Rep Gosar Was Wise To Boycott Today's Congressional Debacle

Representative Paul Gosar was wise to boycott the pope's address to the joint session of Congress today for it was a bit of an embarrassment.  This LifeSiteNews article has the full text of the thing.  I'll be focusing on some highlights - or lowlights.  Consider, for a little perspective, that the Senate just failed to defund Planned Parenthood: this in the wake of the evidence of their selling of the bodies of babies whom they routinely murder in the dungeons the laughingly refer to as clinics.

Early in his talk he mentions four Americans, holding them up for honor.  They are: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.  It's probably a good thing that today's Congress is GOP-controlled, for he did mention the nation's first Republican president.  Guess who else was Republican?  Martin Luther King!  Yes, he was a Republican.  He was also pro-life.  For that matter, his protege Jesse Jackson was also pro-life early in his career.  Read his defense of life written in 1977 - before he hankered after the Democratic presidential nomination and turned his back on his principles and the babies.  But I digress.

The inclusion of Thomas Merton is most questionable.  Of Merton, the pope says "he remains a source of spiritual inspiration and a guide for many people" and "a thinker who challenged the certitudes of his time and opened new horizons for souls"  REALLY???

Take a moment to examine Merton's life and his dalliance with Zen Buddhism.  Catholic Answers has a fairly comprehensive biography of him, detailing how he became seduced by Buddhism.  Merton told a friend shortly before his death that "Zen and Christianity are the future".  In that article, you'll notice that Pope Benedict XVI took a dim view of Merton and Buddhism,  going so far as to opine that Buddhism would replace Marxism as Catholicism's chief antagonist.  So why did the pope hold up as a model a de facto heretic?  In light of what was just said, it's worth noting that not once did the pope mention the name "Jesus Christ".  Why not?  He's the Vicar of Christ, is he not?  Unlike what Father Rosica said a few days ago, he himself is not a "prince of peace".  Some believe that Rosica just made a slip of the tongue when he plopped that blasphemy; I think it quite possible that Rosica knew very well what he was saying.

As for Dorothy Day, while undergoing a real conversion to Catholicism, she remained confused about a great many things.  To her credit she did make a request: "Don't call me a saint". (ht: St Corbinian's Bear).

The pope addresses many issues: death penalty, climate change, immigration, arms trade, redistribution of wealth.  What's missing from that list?  The legalized murder of babies known as abortion.  To put things in context, let's think about the conduct of this papal address at Congress today.  It took me a good 20-25 minutes to read through it silently.  It would probably take longer to speak it.  It would probably have taken the pope a bit longer than that since he's not fluent in English.  An then there's the breaks for applause, etc.  I would guess from start to finish the entire address took about 45 minutes or so.  If anyone has more precise data please advise via comments.  Now consider some statistics that indicate that a baby is aborted in this country every 20 seconds.  That means 3 babies are murdered every minute.  Therefore while the pope spoke, over 200 babies were slaughtered.  What of the death penalty?  Less than 100 have been executed in the past several years.  So why did the death penalty garner so much attention, while whole-scale baby-murder didn't rate one mention by the pope?

Some additional thoughts can be found at One Peter Five and Les Femmes.  Soon the pope will head to Philadelphia and the World Meeting of Families.  If these past few speeches of the pope are any indication of what may be on the horizon, dark days are ahead.

Pope Preaches Progressivism Rather Than Gospel

A few days ago, US Rep Paul Gosar (R-AZ), a devout Catholic, announced that he'd be boycotting the pope's planned address to Congress.  His reasoning is that if the pope is going to sound like a left-wing politician then he should be treated like one.  He announced his decision on his facebook page.  He was pounced upon by "church of nice" Catholics (or progressives posing as "church of nice" Catholics), saying that Gosar was engaging in wild speculation regarding what the pope might plan to say.  I supported Gosar's decision, reminding all of the pope's rather unfortunate track record.

Regrettably the pope's two addresses today confirmed Gosar's misgivings.  First, I'll link to the remarks that the pope gave as he addressed those with him in the White House.  He went on and on about "climate change".  Given what we know about Laudato Si and the progressives that helped craft that screed, we know the pope is abusing his high position to lend credence to the junk science and socialism embedded in the "climate change" ideology.  My colleague at Les Femmes pointed out that the Messiah Most Miserable applauded throughout the entire sorry spectacle.  He was applauding not only because the pope was shilling for one of his pet projects but because the pope made not one mention of the babies being murdered via abortion.  Statistically speaking, at least several dozen children were murdered during the time it took for the pope to utter his remarks.  Why did he not at least mention the children once?  Did he fear Obama, who has been unabashed about his support of baby butchery and now it seems, the selling of their tiny bodies for ghoulish "research"?  Or.....OR..maybe this heinous sin isn't that high on his priority list?

Having knocked envirowhackoism off the agenda for the day, the pope moved onto the coddling of illegal immigration at the meeting with the US bishops at St. Matthew's Cathedral.  The topic of abortion fared a little bit better; in this address it rated a 5-word sentence.  But that's it!  And even at that, it was merely the first of several issues, in true "seamless garment" "laundry-list" fashion.  The main thrust of his address was encouragement to be conducive to the de facto demolition of our national borders.  I would say that he's blissfully (if willfully) ignorant of the strain put upon our national resources, but I wonder if he's truly ignorant?  Does the phrase "Cloward-Piven" ring a bell?  Again, this is a cause near and dear to the heart of the Messiah Most Miserable for the reasons embodied in the Cloward-Piven theory, not to mention that all these immigrants are seen as a source of Democrat voters.

It would be wonderful if the pope did devote his Congressional address to the plight of the children murdered in the womb at the rate of over 3000 daily.  Clearly the Senate would benefit, seeing how they killed the measure to defund Planned Parenthood.  I hope and pray for that miracle.

A Prince Of Peace Is Coming To Town??!!?

That's what Father Rosica said of Pope Francis' visit to the DC area.  In this clip you'll see both Rosica and Cardinal Wuerl being interviewed on Fox News Sunday (ht Pewsitter).  The commentator is questioning Rosica and Wuerl about US Rep Paul Gosar's announcement of his boycott of the Pope's planned address to Congress.  Both clerics poo-poo the idea that the Pope will be promoting any kind of political agenda, let alone a leftist one (although Wuerl admits to political "ramifications").  When asked if the Pope will broach religious freedom, contraception, etc when he meets with Obama, Rosica emphatically answers "no" (at the 3:40 mark).  Then at the 5:00 mark we hear Fr Rosica call the pope a "prince of peace".  There is so much to unpack I almost don't know where to begin.

Let's start with this "prince of peace" crack.  In all of Scripture and Tradition, only One Person has ever been identified as "prince of peace" and that is Jesus Christ.  No one has dared called another person - even a previous pontiff - as "prince of peace".  That is a title that has always been reserved for Our Lord and Him alone.  Is there some attempt at deification here?

Now as far as lack of political agenda goes, that too is stuff and nonsense.  Does anyone doubt that Laudato Si will not at least be mentioned?  That thing itself is chock-full of leftwing envirowhacko socialistic screed.  Rep Gosar is correct. Read this Breitbart article (and associated links) for his level-headed, truly Catholic thinking.  I commend him for his boycott and hope he's not alone in his principled stance.

In the video that I'll post below, Judge Andrew Napolitano is being interviewed about the Pope's trip.  Identifying himself as a traditional Catholic, he opines that Pope Francis is a "challenge and an obstacle" to traditional Catholics.  Napolitano succinctly states why it is simply wrong for the pope to lend the solemn dignity of his role as Vicar of Christ to his mere personal opinions.

I'll also link to an article written by Michelle Malkin (another Catholic) as she explores the ramifications of apparent papal disdain for air conditioners.  She's correct about all these folks bemoaning "carbon footprints" from their air-conditioned offices or their private jets.  Napolitano mentioned that the pope is charged with teaching on faith and morals.  We'd all be much better off if he paid attention to that mandate.  He is Christ's Vicar, not a rival "prince of peace".