Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 12:20am

PopeWatch: Facts Are Stubborn Things

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More: Some men think the Earth is round, others think it flat; it is a matter capable of question. But if it is flat, will the King’s command make it round? And if it is round, will the King’s command flatten it? No, I will not sign.

Robert Bolt, A Man for all Seasons

The Pope gave yet another interview in the air as he was traveling to Poland.  (When the history of this pontificate is written, these airline interviews will loom large.)  The choice bit:

 

Referring to recent acts of violence including the killing of a priest in France, Pope Francis said on Wednesday that the world is at war but stressed “it is not a war of religions but for power.

“There is one word I wish to say to clarify.” “When I speak about “war” I’m speaking about a war for real, not a “war of religions.” It is,” he continued, “a war about (economic) interests, money, natural resources and the domination of peoples.” All religions, he said, “desire peace. Other people want war.” Right!” The Pope was speaking to journalists accompanying him on the plane from Rome to Krakow in Poland.  

 

Go here to read the rest.  Perhaps the defining characteristic of this Pope is the blithe manner in which he says, often many times, things that simply are not true.  It is factually incorrect to say that all religions desire peace.  I assume that the Pope, unless he is a complete idiot, must understand this.  If he does, then he is lying.  If he truly believes what he says, in the face of all the evidence to the contrary, then that is even more troubling.  God help the Faith.

 

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Michael Paterson-Seymour
Michael Paterson-Seymour
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 4:18am

“There is one word I wish to say to clarify.” “When I speak about “war” I’m speaking about a war for real, not a “war of religions.” It is,” he continued, “a war about (economic) interests, money, natural resources and the domination of peoples.”

I take the Holy Father to be making a very elementary point, the distinction between the base and the superstructure of society.

We all know that through production, people enter into definite relations that are independent of their will, relations of production which correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces. (This also includes exclusion from the processes of production.)

The sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real base on which rises a legal and political superstructure and to which definite forms of social consciousness correspond. This social consciousness includes world views, ideas, values, and beliefs, norms and expectations, identities that people inhabit, social institutions (education, religion, media, family, among others), the political structure, and the state (the political apparatus that governs society).

The Islamist’s false consciousness must be rooted in the forces and relations of production (of which he may well be completely unaware) because there is nothing else that can produce it. That is what Engels meant by “the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of ideology, that mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion.”
The Holy Father appears to be one of the few modern leaders to grasp this fundamental and really very simple point

bill bannon
bill bannon
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 4:45am

Michael PS,
I think Don is referring to the Pope saying that all religions desire peace.

Donald,
It’s entirely possible that Pope Francis has not read any Muslim text ever but simply read a summary of its nature written by someone from a very liberal mosque and that reading by him was the whole enchilada….” I can’t prove it…but ….that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it”.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 6:05am

” All religions desire peace”. Pope Francis

Here is a link to 43 killing events ordered or supported by Muhammed. I say events because no.12 involves beheading 600-900 persons. Pink colored boxes denote women…one being a woman who wrote poems insulting Muhammed at Mecca.

https://wikiislam.net/wiki/List_of_Killings_Ordered_or_Supported_by_Muhammad

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 7:20am

Any man who has two living brain cells yet remaining functional and not fighting each other is able to see for himself that what Jorge Bergoglio says is simply false.
.
This Pope must be deposed and anathematized.

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 10:55am

And this is a golden example of how and why the popes are well known to not have any special blessing when it comes to general knowledge.
Wow. *facepalm*
Yep, them Aztecs sure wanted peace. Like, everyone being under their control…. very peaceful… other than the human sacrifice….

Foxfier
Admin
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 10:57am

I fear our Pope is one of those people who think that a wish for world peace is a good thing.
In any kind of fallen world– I can’t see it. It’s like communism. The practical application makes the very desire turn out horribly.

bill bannon
bill bannon
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 11:27am

” Migrants are not a danger…they are in danger.” Mar.28,2016 Pope has hundreds of children recite this.

Today’s Deutsche Welle News:

” It follows a chaotic week in which an asylum seeker purportedly from Afghanistan went on a stabbing rampage in Würzburg and an asylum applicant from Syria blew himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach. In Reutlingen a Syrian killed a woman and injured two others. In Munich, a German-Iranian killed nine people before killing himself.”

This raises the question…can we lovingly sue a Pope for malpractice?

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 12:16pm

More than anything, liberals despise facts. How to annoy a liberal: introduce (anyhow try) to her/him the truth. There is a first time for everything.

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 12:43pm

Pope Francis has the defensive ability to paint an entirely false scenario– which he may well believe himself–in order to defend himself from the truth about Islam. Like most liberals the Pope simply does not live in the real world. He is fearful of reality as he does not know how to respond. This is what happens to those who have lost their faith.

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 1:37pm

Facts are indeed stubborn things. Apparently so is idiocy!

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 2:36pm

Yes, facts are stubborn things….an this Pontiff’s refusal to accept facts is a stubborn thing about him. The more he runs his mouth the more foolish he makes himself out to be.

Philip
Philip
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 4:00pm

This is at least what defending the faith and morals looks like…. in case a certain pontiff has forgotten; https://c-fam.org/friday_fax/100000-panamanians-march-un-style-sex-ed/

Unrelated to the topic, however it is this gathering of faithful to oppose sinful relationships that I hope and pray PF will praise….but he won’t. He will probably shame the 100,000.

Dan
Dan
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 4:37pm

A marxist liberal twit has become pope, and a transexual liberal marxist Kenyan has become president of the US. The world has turned upside down, and it’s our job to straighten it out…..the church must be boycotted until the pope is forced to resign. As for the Kenyan, it’s too late to do anything but ridicule him. Let’s pray that Trump takes over and flushes the Obamaturd’s stink out of the US….

.Anzlyne
.Anzlyne
Thursday, July 28, AD 2016 10:18pm

Faith is not to be reduced to wishes but is to deal with reality, with truth. the EVIDENCE of things unseen. The pope in humility asked “who am I to judge” (concerning gay priests) but he pronounces judgments on other topics seemingly based on what he hopes the reality is…

In Exodus 28 part of the priest’s vestment has been translated the “rational” of judgment. (Haydock)

CAM
CAM
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 12:03pm

Re Philip’s link – 100,000 Panamanians rally against proposed gender identity and sex ed legislation borrowed from the UN Population Fund because it is immoral and it violates Panamanian law on the books. What a contrast to:
“The Panamanian Conference of Bishops also asked the Parliament to reconsider its promotion of the law, saying ‘We cannot accept experiments that failed in other places’.”
Sure the stats show that UN sex ed and gender identity programs do not lower illegitimate birth, abortion and disease rates; they increase, but the bishops’ main point against the proposed law should be because it is immoral and against natural law.

Weak leadership from the Chair of St. Peter filters down to weak leadership from the bishops and the culture declines.
Bravo to the Panamanians.

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 1:59pm

CAM, the bishops in the west were weak long before the Cardinals decided to plant Jorge Bergoglio’s backside in the Chair of Peter. As I have said before, Pope Francis is not the cause of episcopal weakness, he is the product of it.

Philip
Philip
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 2:08pm

CAM.
I’ve wondered how 12-13 million protesters would look marching down Constitution Ave. demanding a change to the abortion law.
CNN, MSNBC and the rest wouldn’t be able to sweep it under their rug.

The turn outs in January for March for Life are inspiring, loyal and dedicated. If ten times as many protesters demanding change surrounded the Capital demanding LIFE Liberty and the pursuit of happiness…Life being the first and most important…for all people..born and unborn, just maybe we could turn the tide. Just maybe public opinion would sway away from the “woman’s right to kill,” to freedom and respect for All life.

A guy can dream… can’t he?

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 3:47pm

“I’ve wondered how 12-13 million protesters would look marching down Constitution Ave. demanding a change to the abortion law.”
.
How can you persuade millions of social justice/labor Catholics to quit voting for abortion? Never happen. The catholic Liberal USCCB doesn’t care.
.
As a practical matter, 12 million people couldn’t fit: that crowd would cover many square miles.

CAM
CAM
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 4:21pm

Ok, then how about marches on state capitols simultaneously? I know it’s the federal government whose attention we want, but still it would be attention getting across the nation.
Then what to get the Cardinals’ and bishops’ attention?

Philip
Philip
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 4:35pm

T Shaw.

Dreams are free…. delusional is expensive.
I am merely dreaming of a day when a united Catholic Church, Universal in TRUTH and united in FAITH will one day exist.
You and I may be long gone by the time of this dream ever becoming a reality….but why not dream big.. It’s a good dream. No charge.
?

Philip
Philip
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 4:51pm

“…..that crowd would cover many square miles.”

Yes it would T. Shaw.
Yes it would.

CAM
CAM
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 5:13pm

At the time of the Obamacare debate, a priest said, “It’s time for the cardinals and bishops to be brave. They ought to chain themselves to the White House fence.” What a statement that would have made.

Greg, why are there seemingly so many weak bishops and cardinals in the free world? Weak in faith and leadership. Where did it start? In the seminaries in the 60s?

CAM
CAM
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 5:32pm

Yes, Philip, very interesting link.

Greg Mockeridge
Greg Mockeridge
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 7:55pm

Well, it often correctly said that the 60s hippies remained hippies. They just cut their hair (most of them anyway), put suits on over their tie dyed shirts entered law school and became lawyers and politicians. What many don’t realize is that some of them donned cassocks and entered the seminary and make up most of our bishops. So, yes, that it started in the 60s is certainly more than plausible.

Mary De Voe
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 7:59pm

July 26, 2016
If “I AM THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION” means anything to Catholics, it means that our Blessed Virgin was conceived in original innocence and willed to be in perfect conformity to the will of God from the very first moment of her existence to the very last moment of her earthly life and therefore, maintained her Virginity in time and in eternity as the Mother of God. “He who hears Gods Word and keeps the Word of God is my mother and my brothers and sisters”. Jesus Christ
Mary willed to maintain her original innocence from the very first moment of her existence.
Science knows through DNA that with the conception of another sovereign person, a new individual member of the human species, Homo Sapiens, the Wise Man is brought into existence. The Wise Man, through his innate free will, wills to survive and continue to exist in the womb unto birth and eternity or failing becomes a spontaneous abortion according to “the laws of Nature and Nature’s God”. The Wise Man’s will to survive is an act of his free will. The Wise Man’s innate human free will, acting, becomes the Wise Man’s civil Right to Life.
This is important because Roe v. Wade was predicated on the premise that the conceptus is a clump of cells no better than a tumor or parasite with no sovereign personhood and no rational, immortal, human soul. The Wise Man was denied the benefit of a doubt by the Supreme Court because the fix was in with William Brennan and Harry Blackmun, who dared to call themselves “JUSTICE”,
Henry Hyde of the Hyde Amendment and now Christopher Henry Smith have fought to maintain freedom for citizens who know through scientific DNA that a new legally and morally innocent human being, the standard of perfect Justice for the state is begotten and procreated in original innocence, through the intent and will of “their Creator”.
Roe v. Wade is the denial of the Wise Man’s rational soul, intellect and free will and the imposition of atheism by the state and an indictment against First Amendment. Roe v. Wade is the denial of the Wise Man’s unalienable human, innate and civil rights to life inscribed in our Founding Principles as the truth that all men are created equal by “their Creator”, (not born equal by the state) and endowed with certain unalienable human rights and that among these rights are the freedom to not be forced into complicity in the destruction of our constitutional Posterity.
In the Preamble, the unchanging and unchangeable purpose of our Constitution is the purpose “to secure the Blessing s of Liberty to ourselves and our (constitutional) Posterity. Our Founding Fathers got it right. Henry Hyde got it right. Christopher Henry Smith got it right. The Right to Life got it right. The demoniacs got it wrong.

.Anzlyne
.Anzlyne
Friday, July 29, AD 2016 10:30pm

Hi Mary DV! It’s that “rational” part that seems to be missing when the pope makes statements like this. Roe v Wade denies reason and so does saying that Islam is a great religion.

@FMShyanguya
Monday, August 1, AD 2016 2:37pm

Facts Are Stubborn Things

Surely Quotes Suitable for Framing: Donald R. McClarey
*
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“You can’t argue with fact!”

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