The CNS will be 100 years old in 2020: When the Pope received him, Francis looked deeply.
(Rome) Pope Francis receive representatives of Catholic News Service (CNS) on Monday, the press agency of the American Bishops' Conference. He likes to “joke”, as some in Rome want to suggest. But even if Francis is joking, assuming he was really joking, he does it in a cryptic way. In this case, too.
The occasion for the reception was the hundredth anniversary of the CNS and its predecessors since 1920. First of all, the head of the Church warned the media brokers of divisions, because these would lead “nowhere”. It is also the task of the media to overcome divisions instead of fueling sensationalism and scandal.
"A divided church is not the Church, it is not the true Church."
"I think so. You think that way. We can discuss it, but with the same heart. Support the unity. Encourage you, no cleavage, because journalism has four major sins, namely: disinformation, slander, defamation and Coprophilia" as Rome Reports reported. At the same time, Francis praised the work of the Church in the United States, calling it "brave, generous, and humble."
He also said what he meant by that:
“She welcomes immigrants. What the church does for immigrants is huge, isn't it? She is generous because the Church in the United States has many economic opportunities and is generous in helping. "
Francis went on to say:
The Church in the United States “is very much alive, very very much alive. There may be traditionalist groups, but we also have them here in the Vatican. That can be cured."
Disruptive factor "traditionalism"
The most important criterion of a "living" Church is therefore, according to Francis, a policy of unrestricted mass immigration. Francis promotes this as a main agenda of his pontificate since July 2013, when he for visited the Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. The head of the Church has not yet named aspects that restrict a “right” to immigration.
The scientific theorist and former President of the Italian Senate, Marcello Pera, a personal friend of Benedict XVI, therefore raised the accusation against Francis in July 2017 of “hating” the West and wanting to “destroy” it.
Francis named “traditionalist groups” as a disruptive factor for a “living Church”, but traditionalism “can be cured”. What Francis put in a joking tone was actually a deliberate degradation of that part of the Church. Once again he made it clear who, above all, he dislikes. The negative tone of the statement is exacerbated by the comparison with other statements of the Pope. He implied that "traditionalism" was something that needed to be cured, in short, something sick. When did a Pope talk like this about bishops, priests and believers in the Church?
The allusion to the media representatives of the American Episcopal Conference receives special significance, since Francis this Bishops' Conference took on years ago the battle for control. In contrast to the western states of Europe, the culture war between left and right, conservative and progressive, has not been decided in the USA. Francis is aware of the importance of this fact to the rest of the western world and the world as a whole. He wants to grind this bastion and intensify the fight against the "religious rightists" in the USA after the election of Donald Trump.
Then Francis joked about his sciatica problems. His doctor told them:
"But go to the Angelus so they don't say you are dead."
Bild: CNS/Youtube (Screenshot)
