I was raised Catholic and attended a Catholic grammar school and high school. I eventually drifted away from the church over its teachings about women and LBGTQ people, and also because of the reprehensible way its leadership handled the sex abuse scandal, and I guess I formally rejected it when I was received into the Episcopal Church. So I am pretty familiar with the Catechism.
The Catholic Church in the US has experienced a kind of rebirth, as young people looking for a religious movement have gravitated toward it. This is mostly spurred by the unfortunate existence of MAGA Catholic bishops who have abandoned Jesus for money and power. Like Cardinal Dolan saying that Charlie Kirk—the bigot and the hater—was our modern day St. Paul. Nope.
So last week Senator Dick Durbin was set to receive a lifetime achievement award from a Chicago cardinal, and that set winger CatholicUSA off because of his strong commitment to the pro-choice movement. The Pope issued a statement that made the wingers so so so mad:
Leo said a potential awardee’s work should be considered in total, not just their position on a single issue. And that being against abortion isn’t the only component of being pro-life.
Someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.
“Someone who says, ‘I’m against abortion but says I am in favor of the death penalty’ is not really pro-life,” he said Tuesday. “Someone who says that ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
Then the Pope showed up at a climate conference and blessed a block of Greenland ice:
The pope spoke to 1000 representatives at the tenth anniversary celebration of the late Pope Francis’s climate summit, named Laudato Si.
He was joined on stage by actor and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who watched as Leo placed his hand on a large chunk of ice taken from a melting glacier in Greenland.
The pope said that he hopes the U.N. climate conference will take action and “listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.”
You can imagine the MAGA meltdown this created:
The weird thing is there are a lot of people who say they are Catholic but seem to have no actual idea of what the church teaches. For example, Pope Francis wrote an encyclical about climate change…10 years ago.
And the US Council of Catholic Bishops teach this about care for the earth:
We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of Gods creation. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored.
Winger CatholicUSA wasn’t happy with that, but it wasn’t until this that they lost their minds:
This guy says he’s Catholic, but that statement blindsided him?
This crazy candidate who lost her House bid in Texas doesn’t seem to know the difference between a papal audience and moving to Vatican City:
I guess this pompous ass is a big deal MAGAt? I love that he thinks it’s his job to set the Pope straight on what the church teaches:
Reading through the responses is just such a fun experience. My guess is that a lot of right wingers who call themselves Catholic attend a Catholic church but have not been through the catechesis process. LOL. I doubt they’re going to do it now.
One of the bright spots in this terrible world is the right wing universe’s finding out what the Catholic Church actually teaches and learning that they hate it.
I’ll leave you with this: