Catholic and Enjoying It!
He also, by the way, make the obvious point (battled tooth and nail by Catholic who deem themselves far better Catholics than he) that being prolife life means embracing the whole of the Church’s teaching and not just the anti-abortion bit useful to GOP poseurs:
Then, in a highly significant remark, Pope Francis referred to President Donald J. Trump, saying, “I have heard it said that the president of the United States presents himself as a man who is pro-life, and if he is a good pro-life [man] then he will understand that the family is the cradle of life, and that it must be defended as a unit.”
Francis added that he was very concerned about the negative effects on young people left without hope and separated from their roots, including the possibility of drug addiction and suicide. He emphasized that “the relationship to their roots are very important for the young”, and observed that “the young are uprooted today, they ask for help, they want to find again their roots, and that is why I insist very much on the dialogue between the young and the elderly.” He concluded: “young people today need to find again their roots, and whatever goes against the roots takes away their hopes.” Noting that he did not want to express himself on an issue he had not studied closely, he repeated his intention to “study it well.”
Francis also responded to a question about the moral responsibility of governments that deny climate change, an issue that is very much on the radar given President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris accords on climate change.
Noting that the extensive damage from hurricanes Harvey and Irma, potentially connected to the warming of the oceans, a reporter asked the pope about the moral responsibility of “politicians who refuse to collaborate with other nations to control emissions” because they deny human responsibility for climate change.
Pope Francis rejected climate change denial as strongly as he did in his encyclical on the environment, “Laudato Si’,” saying that “the one who denies this should go to the scientists, and ask them. They speak very clearly. Scientists are precise.”
He recalled recent news reports about the disappearance of ice in the Arctic, and referred to recent studies “that said we have only three years to turn back, otherwise the consequences will be terrible. I don’t know if we have three years or not, but it’s true that if we don’t turn back we will go down.”
Addressing the moral responsibility of politicians who deny climate change, Francis said “if one thinks it is not so true, then let that person go and ask the scientists. They are most clear. Theirs is not an airy-fairy opinion, they are most clear. Then let the person decide, and history will judge the decisions.”
I will take seriously the awesomely superior prudential judgment of those who urge us to ignore the pope when they demonstrate an ounce of prudence. It will take years, if it ever happens since the Right Wing Noise Machine that spends its time shouting him down has been so wrong about so much so many times for so long that it will require decades to fix the credibility deficit.
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