One day before U.S. President Joe Biden is due to meet with Pope Francis, the Vatican canceled its scheduled live broadcast of the meeting without explanation.
Journalists in the Vatican press corps — who will also not be allowed to have a pool representative present for the initial handshake due to current Vatican COVID-19 protocols — have protested at the last-minute cancelation.
The Associated Press reported on Oct. 28 that it had formally complained to the Vatican about the canceled live stream, along with members of the Vatican correspondents’ association.
Steven Portnoy, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said that the group declared its solidarity with Vatican reporters in “expressing our disappointment that the world won’t see live pictures of President Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis.”
“Reporters have been covering the papal audiences of American presidents since Woodrow Wilson sat w/Benedict [XV] in January 1919,” Portnoy, a CBS News Radio correspondent, wrote on Twitter.
“Our fully-vaccinated & masked pool of reporters is ready to continue this public service, mindful of its own safety as well as the leaders’, to ensure independent coverage of the first Catholic president in 60 yrs meeting with the head of the Catholic church,” he said.
The @whca joins Vatican reporters in expressing our disappointment that the world won’t see live pictures of President Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis. https://t.co/zEcbkOvxkO
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki also addressed the Vatican’s media restrictions at a press briefing.
“What I can assure you of is that we are working, through every lever we have, to advocate for access for the press pool and for press when the president visits the Vatican,” Psaki said.
“We believe in the value of the free press. We believe in the value of ensuring you have access to the president’s trips and his visits overseas.”
Before the pandemic, Vatican protocol allowed for a small group of journalists, including the president’s own media pool, to be present for the first handshakes and the initial exchange as they sat down before the formal and private conversation. Journalists were again present to witness the exchange of gifts.
The Vatican has indicated that it will now only provide live footage of the arrival of the U.S. president’s motorcade at the Apostolic Palace, which some journalists will also be allowed to attend.
The meeting between Biden and Pope Francis is scheduled to start at noon on Oct. 29 and last for about an hour.
Biden has previously met Pope Francis on three occasions, but this will be his first face-to-face meeting with the pope as the 46th president of the United States and the country’s second Catholic president.
According to the White House, the president plans to discuss “ending the COVID-19 pandemic, tackling the climate crisis, and caring for the poor.”
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Aboard the papal plane, Jan 22, 2018 / 10:16 am (CNA).- Addressing concerns Monday about the pastoral implications of his witnessing a marriage aboard a plane while in flight, the Pope said that he judged the couple to be prepared for the sacrament, and didn’t wish them to delay the regularization of their situation any longer.
“All of the conditions were clear, and why not do it today and not delay it for tomorrow? Tomorrow would possibly have been eight or 10 years from now,” Pope Francis said Jan. 22 while en route from Lima to Rome.
The Pope’s decision had raised questions among commentators and variouspriests concerning the liceity and even the validity of the marriage. Miguel asked, “From now on, what would you say to the parish priests, to the bishops, whom fiances are going to ask to marry them I don’t know where – on the beach, on boats, on airplanes?”
Pope Francis noted to those on the plane that “One of you told me that I’m crazy for doing these things,” but responded that “the thing was simple:The man was on the first flight. She wasn’t there. I spoke with him; then, I realized that he had become awkward. I spoke of life: of how I thought of life, then the life of the family. It was a nice chat.”
“Then the day afterwards both of them were there, and when we took a photograph, they told me this: ‘we were going to get married in a church, we were married civilly, but the day before’ – you could tell it was a small city – ‘the church was toppled by an earthquake and there was no wedding’. This was 10 years ago; maybe eight – the earthquake was in 2010, so it was eight years ago. And then ‘tomorrow we’ll do it’, and ‘the day after tomorrow’ – and that’s the way life goes. And then the daughter, and another daughter.”
“I interrogated them a bit,” Pope Francis explained. “And the answers were clear.” They had taken marriage preparatory classes. “They were prepared and I judged that they were prepared,” he said.
“They asked me. And sacraments are for people. All of the conditions were clear, and why not do it today and not delay it for tomorrow?”
“This is the answer,” he said. “I judged that they were prepared, that they knew what they were doing, that each of them was prepared before the Lord with the sacrament of penance … that’s how the situation went.”
“But tell the parish priests that the Pope interrogated them well,” he said. “And that they had done the pre-marriage course.”
Bishop Daniel Jenky, C.S.C. / Screenshot from Peoria Diocese YouTube channel.
Vatican City, Mar 3, 2022 / 05:55 am (CNA).
Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Daniel Jenky as head of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, on Thurs… […]
Maureen McKinley milks one of her family’s goats in their backyard with help from three of her children, Madeline (behind), Fiona and Augustine on Monday, Aug. 2, 2021. McKinley and her family own two goats, chickens, a rabbit, and a dog. / Jake Kelly
Denver Newsroom, Aug 10, 2021 / 16:32 pm (CNA).
With five children ages 10 and under to care for, and a pair of goats, a rabbit, chickens and a dog to tend to, Maureen and Matt McKinley rely on a structured routine to keep their busy lives on track.
Chores, nap times, scheduled story hours – they’re all important staples of their day. But the center of the McKinleys’ routine, what focuses their family life and strengthens their Catholic faith, they say, is the Traditional Latin Mass.
Its beauty, reverence, and timelessness connect them to a rich liturgical legacy that dates back centuries.
“This is the Mass that made so many saints throughout time,” observes Maureen, 36, a parishioner at Mater Misericordiæ Catholic Church in Phoenix.
“You know what Mass St. Alphonsus Ligouri, St. Therese, St. Teresa of Avila and St. Augustine were attending? The Traditional Latin Mass,” Maureen says.
“We could have a conversation about it, and we would have all experienced the exact same thing,” she says. “That’s exciting.”
Recent developments in the Catholic Church, however, have curbed some of that excitement. On July 16, Pope Francis released a motu proprio titled Traditiones custodis, or “Guardians of the Tradition”, that has cast doubt on the future of the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) – and deeply upset and confused many of its devotees.
Pope Francis’ directive rescinds the freedom Pope Benedict XVI granted to priests 14 years ago to say Masses using the Roman Missal of 1962, the form of liturgy prior to Vatican II, without first seeking their bishop’s approval. Under the new rules, bishops now have the “exclusive competence” to decide where, when, and whether the TLM can be said in their dioceses.
In a letter accompanying the motu proprio, Pope Francis maintains that the faculties granted to priests by his predecessor have been “exploited to widen the gaps, reinforce the divergences, and encourage disagreements that injure the Church, block her path, and expose her to the peril of division.”
Using the word “unity” a total of 15 times in the accompanying letter, the pope suggests that attending the TLM is anything but unifying, going so far as to correlate a strong personal preference for such masses with a rejection of Vatican II.
Weeks later, many admirers of the “extraordinary” form of the Roman rite – the McKinleys among them – are still struggling to wrap their minds and hearts around the pope’s order, and the pointed tone he used to deliver it.
Maureen McKinley says she had never considered herself a “traditionalist Catholic” before. Instead, she says she and her husband have just “always moved toward the most reverent way to worship and the best way to teach our children.”
“It didn’t feel like I became a particular type of Catholic by going to Mater Misericordiæ. But since the motu proprio came out, I feel like I have been categorized, like I was something different, something other than the rest of the Church,” she says.
“It feels like our Holy Father doesn’t understand this whole group of people who love our Lord so much.”
McKinley isn’t alone in feeling this way. Sadness, anger, frustration, and disbelief are some common themes in conversations among those who regularly attend the TLM.
They want to understand and support the Holy Father, but they also see the restriction as unnecessary, especially when plenty of other more pressing issues in the Church abound.
Eric Matthews, another Mater Misericordiæ parishioner, views the new restrictions as an “attack on devout Catholic culture,” citing the beauty that exists across the rites recognized within the Church. There are seven rites recognized in the Catholic Church: Latin, Byzantine, Alexandrian or Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, Maronite, and Chaldean.
“It’s the same Mass,” says Matthews, 39, who first discovered the TLM about eight years ago. “It’s just different languages, different cultures, but the people that you have there are there for the right reasons.”
Different paths to the TLM
The pope’s motu proprio directly affects a tiny fraction of U.S. Catholics – perhaps as few as 150,000, or less than 1 percent of some 21 million regular Mass-goers, according to some estimates. According to one crowd-sourced database, only about 700 venues – compared to over 16,700 parishes nationwide – offer the TLM.
Also, since the motu proprio’s release July 16, only a handful of bishops have stopped the TLM in their dioceses. Of those bishops who have made public responses, most are allowing the Masses to continue as before – in some cases because they see no evidence of disunity, and in others because they need more time to study the issue.
But for those who feel drawn to the TLM – for differing reasons that have nothing to do with a rejection of Vatican II – it feels as if the ground has shifted under their feet.
Maureen McKinley wants her children to understand the importance of hard work, of which they have no shortage when it comes to their urban farm. After morning prayer, Maureen milks the family’s goats with the help of the children. Madeline (age 10) feeds the bunny; Augustine (7) exercises the dog; John (6) checks for eggs from the chickens; and Michael (4) helps anyone he chooses.
With a noisy clatter in the kitchen, the McKinleys eat breakfast, tidy up their rooms, and begin their daily activities. They break at 11 a.m. to head to daily Mass at Mater Misericordiæ, an apostolate of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), where they first attended two years ago.
Matt, 34, wanted to know how the early Christians worshipped.
“The funny thing about converts is they’re always wanting more,” says Maureen, who was, at first, a little resistant to the idea of attending the TLM because she didn’t know Latin. “Worship was a big part of his conversion.”
Maureen agreed to follow her husband’s lead, and they continued to attend the TLM. What kept them coming back week after week was the reverence for the Eucharist.
“Matt had a really hard time watching so many people receive communion in the hand at the other parish,” says Maureen. “He says he didn’t want our kids to think that that was the standard. That’s the exception to the rule, not the rule.”
Reverence in worship also drew Elizabeth Sisk to the TLM. A 28-year-old post-anesthesia care unit nurse, she attends both the Novus Ordo, the Mass promulgated by St. Paul VI in 1969, and the extraordinary form in Raleigh, North Carolina, where her parish, the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, offers the TLM on the first Sunday of the month.
Sisk has noticed recently that more people in her area — especially young people who are converts to Catholicism — are attending both forms of the Mass. While the Novus Ordo is what brought many of them, herself included, to the faith, she feels that the extraordinary form invites them to go deeper.
“We want to do something radical with our lives,” Sisk says. “To be Catholic right now as a young person is a really radical decision. I think the people who choose to be Catholic right now, we’re all in. We don’t want ‘watered-down’ Catholicism.”
With the lack of Christian values in the world today, Sisk desires “something greater,” which she says she can tell is happening in the TLM.
Many TLM parishes saw an increase in attendance during the pandemic, as they were often the only churches open while many others shut their doors or held Masses outside. This struck some as controversial, if not disobedient to the local government. For others, it was a saving grace to have access to the sacraments.
The priests at Erin Hanson’s parish obtained permission from the local bishop to celebrate Mass all day, every day, with 10 parishioners at a time during the height of the COVID pandemic.
“We were being told by the world that church is not necessary,” says Hanson, a 39-year-old mother of three. “Our priest says, ‘No, that’s a lie. Our church is essential. Our salvation is essential. The sacraments are essential.’”
Andy Stevens, 52, came into the Church through the TLM, much to the surprise of his wife, Emma, who had been a practicing Catholic for many years. Andy was “very adamantly not going to become Catholic,” but was happy to help Emma with their children at Mass. It wasn’t until they attended a TLM that Andy began to think differently about the Church.
“He believed that you die and then there is nothing, and he never really spoke to me about becoming a Catholic,” says Emma, 48, who was pregnant with their seventh child at the time.
Andy noticed an intense focus among the worshippers, which he recognized as a “real presence of God” that he didn’t see anywhere else. After the birth of their 7th child, he joined the Church.
All 12 of the Stevens’ children prefer the TLM to the Novus Ordo.
“It’s a Mass of the ages,” says their eldest son, Ryan, 27. “I can feel the veil between heaven and earth palpably thinner.”
A native of Chicago, Adriel Gonzalez, 33, remembers attending the TLM as a child, which he did not particularly like. It was “very long, very boring,” and the people who went to the TLM were “very stiff and they could come off as judgmental” towards his family, he says.
Gonzalez, who also attended Mass in Spanish with his family, didn’t understand the differences among rites, since Chicago was a sort of “salad bowl, ethnically,” he says, and Mass was celebrated in many languages and forms.
He took a step back from faith for some time, he says, noting that he had a “respectability issue” with the Christianity he grew up with. He watched as some of his friends were either thoughtless in the way they practiced their faith, or were “on fire,” but lacked intentionality. When he did come back to the faith, it was through learning about the Church’s intellectual tradition.
He spent time in monasteries and Eastern Catholic parishes with the Divine Liturgy because there was “something so obviously ancient about it.” He decided to stay within the Roman rite with a preference for a reverent Novus Ordo.
When he moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, Gonzalez committed to his neighborhood parish, which had a strong contingent of people who loved tradition in general. The parish instituted a TLM in the fall of 2020, when they started having Mass indoors again after the pandemic.
“If I’m at a Latin Mass, I’m more likely to get a sense that this is a time-honored practice, something that has been honed over the millennia,” he says. “There is clearly a love affair going on here with the Lord that requires this much more elaborate song and dance.”
For Eric Matthews, the TLM feels a little like time travel.
“It could be medieval times, it could be the enlightenment period, it could be the early 1900s, and the experience is going to be so similar,” he says.
“I just feel like that’s that universal timeframe – not just the universal Church in 2021 – but the universal Church in almost any time period. We’re the only church that can claim that.”
What happens now?
The motu proprio caught Adriel Gonzalez’ attention. He sought clarity about whether his participation in the extraordinary form was, in fact, part of a divisive movement, or simply an expression of his faith.
If it was a movement, he wanted no part of it, he says.
“As far as I can tell, the Church considers the extraordinary form and the ordinary form equal and valid,” says Gonzalez. “Ideally, there should be no true difference between going to one or the other, outside of just preference. It shouldn’t constitute a completely different reality within Catholicism.”
With this understanding, Gonzalez says he resonated with some of the reasoning set forth in the motu proprio because it articulated that the celebration of the TLM was never intended to be a movement away from the Novus Ordo or Vatican II. Gonzalez also emphasized that the extraordinary form was never supposed to be a “superior” way of celebrating the Mass.
Gonzalez believes the Lord allowed the growth in the TLM “to help us to recover a love for liturgy, and to ask questions about what worship and liturgy looks like.” He would have preferred if what was good was kept and encouraged, and what was potentially dangerous “coaxed out and called out.”
Erin Hanson, of Mater Misericordiæ, agrees.
“If [Pope Francis] does believe there is division between Novus Ordo and traditional Catholics, I don’t think he did anything to try to fix that division,” she says.
Hanson would like to know who the bishops are that Pope Francis consulted in making this decision, sharing that she doesn’t feel that there is any of the transparency needed for such a major document. If there are divisions, she says, she would like the opportunity to work on them in a different way.
“This isn’t going to be any less divisive if he causes a possible schism,” Hanson says.
According to the motu proprio and the accompanying letter, the TLM is not to be celebrated in diocesan churches or in new churches constructed for the purpose of the TLM, nor should new groups be established by the bishops. Left out of their parish churches, some are worried their only option to attend Mass will be in a recreation center or hotel ballroom.
Eric Matthews hopes that everyone is able to experience the extraordinary form at least once in their life so they can know that this is not about division.
“I can’t imagine someone going to the Latin Mass and saying, ‘This is creating disunity,’” he says. “There’s nothing to be afraid of with the Latin Mass. You’re just going to be surrounding yourself with people that really take it to heart.”
Maureen McKinley was home sick when her husband Matt found out about the motu proprio. He had taken the kids to a neighborhood park, where he ran into some friends who also attend Mater Misericordiæ. They asked if he had heard the news.
“I felt disgust at a document that pretends to say so much while actually saying so little and disregards the Church’s very long and rich tradition of careful legal documents,” Matt McKinley says.
Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix stated that the TLM may continue at Mater Misericordiæ, as well as in chapels, oratories, mission churches, non-parochial churches, and at seven other parishes in the diocese. Participation in the TLM and all of the activities of the parish are so important to the McKinleys that they are willing to move to another state or city should further restrictions be implemented.
For now, their family’s routine continues the same as before.
At the end of their day, the McKinleys pray a family rosary in front of their home altar, which has a Bible at the center, and an icon of Christ and a statue of the Virgin Mary. They eat dinner together, milk the goat again, and take care of their evening animal chores. After night prayer, the kids head off to bed, blessing themselves with holy water from the fonts mounted on the wall before they enter their bedroom.
“The life of the Church springs from this Mass,” Maureen says. “That’s why we’re here—not because the Latin Mass is archaic, but that it’s actually just so alive.”
If I were pope and actually intended to have a substantive conversation on morals and the sacramental life with a Catholic head of state befuddled by invincible ignorance, or worse, I would also tell the secularist media voyeurs to take a hike. At least the atheist journalist Scalfari won’t be favored, this time, to misreport what Pope Francis may or may not say.
Hoping that this media blackout is a good sign. Maybe a meeting between a president and a pope is more than a presidential tourist stop dressed up with a Vatican walk-on in a white hat
On the other hand, the optics of the titular head of the Roman Catholic Church cozying up to President Biden–a well-known abortion proponent–may not be so edifying for the faithful.
Agree! Also that the CNA owned by the serial Pope Francis basher EWTN do not misreport this time similar to what it did implying and highlighting that Pope Francis was upset with Fr. James Martin during a meeting with a group of U.S. Bishops in September 2019.
Emerson, keep in your mind and soul and words the 5th and 8th Holy Commandments, nor impute intentions or vices, not even to one’s supposed enemies, becoming an ewtn basher after accusing them is doubly wrong and has a vicious name…imitate Jesus, not the adversary….he’s clever but Jesus is Eternal Triune Wisdom….Blessings
That must be it. His appointment of Sachs to the Pontifical Academy on Social Sciences earlier this week should have clued us in on what he is up to. What a surprise Joe is in for! I can’t believe Nancy is going to let the poor guy walk right into this trap Francis has laid for him. God bless our crafty Pope!
In my mind, both of these mere mortals were fraudulently elected. One by the Gallen Mafia and the McCarrick Syndicate and the other by corrupt Progressives slivering in The Swamp.
I would argue that part of the reason the Vatican cancelled the press coverage is not to avoid Biden using the PR, but rather, so the Catholic world doesn’t see its’ Pope schmoozing and glad-handing one of the biggest proponents of abortion in America.
The White House and secular medias complaints are pretty hypocrite. Everybody understands that this very publicized meeting is part of the internal cultural battle in the US. Emerson’s comment above is a good proof. I hope Francis starts to understand that powerful and far fromn vulnerable people are trying to use him.
I agree. Perhaps the Pope wishes to address the scandal being created by the current “Catholic” administration and everyone has a right to privacy during a pastoral visit. I’m praying it’s a good thing … plus another photo-op send the message of approval which adds to the mixed message.
All the dominos were lined up in a row for the MSM to show a smiling dementia riddled
Joe arm and arm with a equally smiling Pope Francis in a photo OP.This would of course bring instant elation to the socialist/liberal flock of the Catholic Church.See even our
Pope finds common ground with “Joe” on Abortion,and a host of other Evil practices championed by “Joe” and 26% of Americans who self identify as liberal.
It’s difficult to accurately discern what the exact motivation is behind the cancellation. After the Pelosi/Francis love fest was splashed all over the place for the world to see, one would expect this incoherent and dangerous Pontificate, to paraphrase Father Rutler, to give the same treatment to her fellow heretic, dementia Joe.
The Vatican has promised video after Chairman Joe and Francis meet. It will undoubtedly edit out the pope slapping Joey and asking him, “What are you thinking?”
Pious hopes and fervent prayers that Bergoglio is going to convert Biden from his decades of pro-abortion extremism are well and good, but I think it far preferable to take Divine Wisdom’s instruction that men are known by their actions as my guide in determining whether Bergoglio and Biden are anything other than bloviating hypocrites.
The Catholic World Report could only report about the Pope-President meeting from this angle? Nothing more positive, substantial, and in-depth? Has CWR shamelessly shown itself to be more of a propaganda organ of a political action committee than a Catholic publication “with and under the Pope”? Is it just catering to a small sector of the Catholic Church in America? CWR should join the Facebook bandwagon and change its name into the Catholic Village Report!
This article is written by Catholic News Agency. CWR merely passes along CNA’s their newsworthy items, as a service to its readers.
The comment section is your source for immediate in-depth substance. Next week, after the news has meshed and settled and bubbled anew with the help of the Holy Spirit, essays with meat, vegetables, and dessert will arrive. Stay tuned.
Of course you yourself could always submit a comment which is positive, substantive, and in-depth rather a smear. Think about it if your mind is big enough.
The Pope is experienced enough to know that Democrats in the US (including “journalists”) will exploit any opportunity to generate publicity for Biden and the Catholic vote. Obviously, the Pope knows all about “fake news.”
By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits you shall know them (Mt 7: 16-20).
Myself all for transparency — authentic transparency — I can only breathe a sigh of relief that we are spared the theater of the “pious Biden” before the South American Jesuit.
Now I do hope that the actual reason access has been denied is that the Holy Father was fulfilling his responsibility to Almighty God, humanity and to the Church in this private meeting to bring to correction pious Biden on life issues, sexual morality and a host of other realities. Of course the web of disingenuousness binding in inextricable intimacy Church and globalist power has likely precluded realization of that hope.
Trust in Jesus Christ alone. Men will inevitably fail us.
Biden came out of meeting with pope and said “ the pope told me I was a good Catholic” I hope not but the pope looked on pelosi and Biden with awe. We need to start protesting this pope
“No, it didn’t. It came up,” Biden told reporters when asked if “the issue of abortion [came] up at all” during his meeting with the pope. “We just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic, and I should keep receiving communion.”
If I were pope and actually intended to have a substantive conversation on morals and the sacramental life with a Catholic head of state befuddled by invincible ignorance, or worse, I would also tell the secularist media voyeurs to take a hike. At least the atheist journalist Scalfari won’t be favored, this time, to misreport what Pope Francis may or may not say.
Hoping that this media blackout is a good sign. Maybe a meeting between a president and a pope is more than a presidential tourist stop dressed up with a Vatican walk-on in a white hat
On the other hand, the optics of the titular head of the Roman Catholic Church cozying up to President Biden–a well-known abortion proponent–may not be so edifying for the faithful.
Agree! Also that the CNA owned by the serial Pope Francis basher EWTN do not misreport this time similar to what it did implying and highlighting that Pope Francis was upset with Fr. James Martin during a meeting with a group of U.S. Bishops in September 2019.
Emerson, keep in your mind and soul and words the 5th and 8th Holy Commandments, nor impute intentions or vices, not even to one’s supposed enemies, becoming an ewtn basher after accusing them is doubly wrong and has a vicious name…imitate Jesus, not the adversary….he’s clever but Jesus is Eternal Triune Wisdom….Blessings
Pater, before you make your pious protestations, be sure you know what you’re talking about. Here, read this…
https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/archbishop-wester-responds-recounting-popes-words-about-jesuit-fr-james-martin
Let’s pray that the reason for this is that the Pope is going to give the president a talking-to and wants to keep it private.
That must be it. His appointment of Sachs to the Pontifical Academy on Social Sciences earlier this week should have clued us in on what he is up to. What a surprise Joe is in for! I can’t believe Nancy is going to let the poor guy walk right into this trap Francis has laid for him. God bless our crafty Pope!
Yes, it might be a little awkward having a conversation that begins, “Bless me, Father . . .” broadcast to the world. . . .
Biden needs an exorcism, not an ordinary confession.
In my mind, both of these mere mortals were fraudulently elected. One by the Gallen Mafia and the McCarrick Syndicate and the other by corrupt Progressives slivering in The Swamp.
I would argue that part of the reason the Vatican cancelled the press coverage is not to avoid Biden using the PR, but rather, so the Catholic world doesn’t see its’ Pope schmoozing and glad-handing one of the biggest proponents of abortion in America.
The White House and secular medias complaints are pretty hypocrite. Everybody understands that this very publicized meeting is part of the internal cultural battle in the US. Emerson’s comment above is a good proof. I hope Francis starts to understand that powerful and far fromn vulnerable people are trying to use him.
I agree. Perhaps the Pope wishes to address the scandal being created by the current “Catholic” administration and everyone has a right to privacy during a pastoral visit. I’m praying it’s a good thing … plus another photo-op send the message of approval which adds to the mixed message.
All the dominos were lined up in a row for the MSM to show a smiling dementia riddled
Joe arm and arm with a equally smiling Pope Francis in a photo OP.This would of course bring instant elation to the socialist/liberal flock of the Catholic Church.See even our
Pope finds common ground with “Joe” on Abortion,and a host of other Evil practices championed by “Joe” and 26% of Americans who self identify as liberal.
It’s difficult to accurately discern what the exact motivation is behind the cancellation. After the Pelosi/Francis love fest was splashed all over the place for the world to see, one would expect this incoherent and dangerous Pontificate, to paraphrase Father Rutler, to give the same treatment to her fellow heretic, dementia Joe.
The Vatican has promised video after Chairman Joe and Francis meet. It will undoubtedly edit out the pope slapping Joey and asking him, “What are you thinking?”
Pious hopes and fervent prayers that Bergoglio is going to convert Biden from his decades of pro-abortion extremism are well and good, but I think it far preferable to take Divine Wisdom’s instruction that men are known by their actions as my guide in determining whether Bergoglio and Biden are anything other than bloviating hypocrites.
The Catholic World Report could only report about the Pope-President meeting from this angle? Nothing more positive, substantial, and in-depth? Has CWR shamelessly shown itself to be more of a propaganda organ of a political action committee than a Catholic publication “with and under the Pope”? Is it just catering to a small sector of the Catholic Church in America? CWR should join the Facebook bandwagon and change its name into the Catholic Village Report!
” Nothing more positive, substantial, and in-depth? ”
Ever hear the adage “you can’t get blood from a stone”?
This article is written by Catholic News Agency. CWR merely passes along CNA’s their newsworthy items, as a service to its readers.
The comment section is your source for immediate in-depth substance. Next week, after the news has meshed and settled and bubbled anew with the help of the Holy Spirit, essays with meat, vegetables, and dessert will arrive. Stay tuned.
Of course you yourself could always submit a comment which is positive, substantive, and in-depth rather a smear. Think about it if your mind is big enough.
The Pope is experienced enough to know that Democrats in the US (including “journalists”) will exploit any opportunity to generate publicity for Biden and the Catholic vote. Obviously, the Pope knows all about “fake news.”
By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore, by their fruits you shall know them (Mt 7: 16-20).
Myself all for transparency — authentic transparency — I can only breathe a sigh of relief that we are spared the theater of the “pious Biden” before the South American Jesuit.
Now I do hope that the actual reason access has been denied is that the Holy Father was fulfilling his responsibility to Almighty God, humanity and to the Church in this private meeting to bring to correction pious Biden on life issues, sexual morality and a host of other realities. Of course the web of disingenuousness binding in inextricable intimacy Church and globalist power has likely precluded realization of that hope.
Trust in Jesus Christ alone. Men will inevitably fail us.
Biden came out of meeting with pope and said “ the pope told me I was a good Catholic” I hope not but the pope looked on pelosi and Biden with awe. We need to start protesting this pope
“No, it didn’t. It came up,” Biden told reporters when asked if “the issue of abortion [came] up at all” during his meeting with the pope. “We just talked about the fact he was happy that I was a good Catholic, and I should keep receiving communion.”
– Reported by Washington Examiner, 10/29/21