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Pope Francis Tag

The last time we checked in with Pope Francis, he was preparing an encyclical addressing "the moral cause of climate change." A group from the Heartland Institute, which promotes free-market solutions to social and economic problems, was on its way to Rome to present data that would give the pontiff a more science-based perspective than the faith-based theories of climate change activists. Sadly, the team did not obtain an audience with the Pope. However, they did hold a "Environmental Workshop" in an attempt to formally present information to the public in hopes that it will eventually been seen by the Holy Father. There were many wonderful talks, but perhaps the most poignant was given by Christopher Monckton, British peer and chief policy advisor to the Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI).

This Holy Week, we reported that Islamic fanatics made a dawn raid of a Christian university in Kenya. Currently, the death toll is 147 and looks like it will increase. The event, as well as the massacre of the Coptic Christians in Libya, were the focus of an address Pope Francis gave during his Good Friday service.
Pope Francis has condemned the "complicit silence" about the killing of Christians during a Good Friday service in Rome. Tens of thousands of pilgrims joined him for the Way of the Cross ceremony, recalling Jesus' crucifixion. Among the cross bearers were Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and Nigerians who had escaped Boko Haram persecution.

Because of the time difference, I was not able to watch the Pope's visits in Israel today to the Temple Mount, Western Wall, memorial to terror victims and the Yad Vashem. Here are some tweets and video of the events: The Pope's stop at the memorial to terror victims is a good contrast to the Pallywooded stop at the security barrier in Bethelehem yesterday:
“The Vatican officials explained to us that the pope didn’t pray against the separation barrier, but he prayed against the situation that forces such a wall to be built,” diplomat Lior Haiat said. “Therefore, we thought we need to show him why we built the wall. It’s obvious that the barrier is a result of something, it is not the reason.”
It also was significant that this was the first time a Pope has visited the grave of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism:

Pope Francis is in Israel this afternoon (Israel time) and tomorrow. The itinerary today, after a trip to Bethlehem, included arrival at Ben Gurion Airport and a trip to the Church of the Holy Sepulcre in Jerusalem. Tomorrow will be visits to the Temple Mount and Western Wall, meetings with Israeli political and religious leaders, and a visit to Yad Vashem. Here are some images I grabbed from the live video feed: [caption id="attachment_87188" align="alignnone" width="609"](Pope Francis speaking at Ben Gurion Airport) (Pope Francis speaking at Ben Gurion Airport)[/caption]