John Allen: "Francis Vows to Press Benedict's Fight vs. 'Dictatorship of Relativism' " [UPDATED]

As I type this, heads are no doubt exploding at the publication for which John Allen works. Allen, who writes the only column I bother reading at NCReporter, has this report today:

For those tempted to draw an overly sharp distinction between Pope Francis and his predecessor, the new pope offered a clear reminder Friday that he may have a different style than Benedict XVI, but on substance, he's cut from much the same cloth.

In a speech to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See on Friday, Francis lamented not only the material poverty of the early 21st century but also its "spiritual poverty," meaning a rejection of God and objective standards of morality.

In that regard, Francis quoted Benedict's famous critique of a post-modern "dictatorship of relativism," delivered during a homily for the Mass in 2005 that opened the conclave that elected him pope.

[More]

Here's the text of what the Holy Father said:

... As you know, there are various reasons why I chose the name of Francis of Assisi, a familiar figure far beyond the borders of Italy and Europe, even among those who do not profess the Catholic faith. One of the first reasons was Francis’ love for the poor. How many poor people there still are in the world! And what great suffering they have to endure! After the example of Francis of Assisi, the Church in every corner of the globe has always tried to care for and look after those who suffer from want, and I think that in many of your countries you can attest to the generous activity of Christians who dedicate themselves to helping the sick, orphans, the homeless and all the marginalized, thus striving to make society more humane and more just.

But there is another form of poverty! It is the spiritual poverty of our time, which afflicts the so-called richer countries particularly seriously. It is what my much-loved predecessor, Benedict XVI, called the “tyranny of relativism”, which makes everyone his own criterion and endangers the coexistence of peoples. And that brings me to a second reason for my name. Francis of Assisi tells us we should work to build peace. But there is no true peace without truth! There cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth...

God bless Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI!

(Hat tip: Elizabeth Scalia)


UPDATE
Be sure to read Robert Moynihan's "Letter #56: Holding to Benedict" on this topic:

Folks, Pope Francis has done it.

He has taken his stand.

He did it this morning, about three hours ago.

And his stand is with… Pope Benedict, his predecessor, with whom he will meet tomorrow.

The importance of Francis’s words today cannot be overestimated.

Francis today took his stand with the essential spiritual vision of Pope Benedict...

[Read the whole thing]

(emphasis in original)

Fat Cat Romney on Preferential Option for the Poor: "Let Them Eat Cake" [UPDATED]

Actually, what he said is MUCH WORSE: "I'm not concerned about the very poor":

In an interview with CNN Wednesday morning that should have been a Florida victory lap, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney made a fumble that could give rivals an attack ad sound bite.

Asked about his economic plan, Romney said repeatedly that he was not concerned with very poor Americans, [ED.: Just in case you didn't catch it the first time that this Fat Cat doesn't give a rat's ass about "those people", he made sure to emphasize the point by repeating it over and over again.] but was focused instead on helping the middle class.

Romney explained that he was confident that food stamps, housing vouchers, Medicaid and other assistance would keep the poor afloat [ED.: Are there no prisons? And the Union workhouses? Are they still in operation? The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then? ... I was afraid that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course.] — he pledged to fix holes in that safety net “if it needs repair.” He repeated past statements that his main focus is the middle class because those people, in his opinion, have been hardest hit by the recession (President Obama also has focused many of his efforts on the middle class).

But Romney’s awkward phrasing could give fuel to critics who argue that he does not empathize with the poorest Americans. [ED.: Ya think?]

“I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there,” [ED.: Good God! Really?] Romney told CNN.

[...]

“The challenge right now — we will hear from the Democrat party [about] the plight of the poor,” Romney responded [ED.: Oh, yes, "the poor" - that's a Democrat issue. We Republicans don't talk much about that rapidly expanding group of people. We'll leave it to the Democrats to talk about those people.], after repeating that he would fix any holes in the safety net. “And there’s no question it’s not good being poor [ED.: Let me be very clear that I am against being poor.] and we have a safety net to help those that are very poor [ED.: I'm not worried about helping the very poor overcome their poverty via economic means. That's what government programs - and Democrats - are for.] . . . My focus is on middle income Americans ... we have a very ample safety net and we can talk about whether it needs to be strengthened or whether there are holes in it. but we have food stamps, we have Medicaid, we have housing vouchers, we have programs to help the poor.” [ED.: Let them eat cake - they can pay for it with their food stamps.]

[More]

(emphasis and editorial commentary added)

My Comments:
Just. Wow. Has there ever been a more out of touch and tone deaf politician as this character? And he's the likely GOP nominee?

The bad news for Romney: He could say it wearing a top hat and a monicle, and it couldn't be any more effective as a campaign commercial for Obama than it already is.

The good news for Romney: Showing indifference for the poor is a sure-fire way of getting Ann Coulter's impoverished-bashing juices flowing, motivating her to pen some more pro-Romney love letters and anti-Catholic screeds against his remaining GOP primary opponents.


UPDATE
A couple of additional points regarding Romney's boneheaded remarks.

First, the irony here is that these comments reveal BOTH Romney's penchant for big government liberalism AND his elitist illiberalism. His big-government liberalism is evident in that he believes in expanding federal welfare dependency for the poor; his elitist illiberalism is evident in that he believes that's good enough for them.

Romney's alleged policy principles are that free economies lead to economic growth, and that economic growth leads to more opportunity for the greatest number of people. But Romney has just stated that his economic program excludes the very poor from sharing in that opportunity, and that he is reconiled to their being permanent fixtures on the public dole. But that's "good enough" for them.

The seond point about this is that David Axelrod is no doubt on the horn right now with his ObamaCath allies talking about ways to use Romney's indifference to the "preferential option for the poor" to soften the fallout over the HHS mandate among Catholics who supported Obama in 2008. They'd be fools not to. Every ObamaCath who has infiltrated the chanceries and the USCCB staff must be licking their chops over the prospect of watering down any strong anti-HHS statement coming from the Bishops with a bunch of verbiage regarding the preferential option for the poor, just as concern over allegedly rampant racism was used to water down the anti-abortion provisions of "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship" 4 years ago.


UPDATE #2
Mark Steyn addresses the topic I commented on in the first point of my previous Update regarding Romney's comments revealing both his big-government liberalism and elitist illiberalism:

Romney’s is a benevolent patrician’s view of society: The poor are incorrigible, but let’s add a couple more groats to their food stamps and housing vouchers, and they’ll stay quiet. Aside from the fact that that kind of thinking has led the western world to near terminal insolvency, for a candidate whose platitudinous balderdash of a stump speech purports to believe in the most Americanly American America that any American has ever Americanized over, it’s as dismal a vision of permanent trans-generational poverty as any Marxist community organizer with a cozy sinecure on the Acorn board would come up with.

After half-a-century of evidence, what sort of “conservative” offers the poor the Even Greater Society?

Yep.

Author of Anti-Boehner Letter Exposed as DemoCath Hack

As if we didn't know it already:

Washington D.C., May 27, 2011 / 06:08 am (CNA).- The lead author of a letter criticizing House Speaker John Boehner on “matters of faith and morals” says the letter was a bid for dialogue, not a political stunt. But Dr. Stephen Schneck's own critics say he promotes a distorted version of Catholic social teaching.

Professor Schneck, who directs the Catholic University of America's Institute for Policy Research & Catholic Studies, was the top signer of a letter protesting Boehner's May 14 commencement speech at the institution where Schneck works as a political scientist.

[...]

The signers charged the House Speaker, himself a Roman Catholic, with ignoring “the teachings of your Church on matters of faith and morals as they relate to governance.” They said the speaker's voting record was “at variance from one of the Church’s most ancient moral teachings,” regarding the obligations of “those in power” toward the poor and vulnerable.

But this form of faith-based protest has opened up Schneck to criticism over his own approach to the Church's social teaching.

[...]

Professor Schneck is a member of the board of directors at Democrats for Life, an organization he describes as “fundamentally and wholly concerned with trying to overturn Roe v. Wade.”

He is also a board member of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. That organization has received funding from George Soros' Open Society Institute, which promotes abortion as a “reproductive right.”

Catholics in Alliance typically backs Democratic policies, presenting abortion as an issue that should be addressed by ending poverty. In 2009, Schneck joined a “Catholics for Sebelius” initiative, supporting an Obama nominee whose bishop told her not to receive Communion over her abortion record...

[More]

My Comments:
So, let me get this straight. Differences over matters of budgetary and fiscal policy at the federal level make Speaker Boehner persona non grata. But Kathleen Sebelius, whose abortion advocacy and history of cozying up to late-term abortionists is so extreme that her Bihsop has admonished her against receiving Communion, merits this hack's going to bat for her as a member of "Catholics for Sebelius".

That, alone, exposes the guy as a political hack, a two-bit liar, and a hypocrite, and his views on Catholic Social Teaching can be summarily ignored as far as I'm concerned.

JUST REMEMBER this rule of thumb: Allegedly "pro-life" Catholic Democrats are ALWAYS committed Democrats first and foremost. Their party and its political agenda trump their faith and their allegedly "pro-life" views EVERY TIME it is put to the test.

Democrats Attack Church in Disgusting Ad

Matthew Archbold reports at National Catholic Register that the Democrat Party isn't even trying to hide its disdain for the Church anymore:


Matt's piece is mistaken about one thing: the Democrat Farm-Labor Party is not some "Democrat Party supporting independent non profit group"; the DFL is THE official Democrat Party in the state of Minnesota. This is the Democrat Party in Minnesota blatantly attacking the Church.

This is what you tacitly support when you vote for Democrats. That doesn't mean you should vote for Republicans (who aren't exactly paragons of Catholic virtue either), but when you vote for the Democrats, you're voting for an ideology inherently hostile to the Catholic faith.

And this is just the first step, believe me. As our old friend Regular Guy Paul has noted, "Liberalism Leads To Religious Persecution".


(Hat tip: Creative Minority Report)


UPDATE
I'm hearing that what appears on the other side of this mailer is aimed at a Protestant clergyman. Once I have confirmation of that, I will update this post with the information.


UPDATE #2
Here is Matt Archbold's response to the suggestion that this ad specifically targets a particular Protestant clergyman:

Nobody doubts that the piece hits Tim Pawlenty and Dan hall on the other side but there can’t be any doubt that it uses the image of a Catholic priest to deliver its messsage. The other side is about healthcare for the poor and who the Democrats blame for holding up Obamacare? The bishops. It’s that simple.

On the other hand, Commonweal provides the reverse side of the mailer in an effort to bolster the argument that it is not aimed at the Catholic Church.

But I'm not buying the argument. "Preacher Hall" doesn't wear a Roman collar. "Preacher Hall" is shown on the reverse side in a coat and tie. So why the Roman collar on the front? I agree with Matt that it is to represent a Catholic priest.

Matt is correct that the reverse side of the flyer is an attack on those who opposed ObamaCare, like Governor Tim Pawlenty. "Preacher Hall" is attacked in the ad for "remain[ing] silent" over alleged health care cuts and for endorsing someone else who "stands with Pawlenty in rejecting over $1 billion" in ObamaCare funds.

C'mon! This ad isn't about "Preacher Hall". This ad is about ObamaCare and the people of faith who don't support it. People like the USCCB. How stupid do you think we are? "Preacher Hall" is merely a stand in for all the people who oppose ObamaCare because of its abortion funding. Again, people like the USCCB.

Since "Preacher Hall" doesn't wear a Roman collar, and since the ad is a targeted attack on people of faith who oppose ObamaCare - "Don't pass this off on God" - I think it is quite appropriate to conclude that the image on the front of the mailer represents a Catholic priest and to see this ad as an attack on the Church for its opposition to ObamaCare.


UPDATE #3 (27 October)
Kathryn Lopez offers her take at The Corner:

... I think it’s safe to say it’s unholy politics. That’s a bipartisan problem for sure. But there is reason for bipartisan, ecumenical offense here. It’s an insult to suggest there isn’t some convenient anti-Catholicism here. But more so, it’s an insult to intelligent debate. Tim Pawlenty doesn’t “Ignore the Poor,” and I don’t know many men of the cloth who do either.

The Democratic party in Minnesota disagrees with cuts the governor made and this candidate won’t throw under the bus (to use the most overused phrase in politics). Democrats can easily make that point without the use and abuse of clerics.

UPDATE #4 (27 October)
Ed Morrissey, who lives in Minnesota, has more on the story:

If the Minnesota DFL intended to make a splash in an otherwise-obscure state Senate race, well, they succeeded. The party, which is the Minnesota version of the Democratic Party, sent out a mailer attacking Republican challenger and Christian minister Dan Hall by accusing him of ignoring the poor for opposing ObamaCare. However, the front of the postcard shows a headless man wearing the traditional shirt and collar worn by Roman Catholic priests, with a button that proclaims “Ignore the Poor” — which has a large number of Catholics in Minnesota angry over a perceived attack on their church. KSTP reported on the mailer and the DFL silence last night...

[...]

The flip side of the mailer is a classic case of a cheap-shot, last-minute attack campaign that both parties indulge in the final stretch of an election, but the front picture goes way beyond anything in recent memory in attacking a church of any kind in a political campaign. The full context in which this was issued makes it difficult to believe the archdiocese’s expressed hope that this was just a poor decision. A few weeks ago, the Catholic bishop issued DVDs with the Catholic Church’s arguments on same-sex marriage, which the DFL and its supporters decried as interference in the election. This looks suspiciously like payback...

[More]

The Mother Teresa Stamp is Coming!

From CatholicVote.org:

... The Mother Teresa stamp is coming!

Over 138,000 friends of CatholicVote.org joined together to defend the stamp to honor Mother Teresa. And the Postal Service took notice.

Roy Betts, a spokesman for the Postal Service, told CatholicVote.org yesterday:

“The stamp will be dedicated September 5 [at] the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC. Feel free to post information about the stamp, the image and the dedication ceremony on your website. Thanks!”

Wow. Launching the stamp at a church. The anti-religion radicals are going to go wild!

When the stamp was first announced, a group called the Freedom from Religion Foundation began spreading lies about Blessed Mother Teresa, accusing this holy nun of having a ‘darker side,’ and calling her a ‘polarizing Roman Catholic figurehead.’

Mother Teresa gave a pro-life speech when she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. This radical group called her speech a “disturbing, befrogged religious rant.”

That’s why we swung into action to “Stamp Out Bigotry!”

If you or your friends would like to add your name in support of the Mother Teresa stamp and against those who attack this holy nun, visit www.stampoutbigotry.com.

Too often only one side of this debate is heard. This time the Post Office heard from us. A separate spokesperson for USPS even told a reporter that our efforts were appreciated.

You would think attacking Mother Teresa would be off limits. But in our world, respect and decency can be discarded so long as you're bashing Christianity. A small but vocal segment of our country will stop at nothing to cut down the role of religion in our public life.

These groups are relentless. So we must defeat them at every turn.

This past week, the anti-religion zealots were dealt another blow. They fought for years to tear down a cross at the Mojave War Memorial in California – a cross honoring our fallen heroes. We filed an important brief in this case with the Supreme Court on behalf of you – the members of CatholicVote.org – and we won.

Last week the Supreme Court ruled that a federal court went too far in ordering the removal of the cross (which has been covered up by a plywood box since 2002!).

CatholicVote.org is committed to protecting and promoting the role of religious faith in our culture and national life.

We think it’s proper and fitting that our Supreme Court has a statue of Moses. We think it’s great that three Catholic priests (one is now a Saint!) are honored in the National Statuary Hall located in the United States Capitol. This is the history of our nation. We should be celebrating the role of religion in America, not destroying it.

And that’s why we’ll be in Washington at the ceremony unveiling the Mother Teresa stamp on September 5.

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us...

Devastating

Port-au-Prince Earthquake: Archbishop Killed, Cathedral Destroyed

Pray for those in Haiti


UPDATE
Memo to Pat Robertson: JUST SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU SICK, IGNORANT BASTARD!


UPDATE #2
"You hear yells everywhere from underneath the rubble."

The American Catholic: "From Tiny Acorns Mighty Scandals Grow"

Don McClarey has an intriguing post at The American Catholic regarding ACORN, a group with close ties to the Democrat Party and President Obama, which has now decided to expand its organized criminal enterprise to include prostitution in addition to its normal voter fraud activities. Be sure to read the comments, as well. This comment, in particular, raises an interesting point:

Am I remembering correctly that back around the election, conservative Catholics were being scolded for objecting to the bishops funnelling a million or so from the Catholic Campaign For Human Development into these folks?

See also, Matthew Archbold's post at Creative Minority Report: "ACORN Should Be Closed For Stupidity".

One positive thing coming from this scandal is that it answers, once and for all, the question about what, exactly, a "community organizer" does.

"We're just community organizers,
just like the president used to be."

Caritas in Veritate [UPDATED]

So, I go on vacation for a week and, while I'm gone, the Pope decides to finally release the most significant social encyclical in years.

Fortunately, my friend Chris Blosser has a comprehensive round-up on Caritas in Veritate at First Thoughts.


UPDATE
After I've had the opportunity to read (and digest) the Holy Father's latest encyclical, I'll contribute a post here with my own thoughts.


UPDATE #2
GOP House leaders speak on Caritas in Veritate.

A Tale of Two Parishioners: Differing Views on CCHD

The Cranky Conservative writes about differences of opinion over the CCHD collection (and related goings-on) at his parish over the past weekend.

"By What Moral Authority?": Newt Gingrich on Detroit

(Hat tip: Eric Scheske at The Daily Eudemon)



As I once told Sarah's uncle (who grew up in the Cleveland suburbs), "Detroit exists to make Cleveland feel better about itself."

"The Wisdom of Judas Iscariot"

Notwithstanding my criticism of the tone of one of Mark's posts yesterday, I am usually in general agreement with him. And Mark's description of those who decry the alleged "wealth" of the Catholic Church is dead on accurate:

... I've never quite gotten the whole "The Catholic Church is rolling in dough" thing. Where exactly? Every parish I know is always scrambling to pay the light bill. From all I can tell, the Church operates on a shoestring.

Dorothy Day, not exactly a friend of the GOP fatcat type thought one of the dumbest things her fellow lefties wanted to do was demand that the Church "sell off her treasures" because churches were one of the only places that the poor could experience beauty. All that plan would result in would be a modest boost in revenue that would almost instantly evaporate (what with the Church being the largest charitable institution on the face of the earth) and the world greatest art would hencefort and forever be the inaccessible property of a few rich people. The whole "Why were these things not sold?" deal is the wisdom of Judas Iscariot. It's most often heard in the countries, like the US and Canada, that have vast sums of wealth dwarfing the rest of the world. It's the complaint of greedy people.

If the Church were to "sell off her treasures", things like this would be impossible.

Using Food for Fuel ...

... one of the STUPIDEST ideas EVER!

See The Curt Jester's aptly titled post "No Blood for Ethanol":

Speaking on Vatican Radio, Msgr. Volante said: "It is not ethically just to use food for purposes other than human consumption, when there are people who suffer from hunger."

One way to actually make a reality of the Malthusian nonsense engaged in by the environmental doom and gloomers is to utilize our technological advances in agricultural production NOT to feed our populations but rather to fuel our economies.