Pope Francis Weeps for the Children of War

[bigtree]

— At such times, even those who are not especially religious might be moved to ask, in all seriousness, or perhaps in bitter irony, “What would Jesus do?” And as Pope Francis spoke to the multitude on Sunday in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, he came as close to answering that question as he or anyone else is likely to come.

Francis wept.

He did not wipe away the tears, but the long lenses of the television cameras showed him blinking them back behind his glasses. As Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley has said, Francis is “a man who speaks in gestures.” And this was an important one. Francis wept, and it is fair to say that Jesus, too, would be weeping today.

Can something come of that? The answer, at first, is not obvious.

Some reports said that Francis was departing from his script, but that is not entirely true—he was departing from the script he gave his aides for publication, and they seemed, afterwards, unprepared and unable to explain what the pontiff had done. He had talked about the anniversary of World War I, and he had mentioned the fighting in the Middle East, in Iraq and in Ukraine. And then Francis was reading the words that moved him, it seemed, almost beyond his ability to speak:

Pope Francis makes an emotional plea for peace -- in Saint Peter's Square Sunday. Breaking from his script after delivering his weekly Angelus, the pope makes a direct appeal for fighting to end.

"Never war, never war. I am thinking, above all, of children who are deprived of the hope of a worthwhile life, a future. Dead children, wounded children, mutilated children, orphaned children, children whose toys are things left over from war, children who don't know how to smile. Please stop. I ask you with all my heart, it's time to stop. Stop, please!"

While the pope made no direct reference to the situation in the Gaza Strip, his comments came as Israel and Hamas resumed fighting after a temporary ceasefire . . .

read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/27/what-would-jesus-do-in-gaza-the-tears-of-pope-francis-point-the-way.html

watch Pope Francis' emotional plea for peace: http://www.reuters.com/video/2014/07/27/please-stop-pope-francis-emotional-plea?videoId=327324631&videoChannel=1

[defacto7]

1. Don't we all?

[bigtree]

2. many do

. . . can't be all

[defacto7]

3. Understood

[Uncle Joe]

6. Not Harry Reid.

On a thread by Purveyor in the Lasting Breaking News Forum.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=857647

Harry Reid: Israel May Need More Aid

The Obama administration’s $225 million request to aid Israel during its war with Hamas may not be enough, warned Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday afternoon.

At the request of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Senate Democrats folded $225 million for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system into a larger bill that offers $2.7 billion in emergency funding to deal with the influx of Central American migrants to the southern border. But Reid said Israel will need even more help from the United States if the war in Gaza continues, demonstrating the need to pass the funding package this week ahead of a five-week congressional recess.

(snip)

“We should not give the Israeli people the minimum amount of aid and then cross our fingers and hope it all works out in the future,” Reid said. “We can do better and need to go further in protecting Israel.”

[littlemissmartypants]

7. Wow, Uncle Joe.

I'd consider this on the verge of a thread hijack if it wasn't such a damn good point. I enjoy your thoughtful posts.

Love, Peace and Shelter. littlemissmartypants

[Uncle Joe]

9. Thank you, littlemissmartypants.

Love, Peace and Shelter. Uncle Joe.

[defacto7]

10. FHR

Figure that one out.

[Uncle Joe]

11. I can't n/t

[defacto7]

13. Sorry Joe...

F#@% Harry Reed - FHR

[Uncle Joe]

14. I thought you meant, figure Harry Reid's actions out, defacto.

[defacto7]

15. Well Joe,

I think we already did that!

[malaise]

18. That is disgusting

It's the Palestinians who need protection from land theft and extermination.

[sabrina 1]

4. There is not a moral person on the face of the earth who is not weeping watching the slaughter of

those innocent children. Or the children of Iraq, how many did we kill? Half a million before we invaded their country illegally. And the children of Ukr and Libya and Pakistan and Syria?

I am beginning to believe there really is such a thing as 'evil'.

Thank you to the Pope for his compassion for the children. He has influence over a lot of people who support all these murderous wars. Hopefully this will help erode some of that support.

[defacto7]

12. "I am beginning to believe there really is such a thing as 'evil'"

Oh yes, there is evil, and it's embodied in real human beings doing despicable inhuman things. It's not a spirit or some other way to lack personal responsibility.. it's real people who choose to propagate the ways of their evilness and are personally responsible for their acts. Evil are people.

[Skidmore]

17. And it resides in those who sit in silence and

give tacit permission for evil actions to be propagated.

[daleanime]

5. ..

[littlemissmartypants]

8. ^eom

[JDPriestly]

16. The Christian churches, especially Catholics and Lutherans need to do far more than

they have to right the wrongs done to the Jews and indirectly to the Palestinians.

Many of the first Christians were Jewish by birth. Christianity obviously has borrowed so much from Judaism.

I was told by an expert on the civil law and the law of Rome at the time of the crucifixion that almost to a certainty, the crucifixion story in the New Testament is untrue because it does not reflect or conform to the procedures of Roman law of the time.

Even though it is in the Bible, the Catholic Church should summon the honesty to examine that story objectively and reject it if it is inconsistent with the law and customs of the time. That could be a big beginning toward an era of peace for the Middle East. Because the story of the crucifixion of Jesus encouraged anti-semitism. It is, sadly, at the root of nearly two thousand years of anti-semitism and thus, of the suffering of both Palestinians and Jews in Israel/Palestine.