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PopeWatch: Commie Kitsch

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Father Z quotes from Vatican Insider how Pope Francis disposed of the Hammer and Sickle crucifixes given to him by Evo Morales, the odious president of Bolivia:

 

From Vatican Insider:

This morning Francis lay the two presidential honours he received Wednesday from President Evo Morales in La Paz, at the feet of Our Lady of Copacabana. One of these featured the hammer and anvil with a carving of a crucifix

Before leaving Bolivia, Francis placed two gifts he received on Wednesday from President Evo Morales at the foot of a statue of Mary. One of these, a chain with a chunky medallion, had the figure of the crucified Christ carved into a wooden hammer and anvil. This image had been drawn by Fr. Luis Espinal, the Jesuit priest who was assassinated in Bolivia in March 1980. [So, it is the chain and medallion with the image of commie-crux that the Pope left?  Along with the Bolivian honor?]

“This morning,” reads a statement issued by Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi, “Pope Francis celebrated Holy Mass in the chapel of the private residence of the Archbishop Emeritus of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, the Holy Father presented two decorative honours that were conferred onto him by Bolivian president Evo Morales during his courtesy visit to the Presidential palace in La Paz , to a statue of the Our Lady of Copacabana, patron saint of Bolivia.[So… something doesn’t go back to Rome.  The wooden commie-crux?  However, didn’t Fr. Lombardi say that it wasn’t going to go into a church? ““Certainly, though, it will not be put in a church,” he said.” HERE This Pope is full is surprises.]

Francis accompanied this gesture with the following words: “The President of the nation was kind enough to offer me two decorative honours on behalf of the Bolivian people. I thank the Bolivian people for their affection and the President for this courteous gesture. I would like to dedicate these two decorations to the patron saint of Bolivia, the Mother of this noble nation, so that she may always remember her people and from Bolivia, from the shrine where I would like them to be, that she may remember the Successor of Peter and the whole Church and look after them from Bolivia.”

“Mother of the Saviour and our Mother,” Francis prayed, “You, Queen of Bolivia, who from the height of your Shrine in Copacabana attend to the prayers and needs of your children, especially the most poor and abandoned, and protect them: Receive as a gift from the heart of Bolivia and my filial affection the symbols of affection and closeness that – in the name of the Bolivian people – Mr. President Evo Morales Ayma has bestowed on me with cordial and generous affection, [uh huh] on the occasion of this Apostolic Journey, which I entrusted to your solicitous intercession.”

Francis concluded his prayer by saying: “I ask that these honours, which I leave here in Bolivia at your feet, and which recall the nobility of the flight of the Condor in the skies of the Andes and the commemorated sacrifice of Father Luis Espinal, S.J., may be emblems of the everlasting love and persevering gratitude of the Bolivian people for your solicitous and intense tenderness. At this moment, Mother, I place in your heart my prayers for all the many petitions of your children, which I have received in these days: I beg you to hear them; give them your encouragement and protection, and manifest to the whole of Bolivia your tenderness as woman and Mother of God, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.” [I’m pretty sure he means that God lives and reigns forever and ever, although Mary now lives forever and she is Queen of Heaven forever.]

So, I hope the contraption isn’t returning to Rome.

Go here to read the comments.  The most charitable interpretation is that this was the most diplomatic way that the Pope could think of to get rid of the Commie kitsch, but why offend Our Lady with this blasphemous junk?

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Don L
Don L
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 4:25am

“This commietraption” gives new meaning to the genre “religious art.”

Art it is not; religion of Caesar as god. They dare call this progress?

Art Deco
Art Deco
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 5:26am

Morales could be worse. “Odious” is a bit de trop. What’s dismaying about the neo-Peronist dispensation in Latin American politics is that they’ve taken what were fairly competitive and pluralistic political orders and set up machine-boss states and pursued economic policies uninformed by anything that would induce one to institute policy measures nurturing economic development. They’re all about taking mineral export revenue and building patronage networks with it.

Father of seven
Father of seven
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 6:06am

Would Pope Francis have accepted a gift of a crucifix carved onto a swastika? Apparently, 100 million victims of communism don’t have an impact on him. Odious indeed.

Paul W Primavera
Paul W Primavera
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 6:39am

Father of Seven says it all.

Stephen E Dalton
Stephen E Dalton
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 8:11am

The Pope’s actions e shouldn’t surprise anyone. He’s the same man who left a beach ball on an altar, and did the infamous Disney mass when he was an archbishop in Argentina.

Ezabelle
Ezabelle
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 11:07am

My children would have loved to attend the Disney Mass. Was one of the hymns “Let it Go”? (‘

Foxfier
Admin
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 11:49am

Glad to see it confirmed that the really ugly necklace the Pope was wearing when he got that nasty wall-hanging crucifix was another “gift.” I thought it looked like an improbable choice for personal decoration, even ignoring the objectionable symbol.

Foxfier
Admin
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 11:51am

The most charitable interpretation is that this was the most diplomatic way that the Pope could think of to get rid of the Commie kitsch, but why offend Our Lady with this blasphemous junk?

She’s a mom, and we know for sure that she went to help her cousin with her new baby, probably helped with non-saints as well, so Our Lady is accustomed to dealing with dirty diapers from a variety of sources.

Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
Elizabeth Fitzmaurice
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 11:54am

I heard on a local news station this morning that contrary to what we were led to believe, i.e., that the Pope left those 2 items in Bolivia, not so. According to the newscaster, he said that the Vatican confirmed that he did NOT leave them there. That he brought them back to Rome. I don’t know were to confirm this though. I don’t know where this newscaster heard that.

c matt
c matt
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 12:02pm

Well, if he did take them back to Rome, hopefully they will be boxed up and deposited in some forgotten Vatican basement. Or “accidentally” lost.

Foxfier
Admin
Monday, July 13, AD 2015 12:45pm

It’s the AP again, and they did the usual “tiny bits of quotes” thing that they love when they’re spinning stuff.
It does look like they’ll put it on the Vatican website, though:
http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/july.index.html
(as of now, it’s just text, no link)

Foxfier
Admin
Tuesday, July 14, AD 2015 10:36am

They’ve got an Italian transcript up; it’s rather… jibbery… but in even that limited context he seems rather clear that he’s not offended because he’s presuming good intent, while still hammering on this is wrong and implying that Christ crucified on their symbol is negative towards what the symbol is for.

Foxfier
Admin
Tuesday, July 14, AD 2015 10:39am

Just realized why I feel mildly irritated with this Pope so much… it’s like listening to my sister. She’s always reaching for the nicest possible interpretation for people that she really should be angry with, and is harsh with folks who she doesn’t feel that she’s tempted to be uncharitable towards, so it’s a pain in the rump to figure out what’s what– and that’s if you can get it first hand! If someone else is summarizing what she’s said– or the aunt that’s just like her– then it’s twice as hard.

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