The two men conservative Republicans love to hate will meet up on Thursday to discuss what they’ve been working on since taking office – wealth inequality and poverty.
It is also expected that President Obama will formally invite The Pope to visit the U.S. next year.
VATICAN CITY – Two white doves that were released by children standing alongside Pope Francis as a peace gesture have been attacked by other birds.
As tens of thousands of people watched in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, a seagull and a large black crow swept down on the doves right after they were set free from an open window of the Apostolic Palace.
One dove lost some feathers as it broke free from the gull. But the crow pecked repeatedly at the other dove.
It was not clear what happened to the doves as they flew off.
While speaking at the window beforehand, Francis had appealed for peace inUkraine, where anti-government protesters have died.
This will make Republicans head explode!
Pope Francis urged anti-austerity protesters who attended his weekly blessing to use dialogue and not violence to press their demands.
Addressing a group of protesters among the pilgrims gathered Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, the pope appealed for “a constructive contribution, rejecting the temptation for conflict and violence and following always the path of dialogue.”
The pope read aloud one of their banners: “The poor cannot wait.” He urged everyone from charities to Italian authorities “to do everything possible so that every family can have a house” this holiday season.
Protests aimed at impressing upon Italian leaders the pain inflicted on ordinary people by the country’s economic crisis have been under way across the country for two weeks. Some of them have erupted into violence.
What started out as the so-called “pitchforks protest” by Sicilian farmers nearly two years ago has grown nationwide expression of citizen impatience over rising unemployment, stubborn recession and unproductive lawmakers.
Last week, one protester’s placard read: “too much bureaucracy, skyrocketing taxes, useless politicians. Go home.”
Republicans will not be happy hearing this papal message. Sarah Palin already wondered if his views were too liberal. What will they say now?
Pontiff’s first major publication calls on global leaders to guarantee work, education and healthcare
Pope Francis has attacked unfettered capitalism as “a new tyranny”, urging global leaders to fight poverty and growing inequality in the first major work he has authored alone as pontiff.
The 84-page document, known as an apostolic exhortation, amounted to an official platform for his papacy, building on views he has aired in sermons and remarks since he became the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years in March.
In it, Francis went further than previous comments criticising the global economic system, attacking the “idolatry of money” and beseeching politicians to guarantee all citizens “dignified work, education and healthcare”.
He also called on rich people to share their wealth. “Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills,” Francis wrote in the document issued on Tuesday.
“How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”
The pope said renewal of the church could not be put off and the Vatican and its entrenched hierarchy “also need to hear the call to pastoral conversion”.
“I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security,” he wrote
Pope Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a juvenile detention center in a Holy Thursday ritual that he celebrated for years as archbishop and is continuing now that he is pope. Two of the 12 were young women, a remarkable choice given that the rite re-enacts Jesus’ washing of the feet of his male disciples.
The Mass was held in the Casal del Marmo facility in Rome, where 46 young men and women currently are detained. Many of them are Gypsies or North African migrants, and the Vatican said the 12 selected for the rite weren’t necessarily Catholic.
Because the inmates were mostly minors — the facility houses inmates aged 14-21 — the Vatican and Italian Justice Ministry limited media access inside. But Vatican Radio carried the Mass live, and Francis told the detainees that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion in a gesture of love and service.
“This is a symbol, it is a sign —washing your feet means I am at your service,” Francis told the youngsters. “Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us. This is what I do. And I do it with my heart. I do this with my heart because it is my duty, as a priest and bishop I must be at your service.”
h/t TPM
Yes, we’ve heard it all before. This is story-line is quite frankly beginning to sound like a broken record – another republican rejects the president’s outreach.
While doing his outreach to Republicans AGAIN on Wednesday, President Obama invited the Head of the Republicans in the House of Representatives to travel with Vice President and a delegation from the United States, to witness installation of the new Pope.
Boehner refused, stating that he had better things to do.
The Ohio Republican says in a statement that he’d like to go, but it’s impossible with his duties including the budget debate and hosting the Irish prime minister at the Capitol.
Vice President Joe Biden, the first Roman Catholic to be elected vice president, is leading the delegation. Boehner’s office said that after Obama spoke to House Republicans Wednesday, the president invited Boehner, who is Catholic, to accompany Biden.
Boehner says he is grateful for the invitation. He wished the vice president well and said he hopes Biden will send prayers and warm regards from all Americans, especially Catholics, to the first pope from the Americas.
