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Peter the Roman conspiracy

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March 27, 2024, 12:55:24 pm Mark says: Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked  When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.
December 31, 2022, 10:08:58 am NilsFor1611 says: blessings
August 08, 2018, 02:38:10 am suzytr says: Hello, any good churches in the Sacto, CA area, also looking in Reno NV, thanks in advance and God Bless you Smiley
January 29, 2018, 01:21:57 am Christian40 says: It will be interesting to see what happens this year Israel being 70 years as a modern nation may 14 2018
October 17, 2017, 01:25:20 am Christian40 says: It is good to type Mark is here again!  Smiley
October 16, 2017, 03:28:18 am Christian40 says: anyone else thinking that time is accelerating now? it seems im doing days in shorter time now is time being affected in some way?
September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-11-new-fda-approved-hepatitis-b-vaccine-found-to-increase-heart-attack-risk-by-700.html
September 19, 2017, 03:59:21 am Christian40 says: bbc international did a video about there street preaching they are good witnesses
September 14, 2017, 08:06:04 am Psalm 51:17 says: bro Mark Hunter on YT has some good, edifying stuff too.
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« Reply #630 on: May 02, 2015, 07:43:41 pm »

Quote
The Expo bears the slogans Feed The Planet, Energy for Life.

New Age belief in Gaia/Mother Earth, IE: goddess worship, IE: Semiramis worship, IE: Mary worship


Quote
Speaking by televised link-up to the OPENING ceremony, he said:
“The Expo is an ideal opportunity to globalise solidarity.

ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT!!



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« Reply #631 on: May 10, 2015, 12:12:06 pm »

Castro: Pope Francis so impressive I might return to church

Cuban President Raul Castro paid a call on Pope Francis at the Vatican on Sunday to thank him for working for Cuban-US detente and later said he was so impressed by the pontiff he is considering a return to the Catholic church's fold.

`'Bienvenido!" Francis said in his native Spanish, welcoming Castro to his studio near the Vatican public audience hall. The Cuban president, bowing his head, gripped Francis' hand with both of his, and the two men began private talks. The meeting lasted nearly an hour, as the Argentine-born Francis and Castro spoke in Spanish.

Francis will visit Cuba in September en route to the United States.

After leaving the Vatican, Castro, the brother of Fidel, the revolutionary leader who brought the Communists to power in Cuba, gushed with praise for Francis.

The pontiff "is a Jesuit, and I, in some way, am too," Castro said at a news conference. "I always studied at Jesuit schools."

`'When the pope goes to Cuba in September, I promise to go to all his Masses, and with satisfaction," Castro said at a news conference at the office of Italian Premier Matteo Renzi, whom he met with after the Vatican talks.

"I read all the speeches of the pope, his commentaries, and if the pope continues this way, I will go back to praying and go back to the church, and I'm not joking," he said.

It was a startling assertion for the leader of a Communist country, whose crackdown on dissidents in the past had drawn sharp Vatican criticism.

`'I am from the Cuban Communist Party, that doesn't allow (religious) believers, but now we are allowing it, it's an important step," Castro said.

Speaking about Francis, Castro said he has been `'very impressed by his wisdom, his modesty, and all his virtues that we know he has."

Castro had already publicly thanked Francis for helping to bring Havana and Washington closer together after decades of U.S. government policy of strict isolation of the Communist-ruled Caribbean island. On Sunday, he stepped up his praise on Francis' push for the two nations to put enmity aside and work for reconciliation for the benefit of Americans and Cubans.

As he took his leave from the Vatican, Castro told journalists, "I thanked the pope for what he did."

Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the president also "laid out to the pope the sentiments of the Cuban people in the wait and preparation for his upcoming visit to the island in September."

After his meeting with Renzi, Castro expressed hope that his country would quickly see more fruits of the thaw between Cuba and the United States. `'Maybe the (U.S.) Senate will take us off the list of terrorist nations" soon, Castro told reporters.

Francis gave Castro a medal depicting St. Martin of Tours, known for caring for the destitute.

"With his mantle he covers the poor," Francis told Castro, saying more efforts on behalf of the poor are needed.

Fidel Castro met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1996. That encounter helped pave the way for John Paul's 1998 pilgrimage to Cuba, the first visit by a pontiff to the island. John Paul was also eager for Cuba to grant more visas for foreign priests to bolster the dwindling corps of clergy on the island.

The Vatican's general policy of opposing economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool carries appeal for Cuban leaders and people, after decades under a U.S. economic embargo. With the Vatican keen on protecting the interests of its Catholic followers under Cuban Communist rule, Pope Benedict XVI also visited the island.

Castro told reporters that `'we are trying to carry forward improvements of our political, social and cultural system. But it's very difficult to do it without causing shocks, without leaving some in the street."

He came to Rome on his way back from celebrations in Moscow of the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_VATICAN_CUBA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-10-09-16-12
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« Reply #632 on: May 10, 2015, 10:30:33 pm »

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/10/living/carol-francis-effect/
4/13/15
How Pope Francis awakened the faith of a CNN anchor

(CNN)I remember the day I stopped praying. It was the day after my little brother, Jimmy, died of cancer. He was 25. I was so angry at God.

I was 27 at the time, and, like most young people I had stopped going to church. But, on that day -- that terrible day -- I desperately needed to understand why God took my brother. I called the nearest Catholic church, looking for a priest. A lady picked up the PHONE. "Can I talk with Father?" I asked.

I wish I could say her answer was "yes."

Instead, she asked me if I was a member of that particular parish. "Does it matter?" I asked. (At the time I lived far from my home parish.) I don't remember how she responded, but the answer about my being able to see Father was clearly no.

I don't know if all Catholic churches would have shut me out, but I figured, at the time, it was part of the long list of rules the Vatican required Catholic leaders to follow. I cried for a bit, then decided I would never ask God for anything. Clearly, his conduits on Earth did not have time for me -- a lifelong Catholic -- and sinner -- so why would he?

Ever since, I've considered myself a lapsed Catholic.

Until Pope Francis.

There is something about Francis that's reawakened my faith. And it's not because he OPENED the floodgates to allow sin in the eyes of the church. He still argues against things I passionately support, but I find myself -- like many other lapsed Catholics -- enthralled.

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting one of the Pope's newly appointed cardinals. His name is Cardinal Gerald Lacroix. The 57-year-old presides at the Basilica Cathedral of Notre Dame in Quebec City.

One of my first questions: What is it about Pope Francis?

"Every person is a mystery you know. ... But what's evident is this man is living with such freedom, such inner freedom. He's himself. He's in tune with the Lord," Lacroix told me.

"Those close to him say he's up close to 4 in the morning to prepare his daily Mass, which is at 7 in the morning on the weekdays. So that's almost three hours of prayer, preparation and silence before the Lord and the word of God. Wow, that really fine-tunes you to start off a day."

Perhaps that's how the Pope stays humble. Why he defies tradition and washes the feet of the DISABLED, women and those of other faiths. Why he ordered showers to be built for the poor in St. Peter's Square.

All of this is appealing, but it's more than that. In my mind, it's his tone. When Pope Francis said, "If a person is gay and he SEARCHES for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?" The comment took me aback. Homosexuality has long been a taboo subject for the Vatican, yet Pope Francis uttered those welcoming words.

Lacroix likened the Pope's approach to Jesus. "Jesus didn't judge. Jesus did not come as a judge. He came as someone who preached and talked about the love of God."

Those kinds of answers are so different in my experience, but I understand why more conservative Catholics worry. If the Pope does not judge, then who will tell us who is a sinner and who is not?

"I hear that sometimes, too," Lacroix told me. "I think Pope Francis is conservative in the right way. You have to be conservative enough to come BACK to what is the foundation: that's the Gospel. You cannot reproach Pope Francis of not living the Gospel, or not preaching the truth of the Gospel."

But isn't homosexuality a sin in the eyes of the church?

"There is room for everyone. The door is OPEN," Cardinal Lacroix insisted. "Of course you know that the Catholic Church will never promote same sex marriage, but do we respect homosexual persons? Do we welcome them? Do we accompany them? Of course. But to respect the Church and its teaching, which is based on a long tradition and also the word of God, we will not go so far as to bless. But that doesn't mean we reject."

That last sentiment -- "that doesn't mean we reject." -- did it for me.

I finally understood why Pope Francis reawakened my faith. I always felt my church would reject me for committing the smallest of sins. Like calling a priest at a church that was not my home parish. Like not covering my head with a traditional veil at Easter. Like accidentally eating meat on Holy Friday. Like supporting the use of contraception.

But as Lacroix told me, Jesus walked with sinners until the very end. He did not banish them to fires of hell, for He refused to give up on anyone.

The Cardinal's last words to me: "I'm trying to do my best on (the) local level -- to have an OPEN ear to what the church and world are experiencing. To see how we can today respond to those needs. I want people to see me, and the church, as an open heart to grow together. Not a church that's imposing -- we have nothing to impose -- we have someone to propose: the Lord Jesus and his Gospel."

I can't WAIT to go church next Sunday. And, yes, I will bow my head and pray for forgiveness, and if I'm worthy, Christ's love.
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« Reply #633 on: May 10, 2015, 10:36:17 pm »

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32679290
Raul Castro thanks Pope Francis for brokering Cuba-US deal
5/10/15

Cuban President Raul Castro has praised Pope Francis for brokering the restoration of relations between Cuba and the US, announced in December.
At the end of an audience at the Vatican, Mr Castro said he had thanked the Pope for his contribution for the historic rapprochement.

Secret negotiations to put an end to more than five decades of hostilities were carried out inside the Vatican.

The Pope will visit Cuba on his way to the US in September.

"I am very happy. I have come here to thank him for what he has done to begin solving the problems of the United States and Cuba," said Mr Castro.

The communist leader had stopped at the Vatican after attending Russia's World War Two Victory Day in Moscow.

After the audience with the Pope, Mr Castro said he was so impressed by a Vatican audience with Pope Francis that he might return to the faith he was born into.

Mr Castro praised the pontiff's wisdom, adding: "I will resume praying and turn to the Church again if the Pope continues in this vein."

The Catholic Church has maintained ties with Havana since the 1959 revolution.

The fact that the man who helped lead the Cuban Revolution would even joke about returning to the Catholic Church shows just how far the relationship between Havana and the Vatican has moved forward recently.

That has been particularly true under Pope Francis. First, the Pontiff played a crucial role in smoothing the path to negotiations between Cuba and the US over the past 18 months. Furthermore, he has given his blessing to the process and to the Cuban government by arranging to come to Cuba in September before his visit to the US.

As a Latin American himself, Pope Francis has always been able to maintain good ties with Latin American leaders from both the left and the right. He has repeatedly called for the US trade embargo on Cuba to be lifted, for example.

Now he has hosted, and seemingly wooed, Raul Castro in Rome strengthening the ties even further. Hardly surprising Mr Castro is considering returning to Mass!

But the state-run newspaper Granma omitted Mr Castro's comments about returning to the Church when it reported the meeting on its website. A reflection, perhaps, of how surprising it is for Cubans to hear Mr Castro make such comments, whether tongue-in-cheek or not.

For Pope Francis, the restoration of relations between the US and Cuba has been a major diplomatic achievement, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.

The US had imposed a trade embargo after Cuba's revolution, which it began to lift late last year.

After the 50-minute private audience on Sunday, Mr Castro told reporters: "The pontiff is a Jesuit, and I, in some way, am too. I studied at Jesuit schools."

After suggesting he might turn again to the Church, he added: "I mean what I say."

Both Mr Castro and his brother, revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, were baptised as Roman Catholics, but most Church activities were suppressed after the revolution.


Francis will be the third Pope to travel to Cuba, following visits there by John Paul II in 1998 and Benedict XVI in 2012.
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« Reply #634 on: May 10, 2015, 10:40:19 pm »

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=50712#.VVA8co7F9GY
At Vatican meeting, UN chief and Pope Francis discuss climate change, Mediterranean migration

28 April 2015 – During a meeting with His Holiness Pope Francis today, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he very much looked forward to the Pontiff's encyclical on climate change, which he said he believed would act as a moral voice on the issue.

“I am grateful for his invitation, and applaud his humanitarian vision,” said Mr. Ban. “During our conversation, Pope Francis spoke of his commitment to making the world a better place for all.”

Mr. Ban and Pope Francis met on the margins of a workshop organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences called 'Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity,' which explores the moral dimensions of climate change and sustainable humanity.

As well as discussing climate change, a readout of the meeting issued by a UN spokesperson in new York said Mr. Ban briefed Pope Francis on his visit yesterday to the Italian Navy vessel San Giusto where he was briefed on the on-going operations to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean.

“These migrants, many of whom are refugees, are desperate for a better future,” said Mr. Ban. “We need to address the root causes of migration and find ways to share responsibility for resettling those who make the perilous journey. That includes increasing safe and regular channels for migration.”

They also discussed several other issues including social exclusion and the situation in South Sudan, as well as human trafficking and contemporary slavery, and the role of sport as a tool for EDUCATION and human development.

The Secretary-General provided an update on his Global EDUCATION First initiative in the forthcoming global education forum to be held next month in Korea and on the ongoing review conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York. They reaffirmed their commitment to continue to work for a world free of nuclear weapons.

Lastly, the Secretary-General said he very much looked forward to the Pope's visit to the United Nations in September, when leaders from around the world will converge in New York for the United Nations SPECIAL summit for the adoption of a universal and transformative post-2015 development agenda.

The special summit was one of three international gatherings to build a sustainable development agenda for generations to come and in later remarks at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mr. Ban said the international efforts would rely on the full engagement and leadership of the Organisation's MEMBERSHIP.

“The OECD is a vital forum for helping to build such momentum,” he said. “You can rally your members around this vital agenda. You can inspire and inform the policy changes we need. The OECD has a long history of ADDRESSING challenges such as policy coherence – which will be crucial to address the sustainable development challenge.”
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« Reply #635 on: May 14, 2015, 05:41:25 am »

Pope Ponders Paganism.

uhm... The catholic belief IS paganism

Not since the rule of Emperor Constantine, during the Roman Warm Era, have pagan gods been tolerated in Rome.

Before Constantine, Romans worshipped 12 main gods including Apollo (the Sun), Diana (the Moon), Flora (the plants), Uranus (the sky), Ceres (the crops), Gaia (the Earth) and of course Bacchus (wine), Venus (love) and Mars (war). Some of these gods demanded tribute and sacrifice.

Christianity, the worship of one forgiving God, slowly absorbed or eliminated its pagan rivals. The Popes in Rome came to lead a Catholic empire of Christians.

In modern times, the old Greek/Roman goddess, Gaia, has been resurrected by the world green movement.

Pope Francis seems to seek an alliance with these nature worshippers.

Unfortunately the Green wolf will never lie down with the Christian lambs.

Christians promote care for humanity especially the weak and the poor. The Gaia worshippers have subordinated humans to “nature” and their attitude to other humans ranges from contempt to deep hatred. Under their extremist Agenda 21, the priests of Gaia would sacrifice humans by restricting their access to land, oceans, food, minerals and energy, and then concentrate the survivors in soul-destroying dormitory cities and food factories. Greens want all descendants of Adam and Eve expelled from our Gardens of Eden.

Christians generally value individual freedom and private property. The Green priesthood will not rest until there is a world government in which there is no private property and all humans are numbered, controlled and planned. They are using climate alarmism to achieve these goals.

Priests and Pontiffs have no place in dictating questions of science and engineering. Climate forecasts and energy policy should be determined by scientific enquiry and sound engineering, not by high-priests dabbling in politics.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/71944
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« Reply #636 on: May 16, 2015, 12:38:20 pm »

Pope calls Palestinian leader "angel of peace" during visit

Pope Francis praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as an "angel of peace" during a meeting Saturday at the Vatican that underscored the Holy See's warm relations with the Palestinians as it prepares to canonize two 19th century nuns from the region.

Francis made the compliment during the traditional exchange of gifts at the end of an official audience in the Apostolic Palace. He presented Abbas with a medallion and explained that it represented the "angel of peace destroying the bad spirit of war."

Francis said he thought the gift was appropriate since "you are an angel of peace." During his 2014 visit to Israel and the West Bank, Francis called both Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres men of peace.

Abbas is in Rome for the canonization Sunday of two 19th-century nuns from what was then Ottoman-ruled Palestine. The new saints, Mariam Bawardy and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas, are the first from the region to be canonized since the early days of Christianity.

Church officials are holding up the new saints as a sign of hope and encouragement for Christians in the Middle East at a time when violent persecution from Islamic extremists has driven many Christians from the region of Christ's birth.

In a statement Saturday, Abbas praised the two new saints as inspirational models for today's Palestinians and urged Christians like them to remain in the region.

"We call on Palestinian Christians to stay with us and enjoy the rights of full and equal citizenship, and bear with us the difficulties of life until we achieve liberty, sovereignty and human dignity," he said.

Abbas' visit comes days after the Vatican finalized a bilateral treaty with the "state of Palestine" that made explicit its recognition of Palestinian statehood.

The Vatican said it had expressed "great satisfaction" over the new treaty during the talks with the Palestinian delegation. It said the pope, and later the Vatican secretary of state, also expressed hopes that direct peace talks with Israel would resume.

"To this end, the wish was reiterated that with the support of the international community, Israelis and Palestinians may take with determination courageous decisions to promote peace," a Vatican statement said.

It added that interreligious dialogue was needed to combat terrorism.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_REL_VATICAN_PALESTINIANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-05-16-07-11-10
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« Reply #637 on: May 17, 2015, 07:58:07 am »

Pope Francis extends agenda of change to Vatican diplomacy

Pope Francis' hard-hitting criticisms of globalization and inequality long ago set him out as a leader unafraid of mixing theology and politics. He is now flexing the Vatican's diplomatic muscles as well.

Last year, he helped to broker an historic accord between Cuba and the United States after half a century of hostility.

This past week, his office announced the first formal accord between the Vatican and the State of Palestine -- a treaty that gives legal weight to the Holy See's longstanding recognition of de-facto Palestinian statehood despite clear Israeli annoyance.

The pope ruffled even more feathers in Turkey last month by referring to the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians in the early 20th century as a "genocide", something Ankara denies.

After the inward-looking pontificate of his scholarly predecessor, Pope Benedict, Francis has in some ways returned to the active Vatican diplomacy practiced by the globetrotting Pope John Paul II, widely credited for helping to end the Cold War.

Much of his effort has concentrated on improving relations between different faiths and protecting the embattled Middle East Christians, a clear priority for the Catholic Church.

However in an increasingly fractured geopolitical world, his diplomacy is less obviously aligned to one side in a global standoff between competing blocs than that of John Paul's 27-year-long papacy.

This is reinforced by his status as the world's first pope from Latin America, a region whose turbulent history, widespread poverty and love-hate relationship with the United States has given him an entirely different political grounding from any of his European predecessors.

"Under this pope, the Vatican's foreign policy looks South," said Massimo Franco, a prominent Italian political commentator and author of several books on the Vatican.

He said the pope has been careful to avoid taking sides on issues like Ukraine, where he has never defined Russia as an aggressor, but has always referred to the conflict between the government and Moscow-backed rebels as a civil war.

That approach is intended to ensure he remains more credible with countries like Syria, Russia or Cuba, all nations where Francis feels he can help local Christians best by steering an independent course.

DIPLOMATIC RISKS

Francis already has his hands full overhauling the Vatican's complex internal bureaucracy after a series of financial and sexual scandals involving abuse of children by priests which date back decades.

But clearly deeply interested in how the world outside the walls of the Vatican works, he appears determined to use his position and the huge global audience he commands to challenge entrenched diplomatic positions as well.

The former secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, a veteran insider whose office formerly controlled both relations with foreign powers and many internal Vatican affairs, has been replaced. His office has been downgraded to resemble a more classical diplomatic service while Francis has set a bolder, more personal stamp on Vatican foreign policy.

"He's someone who's capable of praying in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul and then talking about the Armenian genocide. He's not someone who's bound by political correctness," said former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

"It's the diplomacy of a real leader."

Whether it is to the taste of all the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, world politicians with priorities of their own or even the many layers of the Church's own administration is another matter.

With many conservative Catholics unhappy about the pope's focus on issues like economic injustice and his relatively tolerant tone on sensitive social topics like homosexuality and the status of divorced people, pronounced views on delicate diplomatic issues could cause further division in the Church.

It is a point where he will be particularly tested in September on his upcoming visit to the United States, where some conservative U.S. Catholics are openly hostile.

After helping to foster last year's agreement reviving diplomatic relations between Havana and Washington, Francis reaped criticism from many U.S. conservatives, including Marco Rubio, a candidate for the Republican nomination for president.

Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a practicing Catholic, avoided directly admonishing the pope, but said he should "take up the cause of freedom and democracy" in Cuba.

That kind of veiled criticism from a politician who would normally be considered a staunch Church ally reflects the wider unease some Catholics feel at the change Francis has ushered in at one of the world's most conservative institutions.

"Bishops complain that he becomes popular by attacking the Church," said Franco.

"He speaks directly to the people and doesn't respect the usual command structures. He decides on his own or with people who are not those who previously had a central role."

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/pope-francis-extends-agenda-change-vatican-diplomacy-091928480.html
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« Reply #638 on: May 21, 2015, 10:49:48 pm »

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=33201
POPE FRANCIS APPOINTS RADICALLY LIBERAL, PRO-HOMOSEXUAL PRIEST TO VATICAN COUNCIL
5/21/15

POPE FRANCIS HAS APPOINTED RADICALLY LIBERAL, PRO-HOMOSEXUAL DOMINICAN FATHER TIMOTHY RADCLIFFE AS A CONSULTOR FOR THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE.

“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)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Pope Francis, the man we deem likely to fulfill the role of the False Prophet of Revelation, will bring the LGBT into the Catholic Church, with full papal blessing. And as such, the Catholic Church will cease to preach against homosexuality as the Pope continues to build the end times One World Religion, where all points of view will be welcome except that of the bible believing Christian.

The Holy Father made the appointment on Saturday, according to Vatican Radio. Father Radcliffe, an Englishman, author and speaker, was Master of the Dominican order from 1992 to 2001, and is an outspoken proponent of homosexuality.

“We must accompany gay people as they discern what this means, letting our images be stretched open,” he said in a 2006 religious education lecture in Los Angeles. “This means watching ‘Brokeback Mountain,’ reading gay novels, living with our gay friends and listening with them as they listen to the Lord.”

In 2005, as the Vatican deliberated the admission of men with homosexual tendencies to study for the priesthood in the wake of the Church sex abuse scandal, Father Radcliffe said that homosexuality should not bar men from the priesthood, and rather, those who oppose it should be banned.

As a contributor to the 2013 Anglican Pilling Report on human sexual ethics Father Radcliffe said of homosexuality:

How does all of this bear on the question of gay sexuality? We cannot begin with the question of whether it is permitted or forbidden! We must ask what it means, and how far it is Eucharistic. Certainly it can be generous, vulnerable, tender, mutual and non-violent. So in many ways, I would think that it can be expressive of Christ’s self-gift. We can also see how it can be expressive of mutual fidelity, a covenantal relationship in which two people bind themselves to each other for ever.

Father Radcliffe often celebrated Mass for the U.K. dissident group Soho Masses Pastoral Council (now renamed the LGBT Catholics Westminster Pastoral Council).

The priest is also a supporter of the proposal of to allow communion for divorced and remarried Catholics. source
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« Reply #639 on: May 29, 2015, 05:50:47 am »

‘Pope Francis’ Claims Devil Keeping Evangelicals, Roman Catholics Divided: ‘They Are One’

 In a recorded video statement released on Saturday, the Roman Catholic Pontiff known as Francis asserted that evangelicals and Catholics are one, and that it is the devil who has divided the two groups.

“Division is the work of the ‘Father of Lies,’ ‘the Father of Discord,’ who does everything possible to keep us divided,” he said.

The eight-minute video was for the “Celebration of Christian Unity” event organized by John 17 Ministries out of Pheonix, Ariz., which seeks to unite Christians and Catholics.

“I feel like saying something that may sound controversial, or even heretical, perhaps,” Francis stated. “But there is someone who ‘knows’ that despite our differences we are one.”

“The devil knows that Christians are disciples of Christ, that they are one, that they are brothers! He doesn’t care if they are Evangelicals or Orthodox, Lutherans, Catholics or Apostolic … He doesn’t care! They are Christians,” he said.

The pontiff asserted that the devil is persecuting both evangelicals and Roman Catholics alike because they are all Christian.

“It is he who is persecuting us. It is he who is persecuting Christians today, he who is anointing us with (the blood of) martyrdom,” he said. “Dear brothers and sisters, we are living in an ‘ecumenism of blood.'”

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Francis said that he unity must be achieved by each individual as he doesn’t believe it will occur at the hands of Bible scholars.

“I am convinced it won’t be theologians who bring about unity among us,” he stated. “Theologians help us, … but if we hope that theologians will agree with one another, we will reach unity the day after Judgement Day.”

However, some disagree with the pontiff’s ecumenical assertions, stating that unity should not be sought at the expense of the gospel.
Gendron

Gendron

“Jesus prayed that His Church would be sanctified by the truth. This means there cannot be unity with those who believe another gospel,” Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries told Christian News Network. “Believers cannot be unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14). Evangelicals can never have unity with Catholics because we are divided on the essentials of the gospel, how one is born again, how one is justified, how one is purified of sin, who can mediate between God and man and the efficacy, sufficiency and necessity of Jesus Christ for salvation.”

“God’s word declares that anyone who believes another gospel has believed in vain (1 Cor. 15:2). Scripture also condemns those who preach another gospel (Gal. 1:6-9),” he continued. “Pope Francis preaches another gospel and denies that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ alone. He preaches salvation is by water baptism, the sacraments, good works, keeping the law and attending the sin offering of a Eucharist Christ on an altar.”

Gendron said that Francis is incorrect in pronouncing the divide to Satan.

“The pope has pronounced a fatal error by attributing the word of Christ to the work of the devil. The Lord Jesus is the one who divides believers from unbelievers (Luke 12:51-53),” he stated. “This Jesuit pope is the one who is doing the work of the devil by rebuilding the religious tower of Babel with his attempt to bring all Christians back home to Rome. Tragically, some evangelicals are jumping on his ecumenical bandwagon and departing from the faith (1 Tim. 4:1-3).”



http://christiannews.net/2015/05/28/pope-francis-claims-devil-keeping-evangelicals-roman-catholics-divided-they-are-one/
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« Reply #640 on: May 29, 2015, 07:31:49 pm »

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« Reply #641 on: June 06, 2015, 09:55:52 pm »

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pope-Francis-Calls-Right-W-by-James-Quandy-America_America_Anti-gay_CHRISTIANS-CANNOT-BE-CONSERVATIVES-150606-114.html
6/6/15
Pope Francis Calls Right-Wing Christian Fundamentalism a Sickness

For the original article in "Addicting Info", quoted from below: click here
"Pope Francis has been very clear about how he feels about ideological purity in religion. He's been particularly critical of right-wing Christian fundamentalism. Pope Francis has shifted the focus of the Catholic Church to issues facing the poor and the sick. He has railed against economic inequality and has criticized the anti-gay and anti-abortion strains that have come to dominate the Christian Right here in America. Such ideological extremism is dangerous, not only to Christianity, but to the world. And Pope Francis said as much last Thursday.

Pope Francis called right-wing Christian fundamentalism a sickness.
During a daily Mass last week, Pope Francis called ideological Christianity "an illness" that doesn't serve Jesus Christ. Instead, it "frightens" people and pushes them away from religion.

According to Radio Vatican, the Pope said:

"In ideologies there is not Jesus: in his tenderness, his love, his meekness. And ideologies are rigid, always. Of every sign: rigid. And when a Christian becomes a disciple of the ideology, he has lost the faith: he is no longer a disciple of Jesus, he is a disciple of this attitude of thought" For this reason Jesus said to them: 'You have taken away the key of knowledge.' The knowledge of Jesus is transformed into an ideological and also moralistic knowledge, because these close the door with many requirements. The faith becomes ideology and ideology frightens, ideology chases away the people, distances, distances the people and distances of the Church of the people. But it is a serious illness, this of ideological Christians. It is an illness, but it is not new, eh?"

Based on past statements, Pope Francis' remarks were aimed mostly at the Christian Right.

While Pope Francis did not specifically mention Christian right-wing ideology during the Mass, his past remarks suggest he was talking about that ideology most of all.

In September, Pope Francis attacked "savage capitalism" and took up the plight of the unemployed against a system that worships money. Earlier that month, the Pope also criticized conservative Catholics for focusing so much on abortion, same-sex marriage, and contraception. And in July, Pope Francis put the brakes on hating gay people, saying that we shouldn't judge or marginalize them.

Clearly, Pope Francis isn't fond of the extreme ideals of the Christian Right. He supports helping the poor. He believes in economic fairness. He denounces hatred of gay people. He thinks the war against abortion and birth control has gone too far. Considering all of these things, it's pretty obvious that Pope Francis was mostly talking to right-wing Christians on Thursday. Their ideological fanaticism has damaged religion. They have abandoned the true teachings of Jesus to pursue an extremist agenda. And Pope Francis just called them out for it. Cue right-wing rage in 3, 2, 1""
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« Reply #642 on: June 08, 2015, 06:50:57 pm »

http://www.inquisitr.com/2153421/vladimir-putin-says-world-war-3-fears-are-unjustified-but-pope-francis-says-ww3-already-started/
Vladimir Putin Says World War 3 Fears Are Unjustified, But Pope Francis Says WW3 Already Started
6/7/15

Russian President Vladimir Putin is doing his best to quell any fears over the possibility of World War 3 breaking out between the NATO forces and Russia, claiming that only a “sick person” would imagine WW3. Pope Francis would disagree with this assessment, and believes the world has been beset by an “atmosphere of war.”

In a related report by the Inquisitr, Finland has been prepping its army reserves for war, and Sweden is receiving help from U.S. B-52 nuclear bombers as a show of force in Europe. Investor George Soros also believes it is “no exaggeration” to speak of World War 3 starting soon, although he claims a third world war would start in China over financial concerns. The Chinese leadership also recently spoke openly about the possibility of World War 3, but they blamed the United States for “meddling” in world affairs.

The Ukraine war continues to be battled between Kiev and pro-Russian separatist forces, but Vladimir Putin claims he is still committed to a peace deal. Although authorities in Kiev have blamed Russia for inciting further violence, Putin believes the opposite is true and claims Kiev is unwilling to sit down with the rebels and discuss the implementation of the European-brokered peace deal agreed on in February in Minsk.

“The problem is that representatives of the current Kiev authorities do not even want to sit down to talks with them,” Putin said. “And there is nothing we can do about it.”

Putin also claimed that World War 3 fears were unjustified, claiming that Russia’s military would never suddenly attack NATO over the Ukraine crisis.

“I would like to say – there’s no need to be afraid of Russia,” Putin told the newspaper Corriere della Sera according to AFP. “The world has changed so much that people in their right mind cannot imagine such a large-scale military conflict today. We have other things to do, I can assure you. Only a sick person — and even then only in his sleep — can imagine that Russia would suddenly attack NATO.”

This statement is quite different from what Putin said during a private meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. During the course of their discussion, it was claimed that Vladimir Putin threatened World War 3.


“If I wanted, in two days I could have Russian troops not only in Kiev, but also in Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Warsaw and Bucharest.”

Fortunately, the Russian president has backed off from making such public statements, although Poroshenko believes the “colossal threat” of a Russian invasion of Ukraine is imminent.

Pope Francis also fears the possibility of World War 3, although the Catholic leader claims WW3 has already started. The Pope believes the many conflicts around the globe amount to “a kind of third world war being fought piecemeal and, in the context of global communications, we sense an atmosphere of war.”

According to The Catholic Herald, Vladimir Putin and Pope Francis are scheduled to meet in person this week on Wednesday. The Catholic leader has appealed multiple times for peace in Ukraine, and during Easter he said he hopes it is possible to “rediscover peace and hope thanks to the commitment of all interested parties.

What do you think about the comments made by Vladimir Putin and Pope Francis?
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« Reply #643 on: June 09, 2015, 02:43:27 pm »

For First Time Ever Pope to Allow Reading of Quran and Islamic Prayers at Vatican This Sunday!

The Muslim world is finding much to rejoice about in a confusing and quite shocking decision made by the Pope. The Pope will allow Muslims to read from the Quran and chant Islamic prayers from the Vatican in a move said to promote peace.

    For the first time in history, Islamic prayers and readings from the Quran will be heard at the Vatican on Sunday, in a move by Pope Francis to usher in peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Problem is, in many instances the Quran promotes violence and war. The Quran calls for forced conversion of all Catholics to Islam, so I fail to see how allowing its words to flow through the Vatican is a good thing.

Just how bad is the Quran when it comes to tolerance of the Catholic faith?

You be the judge.

    The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding. Muslims who do not join the fight are called ‘hypocrites’ and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter.

    Unlike nearly all of the Old Testament verses of violence, the verses of violence in the Quran are mostly open-ended, meaning that they are not restrained by the historical context of the surrounding text. They are part of the eternal, unchanging word of Allah, and just as relevant or subjective as anything else in the Quran.

    The context of violent passages is more ambiguous than might be expected of a perfect book from a loving God, however this can work both ways. Most of today’s Muslims exercise a personal choice to interpret their holy book’s call to arms according to their own moral preconceptions about justifiable violence. Apologists cater to their preferences with tenuous arguments that gloss over historical fact and generally do not stand up to scrutiny. Still, it is important to note that the problem is not bad people, but bad ideology.

    Unfortunately, there are very few verses of tolerance and peace to abrogate or even balance out the many that call for nonbelievers to be fought and subdued until they either accept humiliation, convert to Islam, or are killed. Muhammad’s own martial legacy – and that of his companions – along with the remarkable stress on violence found in the Quran have produced a trail of blood and tears across world history.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

http://www.libertynews.com/2014/06/shock-for-first-time-ever-pope-to-allow-reading-of-quran-and-islamic-prayers-at-vatican-this-sunday/
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« Reply #644 on: June 10, 2015, 11:38:24 pm »

http://time.com/3917075/pope-francis-vladimir-putin/
The pope can use his partnership with Putin to take a lead in foreign affairs
6/10/15

In light of Pope Francis and Vladimir Putin meeting Wednesday at the Vatican, it’s useful to recall the first meeting between the two in November 2013. The scariest photo of Pope Francis was taken at that meeting. Staring at the Russian president from across his desk, the pope’s demeanor suggested he wasn’t afraid of the former KGB officer who has had an iron-fisted rule over the nation for a better part of a generation. Photos speak a thousand words, but in this case, perhaps it was a bit deceptive.

John Allen wrote Tuesday:

Judging solely on the basis of personality, Pope Francis and Russian President Vladimir Putin may seem an odd geopolitical couple. Francis is a man of compassion and peace, while Putin is quite possibly the single world leader you most wouldn’t want to run into in a dark alley. Yet when Francis and Putin meet on Wednesday in the Vatican, it will bring together two figures who’ve forged an improbably strong partnership.

This partnership was originally formed in September 2013 when both Francis and Putin called on the U.S. to not take military action in Syria. Francis and Putin used two very different means to communicate their messages: Francis held a worldwide prayer vigil for peace, while Putin penned a somewhat audacious editorial in The New York Times in which he cited Pope Francis’s objection as a reason for the U.S. to not get involved in the region.

Russia-sponsored media have suggested such partnerships make Putin and Francis champions of similar values—which is clearly overstated. But Francis’s working relationship with Putin isn’t without concern. Some have criticized the pope for being too soft on Putin, particularly after Russia invaded the Crimea region in Ukraine last year. In fact, some of the pope’s strongest critics are bishops in the region.

Yet a little more than two years into his tenure, I still think Pope Francis is the best politician in the world. Twice in his relatively short papacy he’s made significant foreign policy progress.

In June 2014, Francis convened an unprecedented Vatican meeting between then-Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss a new way forward between the warring nations. Just a few months earlier, a frustrated Secretary of State John Kerry said his efforts to do the same had failed.

And last December, Francis helped usher in a new era of peace and dialogue between U.S. and Cuba. During President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, he credited the pope for his crucial role in the process. Just last month, Cuban President Raul Castro said that if Francis keeps going in the same direction, he might even pray again and consider a return to the Catholic Church.

If Francis can help make progress with Putin in resolving the crisis in Ukraine, the pope will have achieved a diplomatic triple crown.
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« Reply #645 on: June 15, 2015, 10:38:16 pm »

http://universalfreepress.com/german-climate-nazi-teaming-up-with-pope-francis-for-roll-out-of-global-govt-climate-encyclical/
German Climate Nazi Teaming Up With Pope Francis For Roll Out Of Global Govt “Climate” Encyclical
6/14/15

A Papal propaganda piece promoting population control and world government might seem to many to be a bit out of the realm of authority and expertise of the head of the Catholic Church, and well beyond his appropriate bounds. The Catholic Church has well known positions against birth control and abortion so at first glance it is might seem curious that Pope Francis has chosen to involve himself with certain individuals in his make believe fight against the air, the water and the climate. Pope Francis is much more than a typical pope or religious leader, he’s an operative for the global elites whose plan is quite simply to rule the world.

On June 18th what will be benignly labeled as a teaching document by those who are promoting it, an encyclical, will be issued in an effort to convince us all that there is a higher calling that can only be answered by submitting to the domination of power-mad authoritarians.

The picture will be painted as one of a desperate need, in spite of evidence all around us that that is simply not the case. We’ll be told that the planet is dying, we are all Earth-murderers and that the Pope has the key to our absolution. We must simply surrender all of our possessions, our national identities and our lifestyles. We can do it over time, but not too much time and once we start there’s no turning back. As bad as we have things, our children will have it worse, and their children after them. We must all become enslaved to the planet and its merry band of oligarchs to know the true freedom and happiness that comes with a meaningless existence.

Nothing cures poverty like lowering the standard of living for the productive to the point where they are poor as well, eliminating “poverty” through the theoretical creation of equality. We’ll all be equally miserable, equally threatened, and our situations equally hopeless.

The non-climatologist Pope couldn’t be expected to write his own propaganda document for such an important event. They needed professional help and fortunately for them, Obama and the UN are never more than a phone call away. Obama’s fellow Columbia alumnus and green Nazi Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute was just one of the many operatives dispatched to provide the needed scary and urgent content. Regular sessions have been conducted to formalize what will essentially be a call for the dismantling of Western civilizations, including a gathering of forty leading alarmists at the Vatican in May.

One particularly unsavory individual, a pro-death German eugenicist by the name of Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, has been selected to be one of three presenters at the Vatican when the assault on free men is officially launched. He’s the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and a personal climate advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The notorious Schellnhuber has publicly stated his beliefs that the planet can only sustain one billion people, which puts us miraculously now at what he has declared to be seven times capacity. Of course, those seven billion people are somehow surviving just fine in spite of his claims that we’re an infestation, in many ways better than we did when population levels were considerably less, but reason and common sense are not part of these “geniuses” and their proclamations. This is the kind of individual that Pope Francis has aligned himself with and who are crafting the Pope’s document. There are many more like him.

Why is Pope Francis associated with individuals who favor eliminating 85 percent of the world’s population? His involvement, both with Pope Francis and Angela Merkel is consistent with Hussein Obama’s selection of eugenicist John Holdren as his Science Czar. He’s a man who advocated for global sterilization and forced abortions, who pushes the same agenda. It’s a bizarre and unseemly alliance for the leader of the Catholic Church but at the same time quite revealing. We must understand who this Pope is to appreciate the true measure of his actions in their full context.

Schellnhuber views the solution to the fabricated problems of the climate as a three part surrender of all people to global authoritarianism, maintaining the UN Agenda 21 position of promoting “sustainability” as a core principle. He urged:

The adoption of an Earth Constitution which “would transcend the UN Charter and identify those first principles guiding humanity in its quest for freedom, dignity, security and sustainability.”

The establishment of a Global Council which “would be an assembly of individuals elected directly by all people on Earth, where eligibility should be not constrained by geographical, religious, or cultural quotas”

The establishment of a Planetary Court, which “would be a transnational legal body open to appeals from everybody, especially with respect to violations of the Earth Constitution.”


What we are about to witness is mind control on a large scale, the attempt to abuse the faith and trust of Catholics around the world in order to scare and manipulate them into supporting global government. It must be recognized for what it is and not be allowed to succeed. The second half of this year will see a major push of the UN upon us by those who see themselves as our rightful masters.

We simply can’t let them get away with it. The future of our planet and all of mankind depends upon us stopping them.
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« Reply #646 on: June 21, 2015, 10:16:44 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/pope-venerates-mysterious-shroud-turin-105510313.html
Pope 'moved to tears' by asylum seekers' plight
6/21/15

Turin (Italy) (AFP) - Pope Francis said Sunday the plight of asylum seekers hoping for a new life in Europe was enough to make him cry, condemning those who treat them "like merchandise".

Speaking during his first pastoral visit to northern Italy, the pontiff slammed hostility towards migrants arriving by boat from Libya, with European countries bickering over who should be forced to provide shelter to the needy.

"It brings tears to one's eyes to see the spectacle of these days, in which human beings have been treated like merchandise," he told the crowds.

He was speaking as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi met his French counterpart Francois Hollande in Milan to discuss the immigration crisis which has seen hundreds of migrants blocked on the border between the two countries.

The head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics was in the industrial city in the northwest of the country for a two-day visit which saw him spend time with the poor, sick and marginalised, including prisoners and migrants.

Francis, whose father grew up in the city, was in Turin to pray before the mysterious shroud, believed by Christians to be the burial cloth of Jesus but held by sceptics to be a medieval fake.

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« Reply #647 on: June 23, 2015, 03:36:23 pm »

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/18/world/pope-10-commandments-climate-change/index.html
6/19/15
The Pope's 10 commandments on climate change

(CNN)Pope Francis released a sweeping statement about the environment on Thursday, calling for "cultural revolution" to change our lifestyles -- from our addiction to technology to our treatment of the poor.

The document is very long -- 184 pages in English. But here are 10 quick commandments the Pope says everybody can follow to stop the "disturbing warming" of our planet.

1. Think of future generations.



2. Embrace alternative energy sources.



3. Consider pollution's effect on the poor.



4. Take the bus!



5. Be humble.



6. Don't become a slave to your phone.



7. Don't trade online relationships for real ones.



8. Turn off the lights, recycle and don't waste food.



9. Educate yourself.



10. Believe you can make a difference.

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« Reply #648 on: June 25, 2015, 02:56:08 pm »

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20150624/COLUMNIST/150629877/2127?Title=David-Brooks-Pope-Francis-and-the-serpent-s-wisdom&tc=ar
6/24/15
David Brooks: Pope Francis and the serpent's wisdom

Pope Francis is one of the world's most inspiring figures. There are passages in his new encyclical on the environment that beautifully place human beings within the seamless garment of life. And yet overall the encyclical is surprisingly disappointing.

Legitimate warnings about the perils of global warming morph into 1970s-style doom-mongering about technological civilization. There are too many overdrawn statements like “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth.”

Hardest to accept, though, is the moral premise implied throughout the encyclical: that the only legitimate human relationships are based on compassion, harmony and love, and that arrangements based on self-interest and competition are inherently destructive.

The pope has a section on work in the encyclical. The section's heroes are St. Francis of Assisi and monks -- emblems of selfless love who seek to return, the pope says, to a state of “original innocence.”

He is relentlessly negative, on the other hand, when describing institutions in which people compete for political power or economic gain. At one point he links self-interest with violence. He comes out against technological advances that will improve productivity by replacing human work. He specifically condemns market-based mechanisms to solve environmental problems, even though these cap-and-trade programs are up and running in places like California.

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« Reply #649 on: June 30, 2015, 04:14:29 pm »

http://rt.com/news/270682-pope-francis-coca-bolivia/
Pope Francis to chew coca leaves during visit to Bolivia – minister
6/30/15

Pope Francis has made an unexpected request for his upcoming trip to Bolivia – he wants to chew coca leaves, the natural source of ****, according to a government official. Bolivia says it will “await the Holy Father” with the "sacred" leaves.

Culture Minister Marko Machicao told state broadcasters that the Bolivian government “offered [the Pope] coca tea or something for the altitude” on his upcoming visit.

But the pontiff apparently has his sights on chewing coca leaves, which have been used by local people to ward off the effects of altitude for centuries. They are also believed to help with muscle pain and stave off hunger and thirst, and can be used for medicinal and food purposes.

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« Reply #650 on: July 08, 2015, 08:51:44 am »

Pope wraps Ecuador leg of South America trip after calling for new ecological, economic order

Pope Francis wraps up the first leg of a three-nation South American pilgrimage Wednesday after issuing an impassioned call for a new economic and ecological world order where the goods of the Earth are shared by everyone, not just exploited by the rich.

Francis will visit the elderly and give a pep talk to local priests before flying to Bolivia, where the environment, ministering to the poor and the government's tense relations with the Catholic Church are high on the agenda.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, an Aymara Indian known for anti-imperialist and socialist rhetoric, will greet Francis at the airport and join him for a speech to local officials and diplomats before the pontiff goes to the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz. The stop in La Paz is being kept to four hours to spare the 78-year-old pope from the taxing 4,000-meter (13,120-foot) elevation.

Francis and Morales have met on several occasions, most recently in October when the president, a former coca farmer, participated in a Vatican summit of grassroots groups of indigenous and advocates for the poor who have been championed by Francis. Their shared views on the need for wealthy countries to drastically change course to address climate change bump up against Morales' anti-clerical initiatives that have roiled relations with the local church.

Taking up the global warming issue in Quito on Tuesday, Francis pressed the arguments made in his headline-grabbing encyclical earlier this month that the planet must not be exploited by the wealthy few for short-term profit at the expense of the poor.

"As stewards of these riches which we have received, we have an obligation toward society as a whole and toward future generations," Francis said. "We cannot bequeath this heritage to them without proper care for the environment, without a sense of gratuitousness born of our contemplation of the created world."

His call was particularly relevant for Ecuador, a Pacific nation that is home to one of the world's most species-diverse ecosystems but is also an OPEC country heavily dependent on oil extraction.

He delivered the challenge in back-to-back speeches at Catholic University and a meeting with business leaders and indigenous groups, the latter of which have championed his encyclical.

"The goods of the Earth are meant for everyone, and however much someone may parade his property, it has a social mortgage," Francis said. "The tapping of natural resources, which are so abundant in Ecuador, must not be concerned with short-term benefits."

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has been harshly criticized by environmentalists and indigenous groups for pushing mining and oil drilling in the Amazon, which together with the Galapagos Islands give Ecuador an unrivaled designation as one of the Earth's environmental priorities. That push, coupled with high crude prices, allowed Correa to lift 1.3 million people out of poverty in his eight years in office.

Francis has called for environmentally responsible development, one that is aimed at helping the poor without sacrificing the planet. The oil industry and its supporters, particularly in the U.S., have criticized the pope's anti-fossil fuel campaign as irresponsible and uninformed.

Francis is likely to repeat his message in Bolivia, South America's poorest country. Morales has been hailed as an environmental hero to many for demanding rich nations do more to halt global warming, but he has been assailed by conservationists at home who say he puts oil and gas extraction ahead of clean water and forests.

The pope will spend the rest of his Bolivian stay in Santa Cruz, where he will headline another summit of grassroots groups and visit with inmates at the notoriously violent Palmasola prison. After that he is going to Paraguay.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/07/08/pope-wraps-ecuador-leg-south-america-trip-after-calling-for-new-ecological/
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« Reply #651 on: July 09, 2015, 11:38:03 am »

http://realnewsrightnow.com/2015/07/06/pope-francis-god-has-instructed-me-to-revise-the-ten-commandments/
7/6/15
Pope Francis: God Has Instructed Me to Revise the Ten Commandments

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Hobbus
GUAYAQUIL, Ec. – Pope Francis kicked off the start of a three-nation trip across South America today with his first mass, with over a million Ecuadorians in attendance, in the coastal city of Guayaquil. Delivering the mass in Spanish, the Pope spoke about the importance of family in modern society, saying, “It needs to be helped and strengthened, lest we lose our proper sense of the services which society as a whole provides.”

During his sermon, Pope Francis announced to Christians around the world that God had called upon him, instructing him “to revise the most sacred of texts, the Ten Commandments.” Given to the Israelites by God himself at Mount Sinai, the Commandments include instructions for worship and list several prohibited practices.

Pope Francis said Christians around the world are “faced with ever-increasing temptations brought on by the evils of modern society.” The Pope said the updated Commandments reflect the changing times and include some minor rewording of the existing rules as well as the addition of two new Commandments.

The Fourth Commandment, which advocates that proper respect be shown towards one’s parents, has been reworded in order to include children raised by same-sex parents. Pope Francis said the Seventh Commandment, prohibiting adultery and, among other things, homosexuality, has been removed entirely, as instructed by God, in order to extend “God’s grace to all His children.”

Addressing the inclusion of the new Commandments, which bring the total number to eleven, Pope Francis praised the rapid growth of technology in the digital age but said “progress comes at a price.” The new Fifth Commandment, which replaces the prohibition of adultery, forbids all aspects of genetic engineering and bans the consumption of genetically modified foods.

Lastly, the Eleventh Commandment disallows personal idolization and the glorification of one’s self over God. Using the Kardashians, a highly publicized celebrity family, as an example, Pope Francis said, “Selfies are an abomination in the eyes of our Lord.”

A spokesman for the Vatican, Father Federico Lombardi, said the Eleven Commandments are currently being etched into marble by an Italian sculptor and, upon completion, will be unveiled to the world in Saint Peter’s Square following an internationally televised mass.
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« Reply #652 on: July 10, 2015, 06:50:03 am »

http://realnewsrightnow.com/2015/07/06/pope-francis-god-has-instructed-me-to-revise-the-ten-commandments/
7/6/15
Pope Francis: God Has Instructed Me to Revise the Ten Commandments

Posted on July 6, 2015 by Hobbus
GUAYAQUIL, Ec. – Pope Francis kicked off the start of a three-nation trip across South America today with his first mass, with over a million Ecuadorians in attendance, in the coastal city of Guayaquil. Delivering the mass in Spanish, the Pope spoke about the importance of family in modern society, saying, “It needs to be helped and strengthened, lest we lose our proper sense of the services which society as a whole provides.”

During his sermon, Pope Francis announced to Christians around the world that God had called upon him, instructing him “to revise the most sacred of texts, the Ten Commandments.” Given to the Israelites by God himself at Mount Sinai, the Commandments include instructions for worship and list several prohibited practices.

Pope Francis said Christians around the world are “faced with ever-increasing temptations brought on by the evils of modern society.” The Pope said the updated Commandments reflect the changing times and include some minor rewording of the existing rules as well as the addition of two new Commandments.

The Fourth Commandment, which advocates that proper respect be shown towards one’s parents, has been reworded in order to include children raised by same-sex parents. Pope Francis said the Seventh Commandment, prohibiting adultery and, among other things, homosexuality, has been removed entirely, as instructed by God, in order to extend “God’s grace to all His children.”

Addressing the inclusion of the new Commandments, which bring the total number to eleven, Pope Francis praised the rapid growth of technology in the digital age but said “progress comes at a price.” The new Fifth Commandment, which replaces the prohibition of adultery, forbids all aspects of genetic engineering and bans the consumption of genetically modified foods.

Lastly, the Eleventh Commandment disallows personal idolization and the glorification of one’s self over God. Using the Kardashians, a highly publicized celebrity family, as an example, Pope Francis said, “Selfies are an abomination in the eyes of our Lord.”

A spokesman for the Vatican, Father Federico Lombardi, said the Eleven Commandments are currently being etched into marble by an Italian sculptor and, upon completion, will be unveiled to the world in Saint Peter’s Square following an internationally televised mass.

This is a false story.

FACT CHECK:   Did Pope Francis announce during a sermon that God had instructed him to change the Ten Commandments?

Claim:   Pope Francis announced during a sermon that God had instructed him to change the ten commandments.


  FALSE

Example:     [Collected via e-mail, July 2015]

    I recently read an article that said Pope Francis is rewriting the Ten Commandments. Is this true?

Origins:   On 6 July 2015, the entertainment web site Real News Right Now published an article reporting that Pope Francis announced during a sermon that he had been instructed by God to change the Ten Commandments:

    During his sermon, Pope Francis announced to Christians around the world that God had called upon him, instructing him “to revise the most sacred of texts, the Ten Commandments.” Given to the Israelites by God himself at Mount Sinai, the Commandments include instructions for worship and list several prohibited practices.

    Pope Francis said Christians around the world are “faced with ever-increasing temptations brought on by the evils of modern society.” The Pope said the updated Commandments reflect the changing times and include some minor rewording of the existing rules as well as the addition of two new Commandments.

    The Fourth Commandment, which advocates that proper respect be shown towards one’s parents, has been reworded in order to include children raised by same-sex parents. Pope Francis said the Seventh Commandment, prohibiting adultery and, among other things, homosexuality, has been removed entirely, as instructed by God, in order to extend “God’s grace to all His children.”

While Real News Right Now does not contain a disclaimer identifying it as a fake news web site, the above-quoted story is just that: another piece of fake news.

Real News Right Now has published a number of fictional news items, including an article about President Obama’s stripping Texas of statehood and an article about President Obama’s banning the possession of Confederate flags.

The biggest indicator that Real News Right Now is a fake news publication comes from the site’s “About” page, where author R. Hobbus J.D. brags about winning fictional awards such as the “Oscar Mayer Award for Journalistic Excellence” and the “Stephen Glass [a journalist notorious for falsifying news stories) Distinction in Journalistic Integrity.”

Last updated:      7 July 2015

Originally published:     7 July 2015

Read more at http://m.snopes.com/pope-changing-commandments/#9QgpkoYmbRJM5wlx.99
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« Reply #653 on: July 10, 2015, 10:38:14 pm »

http://time.com/3953591/pope-francis-bolivia-speech/
Pope Francis Isn’t Holding Back—And U.S. Politicians Should Watch Out
7/10/15

Here are the four foundations of his revolution

If it wasn’t clear before, it is now: Pope Francis is no moderate. In what some are calling a “nearly revolutionary” speech, Francis gave a 55-minute papal tour de force in Bolivia Thursday night calling for a “structural change” to a global economy that runs “counter to the plan of Jesus.”

Francis and his predecessors have issued strong calls for global economic structural reforms before, but Thursday night’s address to the poor of Bolivia went above and beyond. “The future of humanity does not lie solely in the hands of great leaders, the great powers and the elites,” he said. “It is fundamentally in the hands of peoples and in their ability to organize. It is in their hands, which can guide with humility and conviction this process of change. I am with you.”

If his September address to the U.S. Congress looks anything similar, House Speaker John Boehner and leaders of both parties might regret their invitation to the 78-year-old Jesuit pontiff. Here are the four foundations of his revolution.

1. Land, lodging, and labor are “sacred rights.” In what is perhaps his boldest claim to date, Pope Francis argued that everyone has a God-given right to have a job, to own land, and to have a home. This, of course, is neither the promise nor goal of current economic systems established in the U.S. and around the globe. This also goes well beyond the traditional social teaching of the Catholic Church, which argues for the dignity of work, but doesn’t go as far to say that everyone has a God-given right to have a job.

2. People—not profits—must be the center of the global economy. Lambasting unbridled capitalism as a “subtle dictatorship” and the “dung of the devil,” Francis argued that when the “unfettered pursuit of money rules,” that “the service of the common good is left behind.” Francis called on the people to counter this: “Let us say no to an economy of exclusion and inequality, where money rules, rather than service. That economy kills. That economy excludes. That economy destroys Mother Earth.”

3. We can’t wait for change. In his recent encyclical, Pope Francis said that, “doomsday predictions” about the environment “can no longer be met with irony or disdain.” On Thursday, he argued the same could be said of economic injustices: “Time, my brothers and sisters, seems to be running out; we are not yet tearing one another apart, but we are tearing apart our common home.” To address this economic situation, Francis argued that people must not be afraid to say “we want change.”

4. Lasting change must begin from below. The pope argued that structural change won’t be the “result from any one political decision.” Change from below works, the pope said, because when people get “caught up in the storms of people’s lives,” they are deeply moved and compelled to act.

Pope Francis’s speech didn’t reek of socialism, communism, or Marxism, but of a radical commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. “Working for a just distribution of the fruits of the earth and human labor is not mere philanthropy,” the pope said. “It is a moral obligation. For Christians, the responsibility is even greater: it is a commandment. It is about giving to the poor and to peoples what is theirs by right.”

If Pope Francis can sway Congress on this idea, then perhaps the world will begin to believe what so many of the poor already know: Francis truly is the vicar of that poor man who came two millennia ago to save his people.
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« Reply #654 on: July 19, 2015, 09:46:13 pm »

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-entrusts-south-america-to-mary-29424/
Pope entrusts South America trip to Mary

Vatican City, Jul 19, 2015 / 09:14 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis entrusted his recent tri-nation voyage to South America to Our Lady of Guadalupe – praising the deeply-rooted Christianity in these countries, but also noting the social and economic challenges.

“To the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary, whom the whole of Latin America venerates as Patron by the title Our Lady of Guadalupe, I entrust the fruits of this unforgettable Apostolic journey,” the pontiff said.

He made his remarks on Sunday to the large crowds who had gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for the weekly Angelus, despite the heat wave currently sweeping through Rome.

It's the Pope's first Angelus address since returning from his July 5-13 trip to Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay.

Drawing from the Gospel reading, the Argentine-born pontiff said he had asked the Good Shepherd to accompany him on his recent trip to the continent of his birth.

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« Reply #655 on: July 20, 2015, 05:50:21 am »

Pope Francis denounces Bill of Rights, says only his personal body guards should own guns

Millions of people around the world have embraced a recently released encyclical by Pope Francis that focuses a great deal of attention on so-called climate change, capitalism and other forms of political, economic, and environmental policy.

Most of what the pope wrote was readily accepted by a great number of people, while others criticized it for its seeming acceptance of environmental science that has yet to actually be settled and economic models that have brought prosperity to a greater portion of the planet than at any time in its history.

In recent days, however, the pontiff said something that has roiled a large segment of American society and left many U.S. Catholics wondering whether the Holy See really represents them anymore.

As reported by a news site called the Sleuth Journal and Reuters, Pope Francis observed that weapons makers could never call themselves Christians in comments to young people at a large rally in the Italian city of Turin.

Are they even Christians?
"If you trust only men you have lost," he told the crowd in a long, often rambling talk about war, trust and politics, after ditching aside his prepared remarks.

"It makes me think of ... people, managers, businessmen who call themselves Christian and they manufacture weapons. That leads to a bit a[sic] distrust, doesn't it?" he said to applause.

He also criticized those who invest in weapons industries, saying "duplicity is the currency of today ... they say one thing and do another," Reuters noted.

So, what does the pontiff – who is always guarded by a company of armed bodyguards and Vatican City security personnel – say about the American right to keep and own firearms, as recognized by the Second Amendment?

Not much that is good or positive.

A year ago, the pontiff warned that human traffickers, slave traders and weapons makers would have to answer to God on their Judgment Day. He was particularly harsh toward weapons makers and dealers, alleging they are not interested in the word of God because they "fabricate death, they are merchants of death and make death into a trade."

His new criticism in Turin now suggests that gun dealers, gun makers and, by extension, gun owners, are not even Christian, noted Natasha Noman at PolicyMic.

Perhaps Americans should not be surprised given that the Catholic Church embraces the Ten Commandments, one of which is "Thou shalt not kill."

Fewer guns in private hands until they are no longer allowed
In practical terms, however, the Vatican has regularly opposed private firearm ownership. In 2011, the National Catholic Reporter noted that though there are few overt statements from the Church regarding private firearms ownership, the reality is that the Vatican is quite clear on that position:

The Catholic Church's position on gun control is not easy to find; there are dozens of speeches and talks and a few documents that call for much tighter regulation of the global arms trade, but what about private gun ownership?

The answer is resoundingly clear: Firearms in the hands of civilians should be strictly limited and eventually completely eliminated.

That won't be clear, judging by the dearth of public statements and headlines detailing the Church's position, which derives a great deal of funding from American Catholics, many of whom are constitutional conservatives. In fact, the NCR noted that the Church's position is cloaked in a footnote in a document on crime by the U.S. Bishops' conference while being mentioned in dozens of official Vatican texts on the global trade of arms.

The most direct statement, NCR reports, comes in the bishops' "Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice," published in November 2000.

"As bishops, we support measures that control the sale and use of firearms and make them safer -- especially efforts that prevent their unsupervised use by children or anyone other than the owner -- and we reiterate our call for sensible regulation of handguns," it says, as reported by NCR.

Sources:

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/050443_Pope_Francis_gun_control_Vatican.html#ixzz3gQZrtIjX
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« Reply #656 on: July 25, 2015, 07:43:59 pm »

http://time.com/3970300/presidential-election-pope-francis-politics/

Many candidates—Catholic or not—are seeking ways to tie themselves to the pope's vision

To get elected in 1960, John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, was forced to tell the nation that he wouldn’t take orders from the pope. In 2016, no such separation will be needed. With a record number of Catholics seeking the presidency and the wildly popular Pope Francis visiting the nation this fall, many candidates—Catholic or not—are seeking ways to tie themselves to the mission and vision of this Argentinian pontiff.

The times have changed. With a Catholic vice president, six Catholic Supreme Court justices, a Catholic Speaker of the House, and a large number of Catholics in Congress, the golden age of Catholicism in American politics has arrived. This would have been unimaginable just a few decades ago. Kennedy was the first Catholic president. Irish-Catholic Al Smith likely lost the 1928 campaign because of his religion.

This ascendency of Catholics to the forefront of American politics has only been accelerated by the groundbreaking papacy of Francis. His September trip to the U.S. will be a major event of the 2016 presidential primaries.
 
Politicians and candidates are likely scheming how they can best utilize the pontiff’s first trip to the U.S. to push forth their agendas. Francis’s trip isn’t about politics, but it would be naïve to ignore the political implications of a visit during which he is expected to lift up his recent encyclical letter on the care for God’s creation, the religious obligation to defend the dignity of immigrants, the poor, and the unborn, and the moral scandal of social inequality and of an economy that kills.

The political pinnacle of his trip will be his Sept. 24 address to Congress. If his recent trip to Bolivia is any indication, the 2016 candidates better pay attention. Since the beginning of his tenure, Francis has asked politicians around the world to change the conversation from horserace political issues to core issues that are foundational to the common good: “I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor! It is vital that government leaders and financial leaders take heed and broaden their horizons.”

This will be a message that will push candidates of all political stripes to challenge their parties’ political ideologies that too often are rooted in radical individualism. “The pope offers a message that is inspiring and challenging,” says John Gehring, the Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life, and author of an upcoming book about Pope Francis. “He is making new again what is ancient religious teaching about the common good at a time when our politics and culture are shaped by a libertarianism on the left and right.”

If polling data released Thursday showing support for Pope Francis’s messages is any indication, following the way of Francis isn’t just a ticket to heaven but maybe to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, too.
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« Reply #657 on: July 29, 2015, 09:06:57 am »

Why So Many People Think Pope Francis Is the Antichrist

If you type "is Pope Francis antichrist" into Google, you'll get about 425,000 results in .37 seconds. By way of comparison, if you ask Google the same question about Pope Benedict you only get 137,000 and it takes a little longer—.47 seconds.

So why do so many people think—or at least ponder—that the Latin American pontiff is the Antichrist (or at least the end-time False Prophet mentioned in Revelation 19:20)? It could be for some of the same reasons his popularity is declining. His approval rating in the United States has dropped from 76 percent a year ago to 56 percent today, according to Gallup.

Indeed, even Roman Catholics are cooling off to Francis, the first-ever Jesuit pope who emerged as a darling among the evangelical community when he took over for the retiring Benedict. Some Pentecostal onlookers suggested he was Spirit-filled. And Kenneth Copeland and James Robison met privately with the pope in Rome and exchanged high-fives.

So what gives? Reuters' Scott Malone points out: "The decline comes as Francis has changed the focus of his public remarks from that of his immediate predecessors, concentrating less on the Church's opposition to abortion and gay marriage and spending more of his time discussing social inequity and poverty."

Francis has been vocal about the evils of capitalism while backing off conservative views about homosexuals, asking, "Who am I to judge?" He's even called for a New World Order more than once. Some predict he will usher in this New World Order on Sept. 25, just 10 days after the end of the Shemitah year, which has a swirl of speculation about economic collapse around it.

Meanwhile, Francis has warmed up to Islam like no other pope before him. In a historic first, Francis opened the door to Muslim prayers and Quran readings at the Vatican last year. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Shimon Peres joined the pontiff in the Vatican gardens for a prayer meeting.

At that time, Francis said: "It is my hope that this meeting will mark the beginning of a new journey where we seek the things that unite, so as to overcome the things that divide. Peacemaking calls for courage, much more so than warfare. It calls for the courage to say yes to encounter and no to conflict." Some saw this as a precursor to the one world religion.

Protestant feathers really got ruffled when the washingtonpost.com.co and others falsely reported that Francis said the Quran and Holy Bible are the same:

"Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Jehovah, Allah. These are all names employed to describe an entity that is distinctly the same across the world. For centuries, blood has been needlessly shed because of the desire to segregate our faiths. This, however, should be the very concept which unites us as people, as nations, and as a world bound by faith. Together, we can bring about an unprecedented age of peace, all we need to achieve such a state is respect each others beliefs, for we are all children of God regardless of the name we choose to address him by. We can accomplish miraculous things in the world by merging our faiths, and the time for such a movement is now. No longer shall we slaughter our neighbors over differences in reference to their God."

Although it seems unlikely that the pope actually said that (I could not independently confirm it from mainstream media sources, only Internet rags that tend to publish misleading information) the fact that so many Christians took it as truth without a second blink is telling. He's said and done enough other shocking things to make this statement believable in the ears of many believers.

Could Francis be the final pope before Christ's return? Could he be the Antichrist? Is he the False Prophet? The chatter continues.

Here's what we know: More than 50 years ago, a Jesuit priest predicted the resignation of Pope Benedict—to the day—and now Tom Horn, who worked with Cris Putnam to unveil a 900-year-old prophecy buried in the library at the Vatican that describes a series of 112 popes, and others are looking at his research. "Was he divinely inspired? Was he demonically inspired?" Horn asks. "Because we know demons know things about times and dispensations, too."

These are strange days in which we live. How do you feel about the Pope's stand on homosexuality, Islam, capitalism and the New World Order?

http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/watchman-on-the-wall/50752-why-so-many-people-think-pope-francis-is-the-antichrist
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« Reply #658 on: August 04, 2015, 10:15:50 pm »

http://www.rt.com/news/311527-pope-mass-cuba-guevara/
Pope to conduct Cuba mass next to iconic Che Guevara portrait
Published time: 4 Aug, 2015 11:13

Workers in Cuba are building an altar for Pope Francis' landmark visit next month, during which he will deliver a mass in Havana. The structure will be located to the left of a giant image of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara.

The pontiff's visit, scheduled for September 19-22, will include a mass in Havana's Plaza de la Revolucion, AFP reported. The square is bordered on one side by the Interior Ministry, which showcases a 36-meter (118 foot) sculpted outline of Guevara's face.

The image is based on the famous 1960 photograph of Guevara, captured by Alberto Korda. The picture has been reproduced worldwide on posters and T-shirts.

Guevara, a symbol of Marxist revolution, fought alongside Fidel Castro to overthrow dictator Fulgencio Batista in the 1959 Cuban Revolution. He was captured and executed in Bolivia in 1967, at the age of 39.

Pope Francis will not be the first pontiff to conduct a mass near the image, however. John Paul II and Benedict XVI also gave masses near the Guevara portrait during trips to Cuba in 1998 and 2012, respectively. Francis' mass will take place on September 20.

The visit will take place just two months after Pope Francis was praised by Cuba and the US for his role in the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

However, Francis has downplayed his role in the historic thaw, saying last month that “we did hardly anything, only small things...there was a desire that had arrived – on the other side also a desire,” AP reported.

"It was the goodwill of the two countries, and the merit is theirs. The merit is theirs for doing this," the pontiff added.

Francis' visit to Cuba will be followed by a US visit to Washington, New York, and Philadelphia. One of his most anticipated events will take place on September 24, when he will become the first pontiff in history to make an address before US Congress.
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« Reply #659 on: August 10, 2015, 04:47:45 am »

Christians Burn While Pope Worries about “Worldly” Matters

Just saying... Catholics ARE NOT CHRISTIAN!

    Although the Egyptian constitution stipulates equality before the law, the judiciary refuses the testimony of Christians against Muslims in courts. Islamic law maintains that the testimony of an “infidel” cannot be accepted against a Muslim.

    Al Azhar University in Egypt continues to incite Egypt’s Muslims against Christians. Most recently, the university was exposed distributing a free booklet dedicated to discrediting Christianity. It is full of direct attacks on Christianity in general and the nation’s Coptic Christians in particular. Islam is hailed as the true and superior religion. No mention of violent Islamic conquests is made.

    More than 200 girls, mostly Christian, remain missing in Nigeria after Boko Haram kidnapped them in 2014. Escapees testify that some were told to slit the throats of Christians and to carry out suicide attacks. Girls who cannot recite the Koran are flogged.

    The “lawyers” of a Christian man imprisoned in Pakistan on the charge of desecrating the Koran last May are actually working against him. Faisal’s lawyers officially canceled the request for bail, previously submitted by other lawyers.

    Christians and others in the southern Philippines say they fear that legislation meant to create an Islamic sub-state — legislation meant to appease Islamists — will only create more extremism against Christians. Critics say it would render the federal government powerless to redress human rights abuses under Islamic law. In some areas, violence has been increasing, including trademark Islamic attacks on churches and nuns.

In June, Pope Francis released his first independent encyclical. It merely served to highlight the indifference to the plight of persecuted Christians around the world.

The Pope warned about issues dealing with the environment, but he did not once mention the plight of persecuted Christians — even though he is well acquainted with it, and even though previous popes mentioned it when Christians were experiencing far less persecution than they are today.

Encyclicals are formal treatises written by popes and sent to bishops around the world. In turn, bishops are meant to disseminate the encyclical’s ideas to all the priests and churches in their jurisdiction, so that the pope’s thoughts might reach every church-attending Catholic.

If the plight of persecuted Christians had been mentioned in the encyclical, bishops and the congregations under their care would be required to acknowledge it. Perhaps a weekly prayer for the persecuted could be institutionalized, keeping the plight of those Christians in the spotlight so that Western Catholics and others would remember them, talk about them, and, perhaps most importantly, ask why they are being persecuted. Once enough people were familiar with Christian persecution, they could influence U.S. policymakers — for starters, to drop those policies that directly exacerbate the sufferings of Christian minorities in the Middle East.

Instead, Pope Francis apparently deemed it more important to issue a proclamation addressing the environment and climate change. Whatever position one holds concerning these topics, it is telling that the pope — the one man in the world best placed and most expected to speak up for millions of persecuted Christians around the world — is more interested in speaking up for a “safe” (politically correct, if scientifically questionable) subject, “the world” itself, rather than the pressing bloodbath in front of him, or a topic requiring real leadership from a Christian authority.

Meanwhile, Christians around the world and the Muslim world especially continue to be persecuted and slaughtered. In one little-reported story, the Islamic State burned an 80 year-old Christian woman to death in a village southeast of Mosul. The elderly woman was reportedly burned alive for refusing to comply with Islamic law.

In east Jerusalem, a group calling itself the “Islamic State in Palestine” distributed fliers threatening to massacre all Christians who failed to evacuate the Holy City. The leaflets, which appeared on June 27, said that the Islamic State knows where the city’s Christians live, and warned that they have until Eid al-Fitr — July 19, the end of Ramadan — to leave the city or be slaughtered. The leaflet was emblazoned with the Islamic State’s black flag.

In Egypt, after a foiled suicide attack on the ancient temples of Karnak in Luxor (a tourist destination), the Islamic State promised a “fiery summer” for Egypt’s Christian Copts. Abu Zayid al-Sudani, a leading member of the Islamic State, tweeted: “The bombing of Luxor, a burning summer awaits the tyrant of Egypt [President Sisi] and his soldiers, and the worshippers of the cross. This is just the beginning.”

The rest of June’s roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes, but is not limited to, the following accounts, listed by theme.

Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches and Cemeteries

Turkey: On June 9, a Muslim man attacked a church in the Kadıköy district of Istanbul with a Molotov cocktail, setting the building’s door on fire. In a video of the attack, the man is seen shouting “Allahu Akbar” [“Allah is Greater!”] and “Revenge will be taken for Al-Aqsa Mosque” as he throws a firebomb at the Hagia Triada Orthodox Church. The man was eventually detained by police.

Egypt: A bomb was placed alongside the Virgin Mary Coptic Christian Church in Helwan, part of Greater Cairo, but the security services managed to dismantle it before it exploded.

France: On June 7, two Muslim men were arrested by French authorities in connection to a thwarted terror plot to attack a church near Paris last April. Authorities said they had detained Sid Ahmed Ghlam, a computer science student, who had planned an attack on churches in Villejuif, south of Paris, and is suspected in the killing of a woman nearby. Documents in Arabic mentioning al-Qaeda and the Islamic State were found during a search of Ghlam’s home. Several military weapons, handguns, ammunition, bulletproof vests and computer and telephone hardware were also found in Ghlam’s home and car.

Zanzibar: Muslims on the majority-Muslim island harassed and persecuted two churches:

1) They drove Pastor Philemon, a father of five, into hiding and took over his New Covenant Church’s worship hall by getting the landlord to rent it to them before the church’s lease ended. Once a congregation of 100, members now number 25. “The church faithful are so scattered,” said Philemon. “Some members are always knocking at my door requesting a place for worship.” The pastor is also helping care for several converts from Islam who fled their homes after persecution, and he is struggling financially to help them while also providing for his own family, which includes five children.

2) Just outside Zanzibar City, in Chukwani, Muslims made false land claims to bleed dry a church with legal costs. Said Pastor Lukanula: “The Muslims are waiting for the time when we shall fail to attend the court hearing, implying losing the case and subsequently having to pay a substantial amount of money.” Before the false claims were made, regarding ownership of the land, the leader of a local mosque told the pastor, “We do not want to see a church building here in Chukwani.” In 2007, Muslims in the area had demolished the original structure under construction.

Iraq: The Islamic State posted notices around the captured city of Mosul announcing that the Syriac Orthodox Cathedral Church of St. Ephrem, seized a year ago, was to be become the “mosque of the mujahedeen,” or “jihadis.” The new name was announced on the anniversary of the date the church had been seized. The Islamic flag stating the shehada (“there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his Messenger”) was draped over the building. “If they changed a church to a mosque it is further proof of their cleansing,” said the president of A Demand for Action, a group advocating the protection of minorities in the Middle East. “They destroy our artefacts, our churches and try to erase us in any way they can.”

REST at http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/46552/christians-burn-while-pope-worries-about-worldly-matters-opinion/#RxDFtBifLsDfpK63.99
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