Pope Francis: “The whole world is at war”
US Embassy in Italy warns Americans to avoid the Vatican.
It was only two short months ago that Pope Francis was touring this country and promoting his climate change encyclical, having made this issue a key one in his papacy.
In the wake of the Paris attacks, his priorities seem to have been shifted.
Unfortunately, he blames the weapon sellers instead of the weapons users for the start of a “world war” in his most recent homily.
Pope Francis has denounced arms traffickers who are fueling what he calls the piecemeal “world war” raging around the globe, saying they are “damned” delinquents interested only in making money.
Francis delivered one of the most pained homilies of his pontificate Thursday during morning Mass in the Vatican hotel chapel. He didn’t mention the Paris attacks by name, but referred to little wars being fought around the globe.
…He continued: “Those who make war are damned, they’re delinquents. War can be ‘justified’ for many reasons. But when the whole world is at war, as it is today … there is no justification. And God weeps.”
Both Pope Francis and the Vatican are high on the ISIS “hit” list, and security has been a prime concern for both. But in a disturbing new development, the threat against the the Holy See is such that the US State Department has sent out an alert to Americans to avoid St. Peter’s Basilica:
The November 18 notice is billed as a “Security Message for U.S. Citizens” regarding a potential for terrorist attacks, and arrived punctually into the email boxes of all Americans registered with the embassy, including that of Breitbart News.
Along with the Vatican, the State Department singles out the Duomo (cathedral) and La Scala opera house in Milan. It goes on to note that general venues “such as churches, synagogues, restaurants, theatres, and hotels” in both Rome and Milan are possible targets as well.
The embassy notice says: “Terrorist groups may possibly utilize similar methods used in the recent Paris attacks,” meaning bombs and assault rifles.
The alert also mentions that Italian authorities are aware of these threats, signaling that there will be additional security in these places, a phenomenon that is already evident.
To say the Italians are on high-alert would be an understatement. An American in Rome was detained briefly by the police, when a toy gun and Halloween costume stashed within his SUV was of concern to security forces associated with a papal visit to a nearly Lutheran church. There have been a stream of false bomb alerts, one of which was close to the US Embassy in Rome.
There have been several false alarms during the past 24 hours. At 9pm yesterday an unattended dark-coloured bag spotted near the US Embassy on Via Veneto caused chaos for about half an hour.
Yesterday morning there were two more false alerts near the Vatican, sparked by a wheelie bag near the private Lumsa University and a small metal box near a shop-front on Via Erba.
Following the Paris attacks, Italy has deployed an extra 700 troops in Rome and announced that the city’s airspace will be closed to drones for the duration of the upcoming Catholic jubilee year.
Despite the fear, Pope Francis stresses that the doors to the churches must remain open.
“Please, no armoured doors in the Church, everything open,” the 78-year-old told pilgrims in St Peter’s square, reports Italy’s AGI news. “There are places in the world where doors should not be locked with a key. There are still some but there are also many where armoured doors have become the norm.”
“We must not surrender to the idea that we must apply this way of thinking to every aspect of our lives,” the Pope added. “To do so to the Church would be terrible.”
Indeed. As evil Islamic extremists continue to slaughter the innocent and generate global fear, many of us will need the comfort of our church.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Good job, Francis.
So tell us again about climate change?
Gun smugglers are scum, that’s true…but is it not the fault of the holder of the gun for firing it with murderous intent? Are they not to blame?
Pope is a Dope
Why are gun smugglers scum? Surely it depends whom they’re smuggling them to. Were the Jews who smuggled weapons to “Palestine” in 1947-49 scum?! I don’t think so.
Oh, come off it Millhouse,
How can you equate those trying to save the lives of their Jewish brethren who escaped death during the holocaust, even as the British were leaving arms for the Arabs, with those smuggling arms to murder peaceful citizens of other countries.
Milhouse is pointing out — correctly, I might add — that the act of gun smuggling, like the gun itself, is merely a tool.
How the individual uses that tool determines if that individual is “scum”.
Put another way, the Paris attackers used Kalishnikov rifles. Based on that, does owning a Kalishnikov make one “scum”? Or is it the intent to commit murderous deeds with any gun (or any other item, for that matter)?
Intentions matter, and they are not transferable.
healthguyfsu and vascaino are both dopes.
I can certainly equate them. They were both smuggling guns, and it seems that according to healthguyfsu that’s all it takes to be scum. I’m calling him on his BS.
My pope is Obama in white. He goes on about global warming, air conditioning, and gun runners while indigenous Christians in Iraq and Syria are being exterminated. He has his own guards, though.
The Church once knew the stakes, saving Europe from Muslims many times. This time will be different. The Good God has withdrawn His hand as evidenced by the willful blindness in the West.
Kiteo, his eyes closed.
There are serious problems with Islam. One is abrogation. All those nice-nice verses are at the beginning, while the ‘kill-the-jew-kill-the-christian-kill-what-is-left verses come at the end. Verses at the end trump verses at the beginning.
Part of the problem is population proportions. Less than 3% muslims, no problemo, they fit in. Might even eat pork. 5-10% they start grouping up. 15-20% they will definitely form self-segregating enclaves. 20-30% they feel their rights aren’t being respected. Like now they don’t need to drive taxis for people buying booze at the airport duty free shop. They start with the sharia zones and whatnot. (In England a dad called the female-genital-mutilation hotline, not because he wanted to report some female-genital-mutilation, but because he thought they would give him the name of a reliable, cheap, cutter for his daughters. Whoops.)
If all the muslims brought in were ‘moderate’, whatever that is, over time, as the population would grow, some more intense believers would evolve out of the group. Those would demand greater and stricter adherence to the ways of the prophet, and radicalism would develop.
Best solution is muslim refugees to muslim countries. Notice that ain’t a happening. No way Saudi Arabia or Indonesia want these malcontents. No, this is soft jihad.
Unfortunately, we see them making demands and winning concessions in this country @ only 1% or so of the population. Public universities have remodeled restrooms to accommodate ritual foot-washing, for example, and muslims with public accommodations jobs like cab drivers have been allowed to refuse fares with alcohol or immodestly dressed women.
Not every form of worship is religion. When we recognize made-up cults, for instance, we only endanger the public and penalize taxpayers for no reason. Barbaric cults which promote violence against nonbelievers should not be considered religions.
Quite right. Liberalism, humanism (even “secular humanism”), globalism, socialism, etc., are all religions. They’re all based on articles of faith with little or no evidence in reality.
That “secular” believers are every bit as zealous and intolerant of “deniers” as any cult member is proof enough.
Estragon, you know very well that the first amendment was specifically intended to apply to Islam as well as to every other religion. And you know that no court is entitled to pass judgment on the validity of a religion; so long as someone sincerely believes in it, it’s protected.
Like now they don’t need to drive taxis for people buying booze at the airport duty free shop.
Nope, and delivery companies can’t force their Muslim employees to deliver alcoholic beverages, according to a recent court decision.
At the same time, those same delivery companies can’t make any hiring decisions based on religious preferences. Bring too many Muslims on board, and suddenly you can’t fulfill your contracts and you lose (or go out of) business.
Bullsh*t. You are not telling the truth, and either you know it or you’re too ignorant to comment. Employers are required to make reasonable accommodations for their employees’ religious needs. That means an employee can’t be assigned to do something that their religion forbids if there is someone else who can just as easily be given that assignment. If there is nobody else then the accommodation would place an undue burden on the employer and they are not required to make it.
This is the law that protects Jews from having to work on Shabbat and Christians from having to wear immodest clothing, assist in abortions, etc. It applies to all religions, as it should and as the first amendment requires it to. But it never requires employers to make an accommodation that would impose an undue burden on them.
“Pope Francis has denounced arms traffickers who are fueling what he calls the piecemeal “world war” raging around the globe, saying they are “damned” delinquents interested only in making money.”
For me, there it is in a nut shell. The individual vs the collective. An individual is responsible for their own decisions and actions. The collective seems to be at the mercy of “damned” delinquents, (name them as you see them).
Muslims don’t like individuals, the Pope doesn’t like individuals, socialists don’t like individuals. Yet one of the greatest mind of the past few hundred years, Carl Jung, said that individuation is the life task of every person. “By it I mean the psychological process that makes of a human being an “individual”-a unique, indivisible unit or “whole man.”” -Jung
“What is it, in the end, that induces a man to go his own way and to rise out of unconscious identity with the mass as out of a swathing mist?” =Jung
““Insofar as society is itself composed of de-individualized human beings, it is completely at the mercy of ruthless individualists.
Let it band together into groups and organizations as much as it likes – it is just this banding together and the resultant extinction of the individual personality that makes it succumb so readily to a dictator.
A million zeros joined together do not, unfortunately, add up to one.”
“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”
― C.G. Jung
He seemed to think that a great test coming, whether humans could make it to the next level of awareness, he feared it would be a close call.
Of all the people — Carl Jung!? Part of the reason Pope Francis can’t think his way out of a paper bag may very well be Jung.
In the 60’s and 70’s, Jungian brain-warping hit the convents and religious orders, emptying them. Carl Rogers was the perp, but Jung lives on in the feminist pagan sisters that populate far too many Catholic schools.
So, when you mention Jung and “the next level of awareness,” I have to chuckle. You’re looking at it!
Oh, my Gosh, I had never heard of Carl Rogers, I searched him a little and have to ask is he the father of the special little snowflake, everyone gets a trophy madness?
I need much more information but I can’t connect C.G, Jung with this snowflake perversion. The work Carl Jung did discovering the unconscious was hard and soul wrenching. Perhaps Rogers was just a pretender who espoused an easier path but promised the same results. And the “fake it till you make it” group took over.
And my last thought was ‘ah, like I know what I am talking about”. Thanks for your thoughts and for enlarging my view.
Not to get off topic, but I posted this comment and a subsequent comment with info on Jung, Rogers, and more.
Maybe Francis’ archetype is Casper the Friendly Ghost (not to be confused with Kasper the malignant cardinal).
That Pope, is a discrace to the Church. He is a ” Want to be,” Politician. He needs to be recalled. He needs to take some of the ” Billions,” and give them to the Poor of the World. They are too greedy.
While duomo does mean cathedral in Italian, I’m guessing they are specifically referring to the Duomo in Florence. But if you are not safe at the Duome, then you are probably not safe at any other major attraction in Florence.
I’d also be careful at the Field of Miracles in Pisa. The crowds are large, sight lines are long, and you can practically drive right up on the place if you know what you are doing.
The city also has a very large, very recent immigrant population, with many of their living areas clustered right around the tourist zones. Many also work the tourist stalls and tables. Wouldn’t be too hard for terrorists to infiltrate among them.