Why Pope Francis is hypocritical, anti-gun, and most likely socialist

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Pope Francis

Because I’m not Catholic, I’m just a Bible-believing Christian, I have to admit, I don’t pay much attention to the words coming out of the mouth of Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church …

In fact, I tried to completely ignore the socialist claptrap that he has been spouting all over the world, but now I need to call him out …

Why?

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Because he is looked to as a leader and is commander-in-chief of the (arguably) world’s largest, most dedicated “army” that includes:

*** 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide
*** 78 million Americans in 17,600+ parishes
*** Backed by an “officer corps” of 200 cardinals
*** Over 5,000 bishops
*** 450,000+ priests and deacons

… all dedicated to carry out his commands or in some way follow his lead.

That’s not to mention that in America, the Catholic Church hold vast influence over America’s power elite:

*** 6 of the 9 in the Supreme Court are Catholics (including the chief justice).
*** 3 Catholics are in the direct constitutional line of succession if the president dies.
*** 24 of 100 Senators are Catholic.
*** 163 of the 435 members of the House of reps are Catholic.

When you contemplate that they all have Catholic spouses, children, parents and friends, and you can see that anything coming out of the mouth of Pope Francis is a serious issue.

WARNING: if you’re Catholic, you might be offended by what comes next.

Let’s Forget The Pope’s Socialist Remarks (For The Moment) …

To start, I won’t even address the Pope’s continuous comments attacking capitalism … blaming the “invisible hand” of the market and “trickle down economics” for the problems of the world … while begging for more “legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the State” …

If you believe any of that, you’re simply ignorant of how standards of living have been increasing over the past century all over the world due to capitalism and how economics truly work. Period.

What I will address is the Pope’s recent anti-gun comments and circle back to how that makes him a hypocrite.

What Did Pope Francis Say?

The Media obviously likes to run sensational headlines, so I’ll try to be as accurate as possible. It’s my understanding that his speech was actually in Italian so that complicates things doesn’t it?

The Washington Examiner actually gave his comments a fair shake. So lemme do the copy/paste thing here and bold some important talking points …

“There is an element of hypocrisy [for a Christian] to speak of peace and then manufacture weapons,” Francis said Sunday, according to three separate Italian-to-English translations obtained by the Washington Examiner’s media desk.

… Francis did not outright use the word “hypocritical,” and he did not say that it’s impossible for a Christian to deal also in weapons. Both points, however, were heavily implied.

Engaging in an imaginary conversation with a Christian who is involved in the weapons business, the pope said, “‘No, no Father, I do not manufacture weapons. No, no. I have only invested my savings in the weapons’ manufacturers.’ Ah! And why? ‘Because personal interests are highest.'”

Francis continued, saying in a colloquial manner that the behavior of these men calls into question their ability to be good Christians and to follow Christ’s example. These remarks came on the heels of Francis instructing his audience on the need to serve others.

Rather than serving their neighbor, Francis suggested, self-proclaimed Christians who sell and manufacture weapons, which can later be used to fuel conflicts, appear instead to be sacrificing others for their own gain.

The point of his remarks, according to one of the Examiner’s sources, was to exhort his audience, which was comprised specifically of children and young people, to put their faith in God, and not in man.

“If you trust only men, you have lost,” he said.

“We think, in this world, of the wars. There’s war in Europe, there’s war in Africa. In the Middle East, there is war. In other countries there is war, but I’m supposed to have faith in a life like this?” he asked. “What can I expect from this life? I have said sometimes that we are living in the third World War, but in pieces.”

“I’m supposed to put trust in world leaders?” he asked, addressing his young audience’s concerns. “When I go to vote for a candidate, I can trust that my vote won’t bring my country to war?”

Being “two-faced” today is “normal,” Francis remarked, “saying something and doing something different.”

It was here that Francis transitioned to the topic of self-proclaimed Christian executives and entrepreneurs involved in the manufacture and sale of weapons.

The Holy Father also spent a large portion of his remarks criticizing world leaders who have in the past done little to prevent infamous slaughters, including the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust and the Soviet purge of Christians.

“The biggest powers had photographs of railway lines carrying trains headed for concentration camps like Auschwitz to murder the Jews, and the Christians, and the gypsies, and the homosexuals so they can be murdered there,” he said. “But tell me, why didn’t they bomb [the camps]?”

He explained why things like the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide were allowed to go on for as long as they did: World leaders “were watching another place. Why? Because they were interested in war — their war!”

Is Pope Francis Anti Gun?

In all honesty, you can’t tell from his words here whether he is for or against guns in the hands of us lowly civilians, but he most likely is anti-gun.

Why?

Because he’s a hypocrite (more on that in a moment) …

And because, as far as I can find, the Vatican is anti-gun. From The National Catholic Reporter:

“The Catholic Church’s position on gun control is not easy to find; there are dozens of speeches and talks and a few documents that call for much tighter regulation of the global arms trade, but what about private gun ownership?

The answer is resoundingly clear: Firearms in the hands of civilians should be strictly limited and eventually completely eliminated.

But you won’t find that statement in a headline or a document subheading. It’s almost hidden in a footnote in a document on crime by the U.S. bishops’ conference and it’s mentioned in passing in dozens of official Vatican texts on the global arms trade.

The most direct statement comes in the bishops’ “Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice” from November 2000.

“As bishops, we support measures that control the sale and use of firearms and make them safer — especially efforts that prevent their unsupervised use by children or anyone other than the owner — and we reiterate our call for sensible regulation of handguns.”

That’s followed by a footnote that states: “However, we believe that in the long run and with few exceptions — i.e. police officers, military use — handguns should be eliminated from our society.”

So to think that Pope Francis, already on the record for dozens of socialist remarks and at a few points over the last year, describing the arms business as an “industry of death” and, correspondingly, those who produce weapons as “merchants of death” — I’d bet a communion cracker that he’s as anti gun as the best of them.

Well, anti gun for YOU.

Top 5 Reasons Why Pope Francis Is a Hypocrite:

“Being “two-faced” today is “normal,” Francis remarked, “saying something and doing something different.”

I think Pope Francis was talking about himself here …

Like all gun grabbers, the Pope is a hypocrite and here’s why …

1. The Pope is quoted as supporting “legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the State”.

To put that in plain English …

Pope Francis supports “The State” to take your money via threat of violence with GUNS (taxation) and to then redistribute your money to whomever the The State thinks “needs it more than you” (welfare, etc).

Newsflash for Pope Francis: The State can’t take money from the people without guns. Therefore, you are not against guns … you are only against guns in the hands of innocent, law abiding civilians for their personal protection. You fully support arming The State.

2. He condemns weapon manufacturers, yet asks for them to provide bombs.

“There is an element of hypocrisy [for a Christian] to speak of peace and then manufacture weapons,” Francis said Sunday. And then in the same speech he embraces the need for weapon manufacturers because they “should” have bombed rail roads in WWII.

“The biggest powers had photographs of railway lines carrying trains headed for concentration camps like Auschwitz to murder the Jews, and the Christians, and the gypsies, and the homosexuals so they can be murdered there,” he said. “But tell me, why didn’t they bomb [the camps]?”

Newsflash for Pope Francis: you can’t bomb railways without bombs. And only weapons manufactures make bombs.

3. He supports guns for himself, but not for you.

Of course, like all anti-gun politicians, Pope Francis talks about how guns are evil, but he rides around with armed security:

The pope with his armed guards.
The pope with his armed guards.

To put that plainly for you. Like Bloomberg, President Obama, and all the rest: Guns are good when they protect the anti-gun politicians, but they’re bad when they protect you, the common man.

In other words, Pope Francis, while professing compassion for the common man, cares more about himself than billions of people walking this earth.

Newsflash for Pope Francis: you are a hypocrite if you allow weapons to be used to protect you, yet support the disarming of billions of civilians all over the world.

4. He thinks investing in weapons manufactures is wrong, but supports The State forcing you to invest in these same weapon manufacturers (by threat of deadly force).

Let’s break this down shall we?

The Pope condemned Christians for investing in weapons manufactures (presumingly defense stocks or firearms manufacturers)

Engaging in an imaginary conversation with a Christian who is involved in the weapons business, the pope said, “‘No, no Father, I do not manufacture weapons. No, no. I have only invested my savings in the weapons’ manufacturers.’ Ah! And why? ‘Because personal interests are highest.'”

So let me get this straight …

It’s OK morally for the Government/The State to take your money via the threat of force (using guns) and then give BILLIONS of your hard-earned and stolen money to these weapons manufacturers to build/buy more guns, bullets, bombs, tanks, ships, boats, etc …

But it’s somehow unethical for you to invest whatever money you manage to save in these same weapons manufacturers via the stock market or private investment — so that you can (hopefully) profit off of some of your own hard-earned tax dollars at work?

That’s hypocritical.

defensespending
over 50% of discretionary spending goes to military in some form (source:NationalPriorities.org)

Newsflash for Pope Francis: You support increased taxation of any productive civilian by The State. In the United States, the wealthiest nation in the world, 53.71% of every discretionary budget tax dollar goes to the military (and billions goes into the pockets of weapons manufactures). Therefore, you support investing in weapons manufacturers.

5. Pope Francis says not to trust world leaders … but … to trust them with ALL the guns and to trust them to take MORE of your money and redistribute it wisely.

The pope says “If you trust only men, you have lost,” then goes on to condemn trusting in the leadership of men of nations who often want to bring their countries into wars …

But it was during a speech with world leaders at the U.N. “Agencies, Funds and Programmes” group where Francis called for “equitable economic and social progress” … which sounds great, but then then the Pope kept talking and said it could be achieved (among other ways) “…  by the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the State”

Newsflash for Pope Francis: It is hypocrisy to say not to trust the leaders of the State to keep you out of war,  but to trust them to take more of your money and use it wisely. Further there is no “legitimate” redistribution of benefits by the State because there is no such thing as “legitimate” stealing/theft.

If history is any indication, every extra dollar The State takes will be used (among other bad uses of money) to wage more war.

And giving all the guns to only The State (i.e. i.e. police officers, military use) as your Vatican supports is a bad, bad idea.

Why?

Simply because nothing has killed more people in the 20th century than Democide (aka Government Murder of its own citizens) …

Democide is defined as “the murder of any person or people by their government, including genocide, politicide and mass murder”.

As the chart from Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) below shows, nearly all cases of democide were made possibly by The State first implementing some form of Gun Control to make their population easier to murder:

Democide (death by government) made possible by gun control (source: JFPGO)
Democide (death by government) made possible by gun control (source: JFPO)

The video below gives a good overview of how gun control historically leads to democide:

The best estimate of people killed by their own governments is 262,000,000 with the death toll climbing every day. Those types of numbers are really, really hard to visualize or even wrap your mind around because they’re so big.

To put it in perspective …

In the 20th century (so far) governments murdered more people than all deaths COMBINED due to traffic accidents, war, homicide, and alcohol.

If all these bodies were laid head to toe, with the average height being 5 feet, then they would circle the earth ten times.

Please, please understand that this has nothing to do with “soldiers killed in combat”. This is simply Governments — who typically disarm their populations first — murdering their own people. In fact, 6 times more people were murdered by their OWN governments than died in combat in all the foreign and internal wars of the 20th century.

In Conclusion …

If you are Catholic, I’m sorry, but please don’t listen to Pope Francis on practically anything but Catholic Christian/Church topics …

If you are Christian, like I am, please don’t be misled by Pope Francis and his socialist and anti-gun leanings. I don’t believe he’s any holier than any other Christian (nor qualified) to speak for God on these matters …

If you are of any other faith, or no faith, then hopefully this information was still helpful to you in figuring out where Pope Francis stands on these issues.

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90 COMMENTS

  1. If you close your eyes and open your mind the only difference between the Pope and the muslim holy leadership is the method to giving all control of your life to religion. Both want to take away free will by religion being the final say on all aspects of life. Both want the many to support the few holy leaders. Both want the working class to support the lazy. Both think their God is the only true God. The only difference is the Pope has gone from a warlord to a pacifist. While the muslims haven’t. Both religious ideals have tried for centuries to control the world.

  2. What an asshole redneck! You should stick to the things that you profess to know. You sure as hell do not know what you are talking about on this subject. Now that I see what a complete idiot you are, I want no more to do with your money sucking scams. Take me off your scam list. I have never found anything of value in what you professed anyway. There will always be low class slugs like you around, but we don’t have to subscribe to it.

    • Joe,

      Sorry you feel that way, I unsubscribed you — have a nice life 🙂

      P.S. I’m a Christian (just not Catholic). I’m qualified to speak on this subject.

      • Caleb, good article. The truth always bring out the cheerleaders. They would fight for their team no matter what the players are doing.

      • I have to say, I certainly don’t have a problem with your article, I thought it was right on. There is an article in the July 20 issue of The New American Magazine, “Pope’s Environmental Encyclical” Calls for World Government. In short, it’s all about him and Ban Ki-moon, “Secretary General” of the United Nations, which has become one of the most hated and controlling evils in modern times. I have nothing against the Catholic religion; I have a 105 year old cousin that is a devout Catholic, but she has always asked me for yard signs of my conservative friends I was supporting as candidates for state or federal offices, and I can assure you, the only gun control they believed in, was making sure you hit your target. Thanks for the article, I have a friend that is very pro gun; she had Armenian ancestors that were slaughtered by the Turks, so I will send her the link.

        • 105 year old, that’s awesome!

          And yes, I wish more Armenians understood how privately owned guns would have saved so many lives in that country …

      • Don’t let the government trolls get to you. Excellent article. Although I was raised Catholic I no longer go to the Catholic church. When the priest said during mass that “if you believe that just following the words of Christ and doing as he says will save you, you are wrong the only through the Catholic Church can you be saved”. I stood up right then and there and took my family out of the church to never return.

    • Joe, try a rebuttal on substance…not a reflexive, unthinking rant on somebody that’s calling out a Freemason One World Elitist HYPOCRITE that may well be The Last Pope.

    • What is your problem anyway?? Why read these things if you become a maniac by doing so? Are you as Catholic? If so the truth hurts doesn’t it?

    • Just who are the WE you refer to in your somewhat biased comment? You see, I was raised a catholic for the first 24 years of my life, and the type of true information this article exposes is what I learned over a period of time as questions arose in my mind about my religion and how it was presented to the congregation. As a result of this learned knowledge, I subsequently left the Catholic Church because of it’s hypocritical teachings in a great many topics and it’s ‘do not question the church’ attitude. I am now 75 years of age, and have a much better understanding of being a christian, and believe it or not, a much closer relation to the very same GOD. PS: I believe if you were really a christian, and not a pretender, you would not have started your comment with the statement you used.

    • To Joe Conrath’s comment:
      A Prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The Simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.
      Proverbs 22-3

  3. Your just another Bigot in a long line. For those who believe no explanation is necessary, for those who do not believe no explanation is possible.

  4. The Pope is a Mason. All Masons are bent on a perverse new world order. Call me wrong but the church is over-flowing with Masonic symbology

    • Wow, what looney tune did you crawl out of? You been watching WAY to much tv…which had you more fascinated the Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons. I’m a Mason, went through DeMolay as a kid and the only connections between the Catholic Church and the Freemasonry is dependent on what man you are speaking of. The basic premise of the DeMolay and the Masons is this..Here is an excerpt from the DeMolay oath:

      “In the presence of God, and with my right hand upon His holy word, on my honor, as one who holds his pledged word sacred, do solemnly promise, that I will keep all the secrets, entrusted to me by this Order. I promise that I will love and serve God as a devout worshipper at the shrine of faith and that I will serve my fellowmen in the spirit of the universal brotherhood. So help me God!” The “shrine of faith” spoken of in the oath is the faith that all religions are praying to the same “Universal Father,” thus creating the “Universal Brotherhood.”

      The DeMolay claims they do not teach a religious creed; however, by requiring the candidate to believe in a Supreme Being, taking oaths “in the presence of God,” declaring to “love and serve God,” calling on assistance from God (“so help me God!”) and teaching a “reverence for sacred things,” the DeMolay is teaching a religious creed. The “Seven Cardinal virtues” reveals the religious creed scattered throughout. The Seven Cardinal virtues are as follows; “filial love, reverence for sacred things, courtesy, comradeship, fidelity, cleanness and patriotism.” Below are excerpts from the ritual that clearly show they have a religious creed (a statement or system of beliefs or principles):

    • I had a brother in-law that was a businessman, from the time he was 18 years old, and a cousin, that was also a businessman, both of which were 32 degree masons, but neither were globalists; quite the contrary. If they had known that the masons was considered to be a secretive, globalist organization, they would never have joined, that also goes for my uncle, that was also a mason.

  5. Caleb –

    I’m with ya, man. The Pope doesn’t even know his own scriptures. Jesus told His disciples to buy swords for protection before they went to the Garden of Gethsemane:

    ‘He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.”‘ (Luk 22:36-38 ESV)

    I know this is a Protestant Bible, but there is essentially no difference between this passage in the ESV and that found in the Catholic BIble.

    So Pope Francis’ position is diametrically opposed to the words of his so-called faith. He’s not even a good Catholic!

    • Dave,

      Correct sir …

      Biblical exegesis being an involved topic … there’s a lot to be said about the verse you quoted (which is why I didn’t use it in my article), BUT Jesus did say that and I believe your overall point is valid.

      The Bible also says that God is unchanging, and it’s not like God didn’t tell his chosen people (Israel) to go to war quite often. “A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD, my rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle;” (Psalm 144:1 NASB)

  6. I believe that the Pope is just another idiot that wants to believe he is the next best thing to God. If any one is stupid enough to believe what he is saying then they need to run for office. Most of them as Sholes live in a dream world anyway. I think the Pope should find a ladeer and climb up it and kiss my big ass!!!

    • Yep- my wife is one of those Catholic lemmings. They have more praise for the pope than God Himself. Even going so far as to pick and chose what to believe about the Bible and what is hokum. Amazing. At least I straightened her out about Hilary and now she dislikes her politics.

      • Thanks for your comments, I just don’t get the Pope worship thing. And we had so many Catholics chime in here that ignored him, that its easy to forget many love and adore the guy …

  7. I agree with you 100%. I’m Catholic and conservative. My priorities are God-Country and Family. This is the worst pope ever. A big mistake. His ignorance of real world reality is appalling. His blathering has no effect on my beliefs and the circle of Catholic friend that I associate with. I can’t speak for liberal Catholics, they’re probably as mistaken as he is.
    I believe this Pope can be a dangerous influence to some Catholics who do not have the time or intelligence to think for themselves.

    • Joe, thanks for speaking up, I think this hit the nail squarely on the head:

      “I believe this Pope can be a dangerous influence to some Catholics who do not have the time or intelligence to think for themselves.”

  8. The “X-bouncer Who Cannot Separate Church From State”, the true proof of hypocrisy!

  9. The X-Bouncer that cannot separate church from State, perfect example of Hipocrisy!

  10. The Pope is an international figure. He has the right to express his opinion on anything in the world. However, unless he makes a religious declaration to his flock, Catholics are not obligated to agree with him.

    • All true Nick.

      My fears are that the whole “critical thinking” thing is sorely lacking in today’s society 🙂

  11. Yeah, gotta keep an eye on those Masons, for the last several hundred years they’ve been trying to destroy Catholicism, and now they’ve got a pope working for them. I wonder, do you think he might be a Shriner, hiding a fez under that tall hat? Does the Popemobile have a colorful paint job, and oogah horns, that he blows when nobody’s watching? Betcha anything there’s a Masonic apron under that robe. That’s probably why he wears it……. Say. don’t you think somebody ought to tell the Knights of Columbus about him being a Mason? I’ll bet that with all the money the Vatican has, they pay his annual dues in the Illuminati, and the Trilateral Commision, too…..

    • I think you have it backwards. In the past it is the Catholic church trying to destroy their competition.

  12. I am not Catholic but about half of my is so I do know a few things about what Catholics believe. There is no division within my family we simply see each other as Christians of different denominations. Catholics are free to disagree with the Pope and many often do. They believe he is infallible only when he speaks directly on matters of scriptural interpretation and doctrine not social or political issues. On these issues the Pope can be wrong as I and the rest of my family believe he is on these issues. What I found most interesting about this article is the fact that six of the nine supreme court justices are Catholic. In view of this I am totally baffled as to how they can justify some of their recent decisions from either a moral or Constitutional perspective.

    • William,

      Great points regarding no divisions within your family (wouldn’t it be nice if we saw that at large within organized religions?)

      Great points regarding his views vs other statements.

      And yup, six out of nine … but then again … aren’t there a lot of people that consider themselves Catholic because they were BORN that way/into the church/baptized as babies or something yet don’t actually practice Catholicism (except for Easter and Christmas of course)

  13. Well, I give you credit for finding an even more sacrilegious stance than pronouncing the obsolescence of revolvers. Which you were wrong on of course.
    But I too am a Christian but not Catholic. I do believe we’ll all get to answer for our deeds and actions, and we’ll have eternity to do it. God is real and moves in my life and the lives of my family and many of my friends.
    The Pope raises a real question. Christians have it straight from the source – the meek shall inherit the earth; turn the other cheek; forgive seven times seventy times; go the second mile. It’s pretty hard to equate that to armed resistance.
    And years ago I had the exact same question – if I manufacture arms, how do I square that with all the teachings of Jesus?
    More recently, I’ve watched the Christians in the Middle East being crucified and otherwise tortured and exterminated. And our media talks about Bruce Jenner’s confusion instead. And I watch the open borders and all the ways our fearless leader moves to undermine us. And I know that day by day the probability of my death in the front yard, on national TV as some crazy man, gunned down by my own government, increases.
    But it comes down to this, I have decided. How does my death at the hands of evil men make the world a better place?
    It doesn’t.
    Christians like me are the bedrock in this world for good. And therefore given the ability to do so I will defend myself and my people. And I’ll answer to God for that, recognizing that those assailants of mine are also His Children.
    And that is what I have come to.
    However for that to work I need to be a real Servant of Christ, or else I lose the moral argument and condemn myself along with the rabble in question.
    Great data.

    • Thank you so much for the comment Jim. You’ve put some of my thoughts into words. This in particular, (“I know that day by day the probability of my death in the front yard, on national TV as some crazy man, gunned down by my own government, increases.”) disturbed me. For I love my country, I believe in the founders thoughts and belief in God as I believe in God. “God is real and moves in my life and the lives of my family as well as my friends;” I feel, that most seem to be unaware of that, that he is speaking. I use to get angry with him, then one day I heard . And you don’t need some Bible or any such thing like it, to hear it, if you really choose to listen. So it’s not hard to equate armed resistance. You’re correct, ones death at the hands of evil does not make the world a better place, To generalize Caleb’s point in regard to the slaughter of the innocent, disarming the general public makes for the cowards of evil to prevail.
      “And for evil to prevail, good men would have to remain silent.” I paraphrase Jefferson.
      That is a “one liner” answer to your pondering of losing the “moral argument,” not to be cast among the ambivalence of the masses. What NWO proponents are hoping for you to accept. I find the “Founders” profound. Even more applicable today than in the 18th century! What NWO proponents are hoping for you to reject.

  14. During the Dark Ages the Pope and the Catholic Church killed millions of Christians that would not believe as the Pope. The Hugenots were wiped out by Catholics. These Christians often kept the seventh day as the sabbath, which is the sabbath. So the Catholic Church burned people at the stake. Beheaded them. They were sawn in to two pieces, and we’re tortured and killed by the millions. Probably many more than Hitler. So the pope speaks one way now but wait until Sunday laws come into effect.

  15. Caleb,

    I am Catholic and Christian. I am keeping a close eye on Pope Francis. So far he has not gone against Church dogma but has made some spurious remarks as you have noted. Pope Francis came from socialist Argentina. He has little knowledge of and, therefore, no respect for capitalism and the free enterprise system of the United States. His total lack of understanding of the U.S. Constitution and its amendment process as well as our historical significance in our growth as a nation is obvious in his remarks. Yes, I also believe he is a socialist in his thinking. Many Catholics only see your remarks as an attack upon them and their faith. They need to remain open minded…

    • Daniel

      Thank you for your clear headed, logical and open-minded answer and thoughts.

      All my best,
      Caleb

    • Pope Francis was raised in a socialist country…..he is ingrained with socialist dogma. I AM a catholic, don’t like this guy or his thought process. He’s anti gun, anti capitalist and a big socialist. Not good for our country, our religion or anything else. He’s coming to Philly next month ….. how about getting him to leave his armed guard at home, tell the Philly cops to not bother with security and put his faith in his God. Won’t happen!!!

  16. I am a Catholic and I find his left wing socialistic words and views shocking and more importantly disappointing. God doesn’t want a world of martyrs and projected that we protect the weak of mind & body, to help lift the poor by improving their lives and feed the hungry through strength, standing strong for freedom and the American way of life built by our forefathers. Unfortunately, his views and ideology are on the same track as Obama, as proven by his statements and pictures of them together. Vote for freedom, vote for the American way of life or we will all become Muslim or die.

  17. I quit being Catholic at 17 (52 years ago). I went to a Jesuit high school and university. The organization was more into leftist liberal politics and propaganda than into matters of spiritual altruism. This pope is full of communist crapola. I think he is a new world order trojan horse for the gullible.

  18. Caleb, Great, comprehensive article. I’m a Christian, too, and while I wanted to respect the new Pope, when he clearly showed his Socialist ideology, I wanted to send him the below, just as a gentle reminder, that God, and Jesus, respected private property, and were NOT Marxists. Charity, absolutely, help your family, your neighbor, those in your church family who need help, volunteer, do good. Yes. But gov’t theft, by force, is wrong. I love my country, and our Constitution and Bill of Rights. We’re still the best country on earth, or why would millions be trying to get here? We’re no longer a free people. IMHO, our gov’t is now a criminally, corrupt cabal, working for, and bought by, special interests. Oh, they learned from the Nazis and the Communist USSR, so went stealthy. They wrap themselves in our flag (Obama, not so much) and 4th of July, and occasionally, when public outrage hits a peak, saw all the right words, probably obtained by committee, to calm the masses, while behind the scenes, are destroying our nation. I do NOT recognize my own nation anymore. Our culture is no longer in the gutter, it’s descended to the sewer. Galatians 6:7, Be not deceived, for God will NOT be mocked. As a man soweth, so shall he reap.’ I truly, in the real sense of the word, not the current fads, tremble in the face of God’s wrath as He unleashes it on our nation and the world, for turning our backs on the precious proof of HIS love for us, His son, Jesus, who died on the Cross for our sins. May God help us, but I don’t know why He would at this point in history. God’s time is NOT ours.

    Sorry for the rant, but as I am a grandmother, with children and grandchildren, who will live in the tyranny being brought upon us, as will yours, by the traitors in our gov’t, if we don’t get our nation back to our Judeo-Christian values and principles, upon which we WERE founded, in spite of the left’s propaganda ‘Big Lie’ that we weren’t.

    Back to the Pope, notice Commandments, that I’ve added comments to…..

    The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)
    1 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
    2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
    3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
    4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
    5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. (How is it honoring your parents, to approve of having what they worked hard to achieve, stolen by gov’t?)
    6 “You shall not murder. (Obvious, and I would add, Planned Murderhood here)
    7 “You shall not commit adultery.
    8 “You shall not steal. (Bingo, gov’t theft is stealing.)
    9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Lying is wrong, whether you’re the President, gov’t folk, or the Pope. Denying the reality of honorable capitalism, and how it’s lifted more people, globally, out of poverty, is a BIG LIE OF SOCIALISTS.)
    10 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
    ( And 10, is 100% anti-socialist/communist. Earn your living yourself. If you don’t like where you are, improve your skills, and do better. Start your own business, not easy, but it’s done all the time, worldwide. And lastly, sorry, but the USA CANNOT take in the world. It’s time for folks to stay home and fight for their own freedoms, to make their gov’ts work for them. How about teaching them the American Revolutionary war against the British? Then, let them make up their own minds, what kind of gov’t they want. I had a Muslim co-worker, tell me that he truly believed that only Christians can self-govern enough to have a true democracy. That Islam forbids individual freedom, and controls everything and every aspect of their lives. Easy, no. And not really possible, UNLESS THE PEOPLE OF THAT NATION ARE ARMED.)

    Caleb, hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to copy/paste this entire article, along with the url, and send it to everyone, including media, that I can think of. Oh, and I find myself singing, “Onward Christian Soldiers’ more and more, as the War on Christianity is blatant in our own nation. No more wimpy Christians, folks. Stand up.

    • Please do copy/paste the article anywhere and every where you want — use the share buttons on the top left of the article too if you like.

      Thanks for your long, heart-felt comment.

    • Way too wordy. Those humans won’t be able to remember all that, and sure as hell they’ll screw it up. Try this:
      1. I am eternally in charge here. Remember that, and do not piss me off.
      2. Be nice to each other; no fights.
      3. Being eternally in charge, I got this. Thou shalt not sweat the small stuff.
      4. Laugh now and then; it’s good for you.

      That’s the KISS principle…..

      • Lol

        I think Jesus had to dumb it down later on …

        Matthew 22:36-40, New American Standard Bible (NASB)

        36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and [a]foremost commandment. 39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

        Talk about KISS — Jesus knocked it down to only two 🙂

      • Don’t forget, to carry a big stick for those who would oppose your freedoms and who try to impose their will on you through their tyranny and hate for America / Capitalism.

  19. As a Catholic I disagree with Pope Francis on almost all secular issues: guns, global warming, etc. When it come to religious doctrine issues as to faith I will support him. Unfortunately for him his understanding of secular issues is Marxist. I believe he believes in Liberation Theology which St. Pope John Paul II fought very strongly against.

  20. Seeking eternal life ?too bad guys. Dont know if it is or if it is what I want.We hafto deal with our gov. for me,we’ll just leave me alone.

  21. Alternatively, Pope Francis’ comments could be interpreted in a positive light. Of course, as the
    head of one of the three major religions, the pope will necessarily opt for nonviolent solutions to the issues and problems he sees
    confronting the world today. I’m Catholic, a prepper, and a patriot. People tend to portray others negatively in order to support their position on various subjects. This seems to be
    the case in this article. The larger issue, and danger, is to allow yourself to become paranoid
    and reactionary in your assessments of what others say and do. I’m pro-gun, and aware that we must remain vigilant at all times in order to
    protect our constitutional freedoms, but I try not to allow myself to overthink/over analyze
    things to the point of paranoia. As a thought experiment, try taking the pope’s words and interpreting them, for a change, in the positive
    manner in which I am sure they were intended.
    You may come back with an entirely different impression.

    • Jimbo,

      It’s not a matter of interpretation, its a matter of facts and reality.

      You said “the pope will necessarily opt for nonviolent solutions to the issues and problems he sees”

      Ok, but he has not opted for any non-violent action. When The State uses violence to forcefully redistribute wealth, then it is still violent. Just because it’s a group of people called “The Government” does not make it non violent.

  22. As a lapsed Catholic, I don’t look towards Rome. Rather, I think that we would all be better served if we followed the Book of Matthew where our deeds, not our words, become the beacon which draws everyone to the Gospel. As my grandmother used to say, “If there is a problem – start with a mirror.” Change the world as we change ourselves.

  23. Caleb, Great, comprehensive article. I’m a Christian, too, and while I wanted to respect the new Pope, when he clearly showed his Socialist ideology, I wanted to send him the below, just as a gentle reminder, that God, and Jesus, respected private property, and were NOT Marxists. Charity, absolutely, help your family, your neighbor, those in your church family who need help, volunteer, do good. Yes. But gov’t theft, by force, is wrong. I love my country, and our Constitution and Bill of Rights. We’re still the best country on earth, or why would millions be trying to get here? We’re no longer a free people. IMHO, our gov’t is now a criminally, corrupt cabal, working for, and bought by, special interests. Oh, they learned from the Nazis and the Communist USSR, so went stealthy. They wrap themselves in our flag (Obama, not so much) and 4th of July, and occasionally, when public outrage hits a peak, saw all the right words, probably obtained by committee, to calm the masses, while behind the scenes, are destroying our nation. I do NOT recognize my own nation anymore. Our culture is no longer in the gutter, it’s descended to the sewer. Galatians 6:7, Be not deceived, for God will NOT be mocked. As a man soweth, so shall he reap.’ I truly, in the real sense of the word, not the current fads, tremble in the face of God’s wrath as He unleashes it on our nation and the world, for turning our backs on the precious proof of HIS love for us, His son, Jesus, who died on the Cross for our sins. May God help us, but I don’t know why He would at this point in history. God’s time is NOT ours.

    Sorry for the rant, but as I have grandchildren, who will live in the tyranny being brought upon us, as will yours, by the traitors in our gov’t, if we don’t get our nation back to our Judeo-Christian values and principles, upon which we WERE founded, in spite of the left’s propaganda ‘Big Lie’ that we weren

    The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)
    1 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
    2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
    3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
    4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
    5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. (How is it ‘honoring’ your parents if gov’t takes what they worked so hard to make?)
    6 “You shall not murder. (you covered this.)
    7 “You shall not commit adultery.
    8 “You shall not steal. (Bingo! Gov’t theft is stealing. Note, I’m NOT opposed to small, Constitutionally limited gov’t, which protects our shores, and am willing to pay taxes for that purpose. I would NEVER BUY a product from a company known for poor business practices, and shoddy products, yet that is exactly what our increasing taxes fund, a failed gov’t.)
    9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (This is true whether committed by President, gov’t folk, or Pope, as with his anti-capitalist remarks, which you covered.)
    10 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” (And here is PROOF that God and Jesus, respect private property. Unlike the Marxist lies today, while absolutely Jesus believed, lived and taught CHARITY, He’s NOT a Marxist. Charity is given BECAUSE YOU WANT TO, FREELY. Not taken by force.)

    Caleb, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to copy/paste this article, with the URL, and send it to everyone, including media, that I can think of. I find myself singing ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ more and more, as I watch the War on Christianity, taking place in our nation. No, we’re not at the point, yet, of the way ISIS, Boko Haram, et. al, are murdering Christians, but just look at the way, gov’t is being used against us. No time for wimpy Christians. Stand up, please.

  24. Relax everyone, the Pope does not control an army of 1.2 billion Catholics.
    I am a Catholic, a devout one, I serve the poor and I’m active in the prolife cause.
    But I’m also a gun owner, a member of NRA, NAGR, and TXGR and I vote very conservative.
    I can tell you that at Mass and Church gatherings there is no mention of our Pope’s ramblings.
    Not from our priests or bishops. His misunderstandings will be forgotten soon.
    Mankind has never known peace and won’t until the end of time.
    We must be armed to defend the innocent and ourselves

  25. Anyone who is anti gun does not know or understand history! In other words they are ignorant of actual history. Without guns in the hands of civilians the most corrupt government of today would rule (control) the worlds population. Look what is happening in the middle east. An unprecedented slaughter. Innocent people are being raped, made into slaves of one kind or another. They are being murdered by being shot, their throats cut, beheaded, gassed, thrown off buildings and many other ways of ethnic cleansing. It is governments that do these horrific acts. Perhaps as bad as any that has ever taken place in the history of the world. Except it does not have to happen. Then look what happened in the world from the mid nineteen thirties until 1945. If the people were able to protect themselves it would not be happening in the degree it is right now! Perhaps at all. At any given moment there is terror happening to the citizens of some government. Government with excessive power do not solve problems they are the problem. America is moving, under obama, to excessive power we witness the move daily. And yet half the nation is ignorant of the facts.

    Self protection is a God given right! No human being on earth can ever be free, totally free and without fear, without the ability to protect themselves. Taking away anyone’s ability to self protect is the greatest sin against mankind right up there with abortion and ethnic cleansing! Without that ability everyone is at the mercy of the ruthless and there are many in the world and this nation as well.

    There should be little doubt in anyone’s mind the only reason the terrorists do not do the same thing here in the US is the armed citizen! Certainly not the federal system (laws) under the non-leadership of obama! After WWII we learned the only reason Japan did not attack the mainland was because they feared the American armed citizen. It was not the government! It was We The People! The most powerful force (army) on earth is the American armed citizen never allow any force to take that away or America will no longer exist.

    The fact so many in this nation are willing to support this control and corruption is at best devastating.

  26. I’m not Catholic but I am a Christian. I do not trust this Pope because he has accepted the issues being pushed by the Socialist/Communist controlled United Nations. The example mentioned in the article of his support of the Arms Treaty born in the UN. Another is the big lie about Climate control…it is controlled but only by God. What man does has little or no effect because God said, after the flood, that cold and heat, summer and winter ‘shall not cease’. Global Warming/Climate control is just another way to control and destroy the economy, and hence the world power, of productive nations.
    Satan wants to rule the world unopposed, and his method is to destroy Christians and Jews.
    Islam wants to rule the world unopposed, and their method is to destroy Christians and Jews.
    Catholics want to rule the world and most wars, up until modern times, were fought by catholics to control countries and people.
    The only Free Republic ever to exist is the USA and most all the world hates it. Unfortunately it is in the process of self destruction.
    But the dictator will not take over until all the guns are collected, no tyrant has ever tried it without first disarming the citizens.

  27. We are Catholic and believe in separation of Church and state. We are hunters and fisherman. Have a personal protection weapon. This is the worst pope we ever had. He speaks of climate change and guns. Those are his opinions . He’s from Argentina where dictators are. This is the U.SA. He should speak about God and spiritual things not about things he knows nothing of. We are for God, Country & family. Not a dictatorship.

      • Thank You Caleb. I am also a NRA. Member. I am from Western New York. I have signs that say Repeal The Safe Act., and Don’t Tread On Me. Governor Cuomo and the likes of the Clinton’s would like to take our guns away. We flew our Don’t Tread on me flags and down with Cuomo, on the Capitol Building in Albany,N.Y.

  28. We are Catholic but believe in separation of church and state. We are hunters, fisherman and own personal protection weapons. We put don’t tread on me and repeal the safe act signs up in W.N.Y. where we live. Pope Francis is not the Pope I would have picked. His remarks on climate change and guns turned me against the liberal Pope. It’s what he thinks. This is not Argentina. This is the good old United States of America. We don’t want a dictatorship. We are for family and country.

  29. Pope Francis has damaged the Catholic Church more in the past 6 months than all the pedophile priests did in the past 60 years. Pray, hope, beg he resign or retire immediately. Laus Deo.

  30. God forgive you all. My Church teaches that the Pope is perfect in matters of Faith. He is a man, human like all of us. On matters of state, he expresses his opinion. On matters of Faith, he can change Church doctrine. He is a good man who has devoted his life to serving God and man. He is a man deserving of respect, unlike dismissive politicians here in the US. I sometimes disagree with the Church. I never disagree with the Faith, that is, the teachings of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Luke 22:36 “…whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.” Christ was preparing his followers for the persecution to come. I guess our time is here, again.
    I am a firearms manufacturer and dealer here in the USA. I am proud to be a Roman Catholic. I am not conflicted between the two. You were right, I am offended. Real offended. I will discard all future email.

    • Jaxxon,

      I’m not sure how you’re offended when you agree with me?

      I tried to be respectful of the position of authority that Pope Francis holds, but these are serious things that I needed to point out.

  31. The Vatican is an international banking institution as well as the center of one of the world’s major religions. The banksters have apparently called in the Vatican’s IOUs. The Pope is an NWO boy. If you can’t figure this out you’re wearing blinders.

  32. I also am a Christian, Baptist Minister, and really agree with your points. You’ve always been right on so far as I have seen, but I do take a little exception to one point you mentioned. You said in item 5 “The pope says “If you trust only men, you have lost,” then goes on to condemn trusting in the leadership of men of nations who often want to bring their countries into wars …” The Pope was saying that if you trust only men (and not Jesus) you have lost which I believe completely as the Bible also says it is true. I also believe that the Catholic religion is so far away from what the Bible teaches that it resembles a cult.
    I really appreciate all the work you have done for us gun owners and us with concealed permits. Keep up the good work.

    • Thanks Larry.

      Yeah my point was — you can’t claim to NOT trust men and still embrace socialist ideals because the ONLY people who implement the socialist schemes are these same “men”.

  33. Though I am Catholic by upbringing (and these days only for the benefit of the magical tax deduction), I feel the current Pope’s statements about firearms only serve as a smokescreen for intractable problems facing the Church, which are beyond the scope of discussion at hand.

    If Pope Frankie has such a hard-on against firearm ownership, he should follow through by traveling without the benefit of the Swiss Guard and his bulletproof fishbowl.

  34. As the Christian leader of the Catholic faith why doesn’t he stress the killing war on Christians?? Devoting his efforts to his Socialist leanings is a waste of leadership time.

  35. As the leader of 1.2 BILLION catholics instead of spreading his Socialist leanings ,why, doesn’t he lead the world in the war against Christians? His leadership is sadly lacking on this matter.

  36. I neither trust Pope Francis or believe he was chosen by the Holy Spirit. I think he was a political appointment. He is no good for the church or his flock. He is also a leftist.

  37. I neither trust Pope Francis or believe he was chosen by the Holy Spirit. I think he was a political appointment. He is no good for the church or his flock. He is also a leftist.

  38. As a Catholic I would like to say I agree with your take on this but I think there is one misconception that isn’t major but is something that helps this case. Catholics do not have to listen to the pope or agree with him. In fact a lot of us do question his love for the church founded by Christ and his apostles.
    The apostles new that there would be people who would try and use the church for personal/political gain as such carried through by the Spoken Tradition carried over since everything that Christ taught couldn’t be written down. As such part of the Tradition is that we are called to follow the bishop of Rome (aka the pope) only in areas related to dogma (aka stuff that has been written down by the apostles and the early Christian fathers that compliments and clarifies social behavior not explicitly stated aka gun control or birth control or same sex marriage in the bible that emphasis issues that the church needed to clarify so the faithful knew what they believed to avoid dividing the church) or doctrine (parts of the faith that have assisted with additional beliefs and practices used by the church for the faithful growth in their relationship with Christ). However, with that said a Pope is not allowed to change Dogma and doctrine that previous popes have supported and clarified. So the statement he gives above is his own personal opinion and not something that anyone that is Catholic has to believe or agree with. I know several priest that are in the military that are angered about his view and disagree with him. So to sum what’s said above. That’s his opinion not the Church’s teaching and we don’t have to or do listen to him on this topic and we are still Christian.

    Just another side note also in agreement with you article. When he says they should have bombed the camps. the easiest reason to understand why they didn’t is because of the loss of life that would have happen in addition to those already being lost in there. I still don’t understand his reasoning. This would have just lead to even more persecution of those groups and trains would have just gone to other camps in a sense it would have made a bad thing even worse.

    • Hey Tim, as a Christian who is not catholic, simply a follower of Christ – I appreciate your comments and clarifications of how you feel and view the Pope/Catholic Church. Thanks for your comments!

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