Sorry, But This Time The Pope Is Wrong!

From our friends at The Save Jersey Blog:
By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

There’s a lot to like about Pope Francis, Save Jerseyans.
His pastoral style. His charitable nature. His ability to communicate complex theology in every day language. He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty; he “walks the walk” unlike so many priests in our own country who prefer to live high on the hog.
But you know what? I’m starting to have real concerns about the narrowness of this pope’s worldview.

 

By now I’m sure you’ve heard what he said to journalists en route to Sri Lanka form the Philippines. Responding to a question about the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack, the Roman Pontiff gestured to Vatican official Alberto Gasparri and matter of factly explained, “[i]f my good friend Dr Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch in the nose.”
Now, some are defending these remarkably tone deaf comments by minimizing them. The reasoning goes that he’s not talking about anything other than the personal moral dimensions of displaying an attitudes of intolerance towards someone of another faith. He’s telling us to be good people by treating others well, they reason.
Well, I’ve got two thing to say about that thesis, and I’ll keep it brief:
First and foremost, with all due respect to the Holy Father… which planet has he been living on since 2001? The naivety of his comments is stunning given his status as a world leader who, presumably, read a newspaper at some point in the past 15 years.
Islam is an offensive religion, one which traditionally divides the world into the “house of war” and the “house of safety.” The West hasn’t done anything to offend Islam, curtail its practice or harass its people. If anything, we liberated millions of them from dictatorships during the Bush years only to watch them line up, voluntarily, behind theocrats. Nope. It’s a strong majority of Islam’s adherents who are apparently offended by the West’s existence. Look no further than Israel’s experience with Palestinian terrorism to see what Islam’s adherents are willing to do to about it. If Israel trade lands for peace – deadly attacks. If they stand up for themselves – deadly attacks + international condemnation.
To borrow the pope’s folksy example, Islamic terrorists are bullies who aren’t going to stop cursing our mothers and punching us until we’re all dead. To pretend we’ve somehow provoked THEM is as silly as it is dangerously misguided.
And therein lies the second problem with the “he didn’t mean it like that” theory. This guy is the pope. Christ’s vicar on earth (if you subscribe to Catholic beliefs). A theologian and an author. His worldview may be shockingly limited (see above) but he ain’t stupid! He’s also very political, lecturing the world on everything from economics to global warming during his relatively new pontificate. 

Pope Benedict XVI at the White House.

My point: it isn’t credible to interpret his advice on grappling terrorism – be nicer to the people trying to destroy us? – as any other than political advice.
Francis is a very political dude! With strong views on most things. John Paul II and Benedict emerged from World War II ravaged Europe with a strong sense of the evils of godless, overpowering government. They preached against excess, sure, but they believed in freedom! Not just as a political concept but as a human entitlement and a bulwark against evil.
This pope? He seems to believe that the worst people in the world work on Wall Street. We know that’s not true as tempting as it is to poke fun at the Corzine class. Look at the disparity in quality of life between Francis’s native Argentina and our own for all the proof you’ll need. He also seems to think “tolerance” of evil (e.g. not offending the backward you-can’t-tease-us rule of Medieval religious practitioners) is a higher priority for humanity than tolerance of freedom? In this case, of speech?
I’m not trying to hate on my pope, Save Jerseyans. He seems like a nice man.
He’s still VERY wrong this time around, if we’re being honest, and it’s disingenuous for his more vocal supporters to pretend he didn’t say it by manipulatively minimizing some blatantly ill-advised comments. That’s all I’m trying to say. And it worries me.
Europe (and other parts of the world) are under invasion. Jews, Christians, and even other Muslims, in addition to people of are faiths, are being slaughtered. This is no time for being cute, polite or careful just for the sake of doing it.
We need moral clarity from Peter’s successor; not appeasement, even if unintentional, disguised as an etiquette lesson.

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