Pope Francis Denies Sec'y of State Pompeo an Audience

[Fantine]

Pope Francis declined to see Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is demanding a harder Vatican line on China. The Holy See said meeting just before a U.S. election would be inappropriate.

Francis and Mr. Trump, who have exchanged sharp words in the past, present starkly different visions on issues ranging from the environment to immigration to the threat of populism. In appealing to the Vatican’s support for religious freedom as a reason to drop its China agreement, Mr. Pompeo seemed to seek common ground, but in a way that upset the pope’s chief allies and delighted his chief critics.

Cardinal Parolin said... that Mr. Pompeo’s choice to publish in First Things, a conservative Christian magazine that has called Francis a failure as Pope, also mattered.

Rebuffed by Vatican, Pompeo Assails China and Aligns With Pope’s Critics

I am glad that Pope Francis won't do anything that could construe an endorsement of either candidate in the election, especially since, as the Times article says, he and the president have "starkly different visions."

 

[Pathfinder627]

Rebuffed by Vatican, Pompeo Assails China and Aligns With Pope’s Critics

I am glad that Pope Francis won't do anything that could construe an endorsement of either candidate in the election, especially since, as the Times article says, he and the president have "starkly different visions."

Protecting suffering churches isn't political. All of our lives depend on it.

"Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’" - Matthew 25:41-43