, they will have more latitude now that they don’t have to worry about the right bird-dogging their every word on social issues and the media taking their critiques seriously. Even non-Catholic Barack Obama had to field an extensive Catholic outreach effort to avoid being pigeonholed by the right as anti-Catholic for his pro-choice stance.

At the same time, Pope Francis has increased the church’s emphasis on social justice issues and its critique of capitalism, which threatens to drive a wedge between the GOP and Catholics. That means Republican Catholics like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie can no longer assume that their anti-abortion stance will mean photo-ops and not-so-subtle nods from Catholic bishops, like it did for George W. Bush. Also gone is the illusion that the support of far-right groups like the Catholic League or Priests for Life translates into support from Catholic voters. “The right wing will come back around. It always does,” says O’Brien. “But for now, they are out of vogue.”

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=30083
LOOK WHAT MESSAGE THE VATICAN PAPAL PLANE IS PROCLAIMING
1/19/15

WATCHING AN UNSAVED WORLD PREPARING TO GO THROUGH THE TIME OF JACOB’S TROUBLE

“And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” Revelation 13:11 (KJV)

Pope Francis has an official papal plane that transports him across the world, provided to him by the Vatican. As such, his plane bears the official Vatican seal, their coat of arms. (The Vatican does not own this plane, but when the Pope flies on it, it is reserved exclusively for him and his entourage.) Directly under the Vatican seal, is a seal of another sort. This seal proclaims that the One World Religion spoken up by Daniel the prophet and picked up again in the book of Revelation is indeed the goal of this pope and of the Vatican system. It is just by coincidence, of course, that the Vatican loves to use One World Air to ferry the Pope around in though, I’m sure.



“And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.” Revelation 16:13 (KJV)

When Francis steps off his plane, wearing his flowing white dress, the Vatican wants you to know and understand that their goal and mission is to bring the entire world together under the banner of Roman Catholicism and thereby create the One World Religion that the pope will be the False Prophet of. They know that their time is now, no more reason to hide their true intentions or beat around the bush.

“And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay,so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” Daniel 2:41,42,44 (KJV)

With each passing day we get closer and closer to the time of the end. We are living in the last days of human history right before the event which will drive the world to it’s knees, the time of Jacob’s trouble.

But we who are saved are waiting for something else quite different, which will happen first.

[Mark]

Look What Message The Vatican Papal Plane Is Proclaiming

Pope Francis has an official papal plane that transports him across the world, provided to him by the Vatican. As such, his plane bears the official Vatican seal, their coat of arms. (The Vatican does not own this plane, but when the Pope flies on it, it is reserved exclusively for him and his entourage.) Directly under the Vatican seal, is a seal of another sort. This seal proclaims that the One World Religion spoken up by Daniel the prophet and picked up again in the book of Revelation is indeed the goal of this pope and of the Vatican system. It is just by coincidence, of course, that the Vatican loves to use One World Air to ferry the Pope around in though, I’m sure.

.

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=30083

[Psalm 51:17]

Is our LORD trying to tell us something via here? Maybe Pope Francis is the False Prophet of Revelation 13?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/the-pope/11354191/Pope-Francis-is-a-man-of-peace-and-immense-political-power.html
Pope Francis is a man of peace - and immense political power

The first non-European pontiff in almost 1,300 years is showing he has the capacity to be a truly global force for good in our time

6:15AM GMT 19 Jan 2015

It was probably the largest papal Mass in history. On Sunday, an estimated six million Filipinos went to Manila to witness Pope Francis celebrate communion – the crowning event of an astonishing tour. Over four days, His Holiness condemned corruption, visited a slum, and said Mass in a yellow cagoule, lashed by the driving rain. “I saw God in his eyes,” said one 13-year-old boy.

The success of the Philippines “show” tells us two things. First, that outside Western Europe a lot of people still believe in God. Here, we tend to regard religion as passé – something they did centuries ago, when unenlightened Europeans took the advice of burning bushes. But out beyond the EU, millions of people stubbornly continue to put their faith in the Almighty. The West may enjoy comparative power and wealth, but our attachment to secular liberalism is a minority opinion.

Europe’s loss of faith makes it harder for us to comprehend the wider world and contributes to cultural misunderstanding. Luckily, we have the Roman Catholic Church to act as interpreter. For the second thing that the crowds in Manila show is that Pope Francis is one of the most important diplomats of his era. He is a bridge between the West and the rest.

Of course, that’s always been the case. By historical accident the leadership of Catholicism is located in Rome, but its Christian origins were in the Middle East and many of its early saints and theologians were African. Today, it is a uniquely global Church, with around 1.2 billion members.

As its official face, the papacy has always enjoyed diplomatic clout. In the early 1800s, the Pope pressured heads of state to suppress the slave trade. In the Eighties, Pope John Paul II united Christians in opposition to communism. And Benedict XVI made overtures to the Eastern Orthodox – something that his intellectualism and love of liturgy made him especially well placed to do. The personality of the pontiff helps define his mission.

As such, Francis is especially suited to the challenge of reaching out to the developing world. He is the first non-European Pope in nearly 1,300 years, coming from a country – Argentina – whose history touches upon relevant themes of colonialism and struggle for democracy.

His emphasis is, sometimes regrettably, not upon liturgical richness but, happily, upon straightforward themes of love and compassion that resonate widely. In the Philippines, former street children asked him why God allowed suffering. When one girl broke down in tears, the Pope told her that crying cleansed the soul and asked why so few other women had been invited to speak. This is a cleric who is prepared to talk frankly and humanely about issues of injustice.

His simplicity appeals, too – although it can have a whiff of stage management. Often, the Pope is seen boarding a plane carrying his own bag. Why does he need a bag on a short flight? What’s in it? Paperwork? A toothbrush? One suspects that this is ostentatious modesty. But when talking to the press mid-flight, he displays a rugged kind of faith that, again, citizens of the developing world would appreciate more than “cosmopolitan” Europeans. His Holiness decried the killings in Paris but noted that when people love God like a father, you take a risk when you insult Him.

For perhaps the first time, many Western liberals were disappointed with Francis – for questioning the wisdom of blasphemy. But those who truly want to understand how Muslims feel about Mohammed could learn a lot from what he had to say. And those who routinely gripe about the moral conservatism of poorer peoples should understand that Francis’s blunt traditionalism also goes down well with those struggling to get by. Gay rights just aren’t as far up the political agenda in a country like the Philippines, where a quarter of the country lives on 60 cents a day and takes spiritual sustenance from a Church to which some 80 per cent of them belong.

The practical effects of having a Pope who can speak to two very different cultures was shown in the rapprochement of Cuba and America. We now know that the Vatican hosted secret talks between officials and that the pontiff wrote to both Barack Obama and Raul Castro.

President Obama said that Francis led through “moral example, showing the world as it should be, rather than simply settling for the world as it is”. Which is a very neat summary of Christianity in action, of being the change that one wants to see.

So we live in the age of a new super-pope. Forbes magazine called Francis the fourth most powerful man in the world; he has been tipped for a Nobel Peace Prize. There are downsides to that. Disappointment often trails promise, and we mustn’t forget that the Church is bigger than just the Pope. Nevertheless, as the West slowly surrenders its claim to leadership over the world, it is fortunate there is a charismatic transitional figure telling of peace, rather than seeking votes.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://theweek.com/articles/534933/pope-francis-allows-politics-distortthe-christian-faith
How Pope Francis allows politics to distort the Christian faith
1/22/15

Everyone seems to agree that Pope Francis is a unique figure. We’re told he is humble. He’s the “cool pope,” unlike his predecessor Benedict. He is “earthy” and creative in his insults. Some Catholics, even my friends, think he is uniquely pastoral and personable. Others, like myself, find him uniquely opaque and exasperating.

That lack of clarity is partially attributable to Francis' fascination with politics.  After the United States agreed to restore relations with Cuba, a deal that included the involvement of the pontiff himself, the Vatican’s secretary of state emphasized Francis’ ambitions for making the Holy See a bigger player in international diplomacy.

But it goes deeper than that. Politics and political metaphors shape his view of the world.

Francis’ most recent comments in Manila affirming the church’s ban on artificial contraception, as well as his later comment that Catholics are under no obligation to reproduce “like rabbits,” were shaped by a political frame. You might even say his view is distorted by politics.

Before his now infamous “rabbits” comment, Francis described the effort to legitimate the use of artificial contraception in the Philippines as “ideological colonization.” It reminded careful listeners of John Paul II’s phrase “contraceptive imperialism,” used to describe the way NGOs and other aid organizations premised aid on the acceptance and promotion of condoms or birth control pills.

In his interview, Francis said:

[Pope] Paul VI’s rejection [of contraception] was not just in reference to individual cases: he told confessors to be understanding and merciful. He was looking at a universal neo-Malthusianism which was calling on world powers to control birth rates: births in Italy dropped to less than 1 percent and the same in Spain. [Vatican Insider]

In Manila, the pope used similar language:

Just as our peoples, at a certain moment of their history, were mature enough to say "no" to all forms of political colonization, so too in our families we need to be very wise, very shrewd, very strong, in order to say "no" to all attempts at an ideological colonization of our families. [Vatican Insider]

As history, this is an expansive reading of events. Of course there were disciples of Malthus warning of overpopulation in the 1960s. But internally, Paul VI was faced with a panel of experts that he himself had convened, who asked if he could find some way to lift the ban, couching it in the same pro-family, pro-responsibility, “under limited circumstances” rhetoric that accompanied a repeal of the contraception ban in the Anglican Church at the Lambeth conference in 1931. Pope Paul’s response in the encyclical Humane Vitae was not particularly political. Rather, it affirmed that he and the church had no right to change the laws of God, then dwelled on the beauty and consolations of that teaching, and the possible consequences of not following it.
 
For a man who issues such colorful and memorable putdowns, it's an odd tic of Francis' to retreat into political formulas to describe what the church once understood in terms of personal sin. Francis seems less horrified by mortal sin than by Americanization. I’m sure he would clarify, if it were put to him that way. But it reveals an instinct.

Retreating into politics is comfortable for Jesuits of a certain age. Reducing or transmuting Christian liturgy, theology, and scripture into politically ideological terms (or saying that these artifacts of the faith can only be understood in such terms) is not unique to Francis or even the modern period. It has roots going back six centuries.

Francis’ determination to “make a mess,” his loquacity, and political instincts have a disorienting effect. They exacerbate the fact that the modern papacy has become as much a media institution as an ecclesiastical one. It gives the impression that the Christian religion is a series of policies, many of which the pope has the power to change. It gives aid to those confused theologians who think the historic dogmas and doctrines of the church are merely historically accidental “emphases” on this or that aspect of the gospel. Revised doctrines could presumably give a different but still legitimate emphasis on the same. So why not let this popular pope do just that?

In these same recent interviews, Pope Francis referenced a 1903 novel by Robert Hugh Benson, Lord of the World, which he has brought up before. Benson’s work is possibly the first ever dystopian novel. It’s about a Catholic apocalypse, treasured by some traditional Catholics. It’s the story of the anti-Christ taking power and restoring all peace to Europe through a universal dictatorship, which eventually sets out to exterminate the remnants of the church after a new, misguided Gunpowder Plot.

The protagonist eventually becomes a pope of an underground church. He mostly lives alone and in secret in the Middle East, offering the Mass and governing the remnant church through secret private messages sent out to individual bishops.

It is fascinating that Pope Francis keeps recommending this book to people, precisely because that fictive papacy is the very opposite of his: unpopular, feared, hated, and marginalized. It is entirely transfixed with Masses done in private, to please God and to reconcile the world to him. He faithfully recites the words handed onto him. He prays, and encourages.

It would be possible for a pope to imitate that example today from a Vatican palace. The pope would give only small private audiences, and trust other cardinals to give sermons at his public liturgies. His words would still govern and appoint, but from behind closed doors. But he would (and should) avoid Pope Benedict’s practice of publishing books while pope. He would extinguish Francis’ habit of extemporaneous speech. It would be a truly humble papacy, where politics is avoided, and where the personality of the occupant does not presage some reform. A servant of the servants.

One can hope.

[RickStudy]

I can Catholic bash with the best of em, nevertheless, and its a bit carnal I admit, but I find all this Catholic bashing on this site a bit entertaining. It reminds me of those old Benny Hill shows, I would always crack up when Benny would start smacking the old guy on the forehead.

When the hammer of God`s judgement  falls, and Peter does warn us that judgement will begin with the house of God, but when His hammer falls it will hit Protestant religion just as hard as it will Catholic religion.
The protestant reformation was and is a good thing but they brought plenty of catholic doctrine and tradition with it, more than most protestants realize.

Indeed, most of the protestant world remains connected to the pope through the world council of churches and it`s profession of faith. Nevertheless, the judgement s of God are not just for Catholicism and her children. No sir, it will affect those outside the Pope`s influence as well.
 

[Psalm 51:17]

I can Catholic bash with the best of em, nevertheless, and its a bit carnal I admit, but I find all this Catholic bashing on this site a bit entertaining. It reminds me of those old Benny Hill shows, I would always crack up when Benny would start smacking the old guy on the forehead.

When the hammer of God`s judgement  falls, and Peter does warn us that judgement will begin with the house of God, but when His hammer falls it will hit Protestant religion just as hard as it will Catholic religion.
The protestant reformation was and is a good thing but they brought plenty of catholic doctrine and tradition with it, more than most protestants realize.

Indeed, most of the protestant world remains connected to the pope through the world council of churches and it`s profession of faith. Nevertheless, the judgement s of God are not just for Catholicism and her children. No sir, it will affect those outside the Pope`s influence as well.
 

I went to a Protestant church(Lutheran) service 4 years ago - yes, it felt VERY Catholic(and secular humanist to boot) - at one point in the sermon, the "pastor" brought up some secular college professor in a bright light(which surprised me alot). And the portrait of Jesus they showed on the screen showed him holding 3 fingers up, and 2 fingers down(the 3 up/2 down on one hand is what occultists do - represents the number 32, which the number of rebellion, I think).

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30946059
Philippines homeless 'relocated' during Pope Francis visit
1/23/15

The government in the Philippines is facing calls for an inquiry after it admitted relocating homeless people temporarily during Pope Francis' visit.

Social welfare secretary Corazon Soliman said that nearly 500 people were taken from the streets of Manila to an upscale resort in the outskirts.

House of Representatives member Terry Ridon called for an inquiry, saying the move was a "clearing operation".

Pope Francis arrived in the Philippines last week and left on Monday.

Mr Ridon said the government relocation scheme was "truly horrendous, given the fact that Pope Francis visited our country to - first and foremost - see and talk to the poor."

The Philippine Star said he plans to summon Ms Soliman to explain her agency's actions before lawmakers.

'Safety and orientation'
Ms Soliman said in interviews this week that the homeless families were removed shortly before the pontiff arrived on 15 January.

Many of them lived along the Manila Bay seafront, the venue for Sunday's mass which drew a record crowd of six million.

On 14 January they were taken to the Chateau Royale resort, which charges hundreds of dollars for a room per night, and returned to the capital on Monday after Pope Francis had left.

The families are now temporarily residing at government facilities in Manila, Ms Soliman said.

About six million showed up at the Manila Bay seafront for the Pope's final mass before he left

She defended the move as an effort to protect them from large crowds and crime syndicates during the Pope's visit, adding that it was part of a scheme to eventually move them to rent-free temporary accommodation.

"Part of the orientation is to familiarise themselves with a room with a door and toilets," Soliman told the AFP news agency.

She insisted it was "not for keeping them out of sight", and said the Pope saw shanties and homeless people during his trip.

The controversy comes after reports that street children had been rounded up and put into cages in detention centres, which the government has denied.

Pope Francis had made poverty one of the central themes to his visit, calling for mercy and compassion for the poor and meeting and hugging street children.

[Psalm 51:17]

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.independentsentinel.com/pope-francis-will-fight-for-climate-change-funded-by-wealth-redistribution/
Pope Francis Will Fight for Climate Change Funded by Wealth Redistribution
by Sara Noble • December 29, 2014

Christians are being martyred worldwide but Pope Francis is focused on fiscal and climate matters. He seems to see the problems facing Christians as rooted in capitalism and global warming.

Pope Francis is planning to fight for climate change goals as outlined by the statists in the U.N. The only way the goals will be paid for is from wealth redistribution.

The U.S. will distribute and the statists will collect.

In May, Pope Francis called for governments to redistribute wealth to the poor in a new spirit of generosity to help curb the “economy of exclusion”. He called on the U.N. to promote “worldwide ethical mobilization” of solidarity with the poor and envisioned a more equal form of economic progress through “the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society.”

Francis said something much the same when he spoke before the World Economic Forum last January and in his apostolic exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel.” That document seemed to denounce trickle-down economic theories as unproven and naive.

Pope Francis is fully involving himself in the affairs of state.

He has encouraged illegal immigration; helped Barack Obama open relations with Cuba for nothing in return; demonized fiscal conservatism; and said what worries him most is youth unemployment – he said that while Christians are being massacred by fascist dictators worldwide. He is loosening up the Catholic Church’s views on gay marriage. Global income inequality is a prime area of concern. He’s called for sharing the wealth. Recently he said he wouldn’t close the door to talking with ISIS, the insane madmen who are raping, maiming, and brutally murdering Christians, Muslims and others.

He supports Obamacare even though it funds abortion.

Now Pope Francis is going to enter the climate change debate on the side of the U.N.

Pope Francis has written a rare papal encyclical on global warming. He is throwing his weight on the side of the climate change bullies led by U.N. statists and Barack Obama.

Early next year, Pope Francis will deliver a major statement on climate change to more than one billion Catholics worldwide. The papal encyclical is intended to influence the U.N. ahead of the 2015 Paris Climate Summit.

He’s going to tell world governments what actions they must take on climate change. He will release his mandates to Cardinals, Bishops, priests worldwide who will then tell their parishioners to follow the mandates.

He will also speak at the U.N. general assembly and will also call a summit of the world’s leading religions.

Somewhere in there, he will meet with the guru of dictatorial climate change fiats, Barack Obama.

In May, the Pope said exploiting nature was unsustainable.

The Guardian reported that Bishop Marcelo Sorondo, chancellor of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences said it is the pope’s wish to directly influence next year’s crucial U.N. climate meeting in Paris, when countries will try to implement a form of Agenda 21.

“Our academics supported the pope’s initiative to influence next year’s crucial decisions,” Sorondo told Cafod, the Catholic development agency, at a meeting in London. “The idea is to convene a meeting with leaders of the main religions to make all people aware of the state of our climate and the tragedy of social exclusion.”

This will be used by the pen and phone president of the United States who has no intention of abiding by our laws for the remainder of his term.

The Guardian said climate change deniers will be upset.

Who denies the climate is changing? Who doesn’t want the earth cared for?

The fact is that we don’t know how or if we can affect the climate and the loons out there want to put us all back in huts for an ending we can’t possibly determine. Funds transferred to the U.N. for climate change will be misused by the dictators who get their hands on the money.

The “tragedy of social exclusion” as the Bishop called it means what exactly?

Why isn’t the Pope concerned about the communists, socialists, Islamo-Fascists in the U.N. who enslave and steal from the populace and who cause the income inequality, the poverty, and the social exclusion he is concerned about?

Pope Francis’ global warming goals are clear:

“An economic system centered on the god of money needs to plunder nature to sustain the frenetic rhythm of consumption that is inherent to it,” Francis said in October. “The monopolizing of lands, deforestation, the appropriation of water, inadequate agro-toxics are some of the evils that tear man from the land of his birth. Climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and deforestation are already showing their devastating effects in the great cataclysms we witness.”

He’s opposed to unbridled capitalism but it’s not clear where he draws the line.

His criticisms seemed aimed at our successful country and he shows more sympathy for the poor countries driven into the ground by statists. Is their a certain naiveté involved?

He will be used by the far left, but, then again, maybe he is the far left.

Pope Francis has been very clear – he’s not a communist. However, he likes income redistribution, has bought into the extreme climate change perspective, insists on income equality, dislikes conservatism – he recently fired his conservative Cardinal Burke, and has urged us to accept illegal immigration and amnesty. He has no regard for our laws. He appears to be using the same pen and phone that Barack Obama uses.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://theworldlink.com/lifestyles/faith-and-belief/pope-ridding-stereotypes-key-to-christian-muslim-relations/article_95243afb-daf2-5470-9827-b70547b5cb26.html
Pope: Ridding stereotypes key to Christian-Muslim relations
1/24/15

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis says the most effective antidote to violence among Christians and Muslims is learning about each other and then accepting differences.

Francis also told participants Saturday of a meeting promoted by the Pontifical Institute of Arab and Islamist Studies that only by carefully listening can interreligious dialogue make progress.

He said "patience and humility" are essential for deepened Islamic-Christian dialogue while merely superficial dialogue will only yield "stereotypes and preconceptions."

Francis added: "The most effective antidote to every form of violence is education about discovering and accepting difference as richness and fertileness."

He did not mention of the deadly jihadi attacks in supposed defense of Islam this month in France, but said "more than ever one feels the need" for such education.

[Mark]

Pope Francis opens doors to transsexual dubbed 'devil's daughter': report

Pope Francis has met a Spanish transsexual and his fiancée at the Vatican, opening his doors to a man dubbed "the devil's daughter" by a local priest, media reports said Tuesday.

Diego Neria Lejarraga met the pontiff on Saturday after writing to him in December to complain he was being treated as an outcast in his parish in Plasencia in western Spain, according to the Spanish daily Hoy.

The 48-year old, who has undergone sexual reassignment surgery, told Francis in the letter that he was treated poorly by parishioners and one priest had even called him "the devil's daughter".

The Argentine pontiff, known for calling people unannounced, rang Lejarranga on Christmas Eve and set up the meeting, which took place on Saturday but was kept off the official calendar, the report said.

The Vatican would neither deny nor confirm the meeting took place.

Officially the Church does not recognise sex changes but its current leader has urged it to show greater compassion towards sections of society which have felt excluded from its embrace, most notably when he said of homosexuals, "Who am I to judge?"

- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/world/europe/story/pope-francis-opens-doors-transsexual-dubbed-devils-daughter-report-20150128#sthash.AoKUPQyu.dpuf

[Edward Palamar]

38   And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: 
39   But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
Acts 5:38,39 (KJB)

The date of this quote is the last day of the 3 year 7 month rule by two as foretold in 16th century prophecy.  The following day began the world being turned into the hands of the antichrist, to continue for 1,290 days (Great and Holy Friday, March 24, 2016 A.D.) and then unto the First Judgment Sunday, May 8, 2016 A.D. (1,335 days)  The Three Days of Darkness will occur during that week unto the First Judgment Sunday of Pentecost, May 15, 2016 A.D.