Pope Francis, Hypocrite

Pope Francis made the news today with an interesting statement on freedom of speech.

The Pope, while en route to the Philippines decided to weigh in on the Charlie Hebdo controversy.

Pope Francis described freedom of speech as not only a fundamental human right but a duty to speak one’s mind for the sake of the common good. But…there were limits:

By way of example, he referred to Alberto Gasbarri, who organizes papal trips and was standing by his side aboard the papal plane.

“If my good friend Dr. Gasbarri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch,” Francis said half-jokingly, throwing a mock punch his way. “It’s normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.”

Now the Pope of course condemned the killings, saying such horrific violence in God’s name couldn’t be justified and was an “aberration.” But he said a reaction of some sort was to be expected.

“There are so many people who speak badly about religions or other religions, who make fun of them, who make a game out of the religions of others,” he said. “They are provocateurs. And what happens to them is what would happen to Dr. Gasbarri if he says a curse word against my mother. There is a limit.”

I have to admit I find his use of the word “aberration” to describe what happened in Paris astonishing. Has he been living in a bubble? Christians are being murdered all over the Middle East and in Africa by Muslims, and terrorism in the name of Islam has been epidemic. An aberration? Really?

That aside, I find I agree with some of what he said. People whom deliberately insult someone’s religion – as opposed to being critical of its practices and ideology, which ought to be fair game – should expect a reaction.

So…where was this Pope’s reaction to the deliberate insults and canards thrown at Christianity by the rabidly secular Left since he put on the Papal Mitre? Asleep in that same bubble?

And what about Jews? The most hideous libels and slanders are thrown at Jews and Judaism every day in Europe and the Middle East. Mainstream articles in ME papers repeatedly use cartoons Der Stürmer would have been proud to print, Hitler’s Mein Kampf in Arabic is a bestseller and many Muslim imams demonize Jews and call for their death and destruction on a regular basis in their Friday sermons.

Meanwhile, Israeli flags with a Mogen Dovid, a Jewish religious symbol on them are burned every day in Europe and in the Arab World. The Pope has said nothing about any of this. In fact, he’s actually criticized Israel for its ‘reactions’ to this insult to their religion.

Yet, all of a sudden, this Pontiff is already jumping in and making excuses for the violent  Muslim reaction to cartoons in Charlie Hebdo. When Muslims do it, of course it’s wrong but you have to understand their justified rage.

This sort of anal hypocrisy is indefensible in someone who seeks to be a moral arbiter and the leader of the Catholic Faith. Or is it just naked cowardice, as it was with his predecessor Benedict?