My goodness, Christianity has really been in the news the past few days! I'm sure you've all read about, or watched videos of, the "exchanges" between Pope Leo and the President and Vice-President. It has been a lot to process. But I want to highlight these statements from the Pope...
In his Palm Sunday homily, he said: “Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them."
This was met with insults from the President.
And so on Monday, as Pope Leo prepared to fly to Algeria, he responded: "The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone, and the message of the Gospel is very clear: 'Blessed are the peacemakers'... I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do. We are not politicians. We don't deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker."
This was met with criticism from the Vice-President.
Good People, the Roman Catholic Church has devastated many lives by covering up clergy sex abuse and inflicting theological harm on women, divorced people, LGBTQ folks and others. But in this moment, the Pope is doing his job: "speaking out loudly the message of the Gospel." YES. Yes! That IS what we are here to do, and what the church is here to do. We speak loudly the message of the gospel, especially at times when mercy, peace, compassion and justice are being tossed aside in favor of violence and greed. Let us all follow the example of Pope Leo, and speak the gospel out loudly!
