Random, Random 2.0

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

Palate cleanser

[ponchi101]

I can't see her...

[ti-amie]

The heavens know why but they removed the picture.

[ti-amie]

[Owendonovan]

I've been wearing a t-shirt lately that has a picture of Jesus, arms outstretched, that reads on the top, "Disappointments" and below, "All of you". I get a wide range of looks.

[ponchi101]

I applaud you for your bravery.

[ti-amie]

I've been wearing a t-shirt lately that has a picture of Jesus, arms outstretched, that reads on the top, "Disappointments" and below, "All of you". I get a wide range of looks.

Pope makes rare comments on U.S. politics, military gathering

Pope Leo, asked about the gathering of military leaders in Virginia and a debate roiling Chicago’s diocese, gave his strongest comments on Trump administration policies.
Updated
October 1, 2025 at 10:20 a.m. EDT


Pope Leo XIV celebrates the Holy Mass for the Jubilee of Catechists at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on Sept. 28. (Angelo Carconi/European Pressphoto Agency/Shutterstock)

By Anthony Faiola
and
Victoria Craw

ROME — Making a rare foray into U.S. politics, Pope Leo XIV described the blustery talk by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a meeting of military commanders on Tuesday as “concerning,” and he called out those who describe themselves as “pro-life” for opposing abortion but do not reject the “inhuman treatment” of migrants and the death penalty.

Since becoming pope, Leo has largely kept his distance from the news media. But in an unusual interaction late Tuesday outside his Castel Gandolfo residence in Italy, the pontiff fielded several questions from reporters, including one about the extraordinary, hastily convened meeting of senior military leaders in the United States that day, at which Trump and Hegseth gave highly partisan speeches. Leo shook his head in apparent distaste.

“This way of speaking is concerning, because it shows, every time, an increase of tension,” Leo said in Italian. “This wording, like going from minister of defense to minister of war. Let’s hope it’s just a figure of speech. Of course, there you have a style of governance meaning to show strength, so as to pile up pressure. Let’s hope this works and that there isn’t war. One always needs to work toward peace.”

Leo, however, also called the Trump administration’s proposed peace plan for the Gaza Strip “realistic” and said he hoped it would be “accepted.”

(...)

The pope was also asked by a journalist from U.S. broadcaster EWTN News about the decision by the archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, to give Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) a lifetime achievement award for his work on immigration, given Durbin’s support for abortion rights.

Durbin was due to be honored Nov. 3 at a “Keep Hope Alive” event held by the archdiocese of Chicago’s immigration ministry. However, the decision sparked backlash from bishops within the church, who argued Durbin’s position on abortion could not be overlooked.

Switching to English, the pontiff said while he was “not terribly familiar with the particular case,” it was “very important to look at the overall work a senator has done during, if I am not mistaken, 40 years of service in the United States Senate.” Durbin has served more than 40 years in Congress, 28 as a senator. He is retiring from the Senate after his current term ends in January 2027.

Leo — who was born in Illinois and became a priest in 1982 before working as a missionary in Peru and rising to become bishop of Chiclayo — said it is important to look at “many issues” regarding the teaching of the church.

“Someone who says, ‘I am against abortion,’ but says, ‘I am in favor of the death penalty,’ is not really pro-life,” he said. “Someone who says that, ‘I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States,’ I don’t know if that’s pro-life. So they’re very complex issues.”

“I don’t know if anyone has all the truth on them, but I would ask first and foremost that there be greater respect for one another,” he continued, “and that we search together both as human beings, in that case as American citizens or citizens of the state of Illinois, as well as Catholics, to say we need to really look closely at all of these ethical issues and to find the way forward as a church.”

The church’s position on such issues was “very clear,” Leo added.

On Tuesday, Cupich announced Durbin had decided not to receive the award at the November event. “While I am saddened by this news, I respect his decision,” Cupich said in a statement, adding that the award was to be presented “specifically in recognition of his singular contribution to immigration reform and his unwavering support of immigrants, which is so needed in our day.”

Cupich also warned that bishops had a duty to “promote unity,” and he had seen divisions deepen within the church during his decades as a leader. “The tragedy of our current situation in the United States is that Catholics find themselves politically homeless,” he wrote, adding that many are divided along partisan lines.

Leo’s direct comments on U.S. politics are notable, as the typically media-shy pontiff is seen as better versed in the political divisions that have riven U.S. Catholics in recent years than his predecessor, Pope Francis. Leo is the first U.S.-born pope, and, while he has been viewed as a church leader in the mold of Francis, who embraced migrants and the poor and sought to build an inclusive church, Leo has so far been less willing to publicly engage in battles of words with the U.S. administration.

In a biography published last month that has offered Leo’s most extensive reflections since becoming the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May, Leo said he wanted to avoid partisan politics and doctrinal change. He instead positioned himself as a listener who wants to take down the temperature of political debate.

“I’m trying not to continue to polarize or promote polarization in the church,” he said in the book.

In the book, Leo also said that after becoming pope, he raised the issue of “human dignity” in a meeting with Vice President JD Vance. But he has also said he expects U.S. bishops to take the lead in dealing with the Trump administration, and he has generally seemed to choose his words more delicately than his predecessor.

Francis, in contrast, was sharply critical of the Trump administration. In 2016, during Trump’s first presidential campaign, Francis described him as “not Christian” for seeking to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall to deter migrants. In January, before Trump’s second inauguration, Francis called the administration’s plan for mass deportation of migrants “a disgrace.”

In an open letter to U.S. bishops in February, Francis wrote: “I exhort all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”

In the same letter, he chided Vance for misconstruing a medieval Catholic concept — “ordo amoris” — to defend the Trump administration’s deportation policy. Vance claimed it set out a pecking order of Christian care, with the family first, followed by neighbors, the community, fellow citizens and, lastly, those beyond. In response, Francis said: “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... on-durbin/

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

Amazing

[ti-amie]

I don't think he's trans...

Some may not know this but that is how ultra Orthodox Jewish men dress.

[ti-amie]

[ashkor87]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/ ... villamalea

how refreshingly rare to hear words like 'humanity - in all the whataboutism that is so rife these days we justify all kinds of horrors.. once in a while, we should pause to remember that it is human beings we are speaking about, they all deserve a basic humanity..
I remember one discussion I had organized with some senior managers of a client, some years ago, when the government suddenly put a squeeze on cash - everyone waxed lyrical about how great it would be for the economy to have digital payements only - not a single person, not even one, mentioned the millions of daily wage workers who survive only on cash. Humanity is never in sight in such situations..

[ti-amie]

[ashkor87]

The Nobel Prize for Economics this year has been awarded to Joel Mokyr of Northwestern U, (50%) and Philippe Aghion of LSE, and Peter Howitt of Brown University (25% each)

Joel Mokyr, in particular, identified the conditions necessary for innovation – the coupling of diversity with institutions that promote tolerance and also promote internal competition. The society must also value application of science. In such societies, the ‘culture of innovation’ blossoms. Centralized control, for example, by the state, is contrary to the culture of innovation.
Last year’s Nobel laureates had pretty much the same message.. wonder if it just getting to be fashionable to say these things, or suddenly become necessary because of the way governments across the world are moving lately.