Pope Tells Catholics To House Refugees

[DonViejo]

Source: TDB/NYT

Pope Francis called on all of Europe's Catholics Sunday to help house refugees fleeing in an ongoing crisis. He said the Vatican's parishes will be taking in two families. 80,000 asylum applicants are expected in Austria this year after their borders were opened to migrants Friday. Pope Francis said it was simply not enough to say "have courage, hang in there," to these people seeking better lives.

Read it at The New York Times

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Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/09/06/pope-tells-catholics-to-house-refugees.html

[valerief]

1. Isn't there room in the Vatican to house more than two families? nt

[AngryAmish]

3. No. Do as I say...

[DonViejo]

5. It's parishes in Germany, where the influx of refugees is now

occurring, that he is telling them to take in two families per parish.

[roguevalley]

13. how many refugees are you housing?

[AngryAmish]

14. As many as our President.

[ChazII]

8. Two parishes are in Vatican City

according to the article that I read. He is leading by example in each parish taking in a family would be my guess.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. I've heard an awful lot of chatter about Francis not using Papal residences at Vatican elsewhere

in Italy so why are they taking only two families? Castle Gondolfo housed hundreds of refugees during WW2. It has villas, apartments, more acres than the Vatican City, a farm, and of course the Castle itself which is enormous.

So. Two families. Well good for Francis I know he is feeling the pinch money wise and with the need for private jet aircraft and the pressing desire for adulation from massive crowds his money and the money of the places he visits has to be spent on Francis getting what he wants. Moments of glory for Francis.

[DonViejo]

4. It's two families per parish...

and given the refugees are headed to and/or are now in Germany, it's highly unlikely the Vatican will be moving to Germany to mollify your critique. The German Church is probably wealthier than the Vatican itself (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/24/german-catholic-money_n_4156588.html)

I hope when Francis is speaking in the Congress he tells Boehner et al, to take in some refugees, legal or otherwise.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Ah so of course he can't take any, he's not in Germany. Makes sense.

I thought maybe the Vatican might not qualify for housing of families due to the high number of sex offenders residing there. But your explanation makes much more sense.
For the sake of his fans on DU, I hope his Congressional address is not overly homophobic and that he avoids his usual material about choice being the murder of babies by a throw away culture and all that. I hope for all of us that he sticks to the portions of his platform that piss off the Republicans and avoids ranting about the portions of his platform that the Republicans agree with. Which is most of it. And if people on DU were a bit more honest about that and less willing to promote an anti choice and anti equality preacher as being 100% about goodness things would be more civil around here. Francis is a mixed bag. Not a progressive breath of fresh air, not the worst bigot in the faith community. He's got good points and bad points. But his fans just steamroll over his Republican side and try to use him as a Democratic litmus test and that is problematic because he is anti choice, anti contraception, anti LGBT equality, and opposed to women having a place equal to men in the world.
Be realistic about him, that might work. Give it a shot. See how it plays. Drop the spin. Let your yes mean yes.

[V0ltairesGh0st]

11. Agreed much!

I really do catch my self liking him for a lot of things.I think he really is a great guy, but your points are duly noted. I will not be happy if he comes here preaching about abortion being a great evil. I think there are lot of people like him who truly are progressive at heart, but are conflicted because they are raised in religious dogma and can't easily shake how badly it affects their worldview, and how it makes them look conflicted and hypocritical... though I'm not going to go so far as to call the pope a true hypocrite, i feel the pope like billions of other people are often victims of the circumstantial idea pool (christianity ,islam,hinduism,Etc...etc....etc) in which they are raised to believe.

I overcame being drowned in the ideological dogma of my religious upbringing to realize that 'Truth' is a greater perspective than 'god', but it was not an easy transition, no, in fact it was struggle that took a over decade, but alas..... here i am dogma free and loving it. I will never return to those ways of unthinking.

[Demit]

12. Shorter you: throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I don't know if when you talk about the Pope's fans on DU "steamrolling over his Republican side" you are employing a straw man or not. I suspect people are just generally relieved & appreciative that he is presenting a different point of view from the previous pope. But your utter scorn is duly noted.

[DonViejo]

18. You and I don't disagree about the Church at any level....

In fact, you and I agree on a whole lot of issues, we separate ways slightly when you make pronouncements about the Church which seem to come from a place where you don't know much about it (the Church). But, that's not important, at least not to me.

[MyNameGoesHere]

6. Or the west could stop

bombing and destabilizing countries? I mean these folks were't born refugees for the most part. Someone created this mess.

[snappyturtle]

16. Exactly ! nt

[dembotoz]

9. Imagine that same message here

And long overdue


The GOP would flip out
Trumps hair would stand on end

[Lunabell]

10. I wonder how many Bill O'Liley will be helping out.

He's Catholic, right?

[No Vested Interest]

15. What about Hannity - former seminarian?

Heads exploding!

otoh, I's have to feel very sorry for any refugee family living with or near either Hannity or O'Reilly - arrogant and constantly interrupting.

[Sunlei]

17. It's a crime in the USA to house refugees from our southern border.