Once feared as Vatican meddling, Catholic ideas could help America move forward

Religion News November 9, 2020

Americans once feared that Catholic politicians would push Rome's agenda. But in divisive times, we could do worse than implementing the Church's principles of reconciliation and multilateralism. 

 When New York Gov. Al Smith, the first Catholic to be nominated by a major American party, and John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic president, ran in 1928 and 1960, respectively, many Americans feared that, if elected, the two would pursue a hidden Catholic agenda. These days, few fear the influence of the pope on a Biden administration. Indeed, in this time of division, pandemic, racism and global warming, we could do worse than implementing a truly Catholic agenda.

Time to Start Invoking the Ten Commandments in Political Debate

CNS September 14, 2020

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments He engraved on two stone tablets, setting forth the basic principles governing the lives of the Israelites. We cannot repent of our sins unless we know when and how we violate God’s law. We cannot begin to transform the culture without the moral clarity of the Commandments.

Good Christians know the Ten Commandments by heart: There is one God, do not abuse His name, go to church on Sunday, obey your parents, and don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, lie, lust, or covet. It is quite surprising how many of us cannot identify the Commandments with precision. So our views on morality quickly become “private opinions,” swept up in what Pope Benedict XVI calls “the dictatorship of relativism.”

Children, at a very early age, have a budding sense of right and wrong. As they prepare for First Confession, they know that disobedience, violence, evil thoughts, lying, and stealing are wrong even before they learn the Ten Commandments. Young criminals – usually, but not always, from seriously dysfunctional families -- still run away from the police. God inscribed the Ten Commandments on our hearts before He inscribed them on those two tablets. So why do catechists bother to teach anyone the Ten Commandments? As one precocious child responded, “to remind us.” Bingo.

Trump visits the shrine of John Paul II

NY Post  June 2020

President Trump and the first lady visited the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Northeast Washington, DC, Tuesday, a day after Trump appeared at looting-damaged St. John’s Episcopal Church.

The president and Melania Trump walked from the building about 11:45 a.m. onto a large outdoor patio, turned and faced the assembled media and posed for a photo.

They then turned around and stood for several minutes before the statue of the late pontiff, where a wreath had been laid earlier, before walking back inside the building without speaking or taking questions.

John Paul II served as pope from 1978 until his death in 2005, and was declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in April 2014. The effort to erect the shrine was spearheaded by the Knights of Columbus, a lay Roman Catholic organization.

Mike Pence meets Pope Francis in private audience

Fox. January 25, 2020

VATICAN CITY — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday, discussing the anti-abortion march in Washington and telling the pontiff, "You made me a hero" back home by granting him a private audience.

The pope and the vice president had a private hour-long conversation. Pence was beaming after the meeting, which appeared to be particularly cordial.

The hero description apparently referred to Pence's Roman Catholic family upbringing. He later became an evangelical Christian.

Trump had a private audience with Francis at the Vatican in 2017, and on Friday in Washington, the U.S. president was attending an anti-abortion rally in Washington. Trump is the first sitting U.S. president to do so in the history of the annual March for Life’s history.

Pence's office said the march in the U.S. capital was among the topics discussed with the pontiff. Catholic church teaching forbids abortion, and Pence himself has been staunchly anti-abortion.

In Friday's interview, Pence also praised Francis for his “passion for the sanctity of life.”

Francis smiled warmly throughout the traditional exchange of gifts at the end of the audience. Pence presented the pope with a large, plain wooden cross made from a tree on the grounds of his official residence in Washington.

Francis gave Pence five bound books of his writings as pope. The pontiff then pointed to a large white envelope, explaining, “this is a message of peace.” Francis was referring to an annual message to promote peace issued by the Vatican.

Putin wondering after the beast

Pope Francis has been rated as the world's best leader according to Gallup survey.

Rome Reports 2019/02/08 

Pope Francis has been rated as the world's best leader. This is according to Gallup International’s Annual Global Survey conducted in 55 countries. 

Pope Francis has gained 56 percent, snatching first place from Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. They have been moved to second and third place respectively. 

The countries where the pope is best rated are Colombia, Croatia, Italy, Spain and Mexico. He is negatively rated in only four countries: Pakistan, Serbia, Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Pope Francis has launched a new way of living leadership. The Rome Reports documentary “Leadership and Pope Francis” interviews international celebrities such as Andrea Bocelli, Garri Kasparov, Mike Piazza or Lilian Tintori to unravel the keys to this leadership.

The world is wondering after the beast of Rome

7 Headed Beast of Revelation

Washington in the Lap of Rome

James Japan

Trump defends Pope Francis’s handling of the abuse crisis

Catholic Herald 

The President told the Daily Caller: 'The Pope is handling it, I guess, the best anyone can handle it'

Donald Trump has defended Pope Francis’s handling of the abuse crisis, saying that the Pontiff is handling the situation “the best anyone can handle it”.

Franklin Graham Praises Pope Francis

CBN 06-19-2018

The Rev. Franklin Graham is applauding Pope Francis for recent comments he made about abortion.

"I appreciate Pope Francis boldly speaking out for the unborn," Graham said in a recent Facebook post.  

Speaking to a delegation of Italy's family association in Rome over the weekend, the pope said abortion to avoid birth defects is similar to the Holocaust.

"It is fashionable, or at least usual, that when in the first few months of a pregnancy doctors do studies to see if the child is healthy or has something, the first idea is: 'Let's send it away,'" the Pope said. "We do the same as the Nazis to maintain the purity of the race, but with white gloves on."

He has frequently lamented how the sick, the poor, the elderly and the unborn are considered unworthy of protection and dignity by a society that prizes individual efficiency instead, and he's urged families to accept children "as God gives them to us."

Graham continued in his post, "The Pope denounced abortion, calling it the 'white glove' equivalent of the Nazi-era eugenics program. He also encouraged families to accept children 'as God gives them to us.' He's right, and our society needs to hear this message now more than ever. God's Word says, 

'Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward' (Psalm 127:3). We can never stop praying for an end to abortion—will you pray that our nation would wake up and protect the most vulnerable among us?"