Newsmax’s carping that Pope Francis wasn’t right-wing enough continued in a May 7 column by Jim Harden — a pastor but not a Catholic one — who lamented that Francis said that “anyone who builds a wall rather than a bridge is ‘not a Christian’” while holding Mass on the U.S.-Mexico border, then complained that he discussed global warming:
While this was a policy slight against President Trump, he failed to account for the obvious irony of the wall around Vatican City. Rookie mistake. But then, a pope is not a politician. Or is he?
Shortly before his little border faux pas, in 2015 Pope Francis showed his political cards with the encyclical, Laudato Si’ wherein he explains his view of society as an irreducible whole, decries capitalism, and tacitly presumes global warming not only exists but is a man-made emergency requiring immediate and unified global attention to avoid disaster.
These are very progressive political notions held by left-leaning politicos. These views typically lead to heavy-handed socialist governmental solutions like China’s one-child policy, resulting in mandatory, at-work pregnancy testing and forced abortions.
But just how convinced was Pope Francis about the theory of imminent global biological collapse? To what extent was he willing to partner with secular regimes to force changes in population dynamics to avert presumed disaster?
And more to the point, what will his successor do about it?
[…]When it came to the Church’s moral teaching, Pope Francis’ socio-political views revealed a man in tension.
Case in point, when asked what advice he might give to U.S. voters in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election who have to decide between a candidate “who is in favor of abortion and another who wants to deport millions of migrants.”
His response was an equivocation, oddly refusing to deploy his “lesser-of-two-evils” solution saying, “Both are anti-life,” going on to say, “both the one who throws out migrants and the one who kills babies.”
The Church’s belief in the sacrosanct nature of the human person was indeed at odds in his mind with his belief that human reproduction was killing the earth, which he believed to be the ultimate cause of a geo-political crisis causing mass U.S. immigration.
[…]Whatever happens, Pope Francis was right about one thing: There will be a global collapse. Jesus Himself foretold it.
But global collapse will not be a result of human reproduction but of godless moral degradation (Matthew 24).
With a new pope chosen, it was up to Bill Donohue to lament in a May 15 column that Leo XIV will not be right-wing enough:
On issues that are of interest to many Catholics, he’s not in favor of ordaining female deacons, never mind being an enthusiast for women priests.
But when it comes to many other issues, not much is known about where he stands.
For example, when it comes to making priestly celibacy optional, restricting the Latin Mass, and the Vatican-China accords, he’s not been forthcoming.
However, it’s reported that he has shown some support for “Fiducia Supplicans,” the Vatican document allowing for select blessings of gay couples. That got Pope Francis into a lot of trouble, especially with the African bishops.
He will have to be more specific about his position.
Donohue then involved his longtime (and factually inaccurate) obsession with gay priests:
Two strong supporters of Prevost are Father James Martin, the most famous advocate for homosexuals and transgender persons, and Austen Ivereigh, a vocal fan of Pope Francis.
If there was one cardinal who rallied for Prevost more than any other, it was Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga from Honduras; he was known as Francis’ Vice Pope.”
When news broke in 2018 that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was involved in serial sexual abuse cases — he is the most disgraced American prelate in American history — Maradiaga blasted those who made a big deal about it.
He called it a “private mater.”
He’s also been accused of covering up a gay “epidemic” in his diocesan seminary.
Catholics pray that Pope Leo XIV will be able to demonstrate just how wrong his critics are. Meanwhile, he has much to celebrate. Congratulations to our new Pope!
Donohue followed up with a May 19 column that tries to take glee in the idea that Leo XIV might really be a right-winger:
No sooner had Cardinal Robert Prevost been elected our new Pope when the usual (anti) Catholic bashers jumped into the fray.
His early critics were looking for Pope Francis II (2.0), but they sensed, quite rightly, that Pope Leo XIV may be closer to Pope Benedict XVI and Saint John Paul II.
Pope Leo XIV spent two decades as a missionary in Peru, and therefore he doesn’t have a rich body of writings that detail his views on contemporary public policy and social issues.
But we know that he’s strongly opposed to abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, gay marriage, and gender ideology. He’s also a registered Republican.
Translation?
He’s anything but a “Woke” Pope.
[…]The critics of Pope Leo XIV are bent on discrediting him. They are looking for dirt not simply to disable him, but to weaken the voice of the Catholic Church. They will not succeed, but their efforts are nonetheless despicable.
Of course, Donohue would be the first to try and discredit the new pope if he proves not to be as right-wing as hoped.
Michael Dorstewitz used his own May 19 column to hope that the new pope will learn to hate gay people more than his predecessor:
In the beginning there was a fear, with some cause, that he might be a clone of his predecessor, Pope Francis. After all, Francis elevated him from the priesthood to bishop, then from bishop to cardinal.
But during a private audience with the Vatican’s diplomatic corps Friday, the new pontiff emphasized the importance of the traditional Judeo-Christian view that marriage is defined as the union of one man and one woman.
“It is the responsibility of government leaders to work to build harmonious and peaceful civil societies,” said Pope Leo. “This can be achieved above all by investing in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman.”
Pope Francis claimed to hold the same view of marriage, but his critics believe that while he talked the talk, he seldom walked the walk — not after hosting lesbians, gays, and transsexuals at the Vatican.
Dorstewitz concluded by making Reagan-esque allusions:
In 1984 the Ronald Reagan reelection team released a memorable TV campaign ad called, “It’s morning again in America.”
On Jan. 20, 2025, Inauguration Day, it became morning once again in America. When Cardinal Robert Prevost became the 267th pope, it became morning again in all of Christendom — especially within the traditional Catholic community.
Yes, it’s morning again across the globe.
Again, as with Donohue, look for Dorsewitz to lash out at Leo if he fails to be a gay-hater.