Sean Hannity: Lazy Pope Francis Doesn’t Understand the Virtues of Hard Work

It’s opposite day again on Sean Hannity’s show, and he’s going to let us know that anyone who has money worked really, really hard for it — and that the Pope doesn’t understand the virtues of hard work.

Because Pope Francis advocates for the poor, Sean Hannity claims he’s sticking up for lazy, worthless people who don’t understand the virtues of hard work.

“And it’s like now we’re creating the resentment of those who get up, make decisions, they go to school, they develop marketable skills, they decide to work, they make intelligent decisions . . . and now, all of a sudden, they’re being hated,” Hannity said on his radio show, discussing the drive for income redistribution. “And they’re being called greedy, and selfish. And they’re now being condemned. And we’re celebrating mediocrity, or laziness. Because if you think about it, who are we going to take the money from?”

He went on:

I don’t know any Kennedys. I know people who have money. I know people that are comfortable . . . that are struggling . . . that are poor . . . that have come from nothing to make money in their lives . . . And in every case of everyone that I know that has money, with the exception of one person that used to work on my TV staff that was born rich, he’s the only person I know. Every other person I know . . . that has anything decent in their life, . . . everybody that has something, earned it. I don’t know anybody that has gotten something through ill-gotten gains. We are the sum total of every decision we make in our lives.

I’d hazard a guess that the reason Hannity doesn’t know anyone who has gotten anything through ill-gotten means is because he doesn’t know anyone born into extreme wealth. He goes on to rant about taxes — you know, those things that you pay in order to gain and use public roads, public schools, government science funding, police, fire, and other utilities — and finishes off by warning us that these “hard workers” will “go Galt” on us if we don’t stop demanding that they pay their fair share to society.

Hannity seems to think that having a skill set honed to providing a service is all it takes to being a millionaire or billionaire, since that’s how those millionaires and billionaires got their money. I have a few questions I’d like to direct at Hannity and every other Libertarian thinker: Are you a billionaire? If not, why? Because you’re lazy, perhaps? If it worked for them, why shouldn’t it work for you? The only excuse, then, by your own words — by Hannity’s own words — for not making billions of dollars is that you’re just flat out lazy.

Or, you could acknowledge reality — they didn’t work for their gains, and they got that money by gaming a broken tax system, and rigging the system in their favor at the cost of everyone else.

Pope Francis Attacks Christian Fundamentalism Again, Says It’s ‘Not Healthy’

Pope Francis attacked Christian fundamentalism as “not healthy.”

On Friday, La Civiltà Cattolica published remarks that Pope Francis made in November during a meeting with the leaders of men’s religious orders. The pontiff once again blasted those who stick to extreme ideology and attacked fundamentalism for being blind to reality.

“It is not a good strategy to be at the center of a sphere,” the Pope stated. “To understand we ought to move around, to see reality from various viewpoints. We ought to get used to thinking.”

Ah, thinking. A concept that most conservatives fail to grasp either because they’re desperate to defend a hateful ideology that doesn’t work or they fear that their heads will implode from the effort. Of course, Pope Francis says being entrenched in such an obsessive ideology is unhealthy.

Pope Francis referred to a letter written by Father Pedro Arrupe in which he spoke of poverty and how “some time of real contact with the poor is necessary.” The pontiff believes that if people who have much spend time with those who are poor, they’ll be more sympathetic to their plight and be more understanding. Instead of believing that the poor are mere bottom-feeders who are lazy, wealthy conservatives would grow hearts and change their tune if they actually spent time with those who struggle in poverty.

“This is really very important to me: the need to become acquainted with reality by experience, to spend time walking on the periphery in order really to become acquainted with the reality and life – experiences of people,” Pope Francis continued. “If this does not happen we then run the risk of being abstract ideologists or fundamentalists, which is not healthy.”

In short, if we don’t do this, we risk becoming heartless conservatives who believe in hating everything and everyone instead of being more like Jesus.

Pope Francis has consistently stood against most of what Christian conservatives believe.

Pope Francis has been a relentless thorn in the side of Christian right-wingers. Ever since he became the head honcho of the Catholic Church, conservatives have viewed the new Vicar of Christ as an enemy. Far from being the harbinger of hatred that Christian righties wanted, Pope Francis has condemned hating gays, called for a more pro-women approach, advocated for environmentalism, and has strongly stood up for the poor, immigrants, and the marginalized. The man has even called upon Christians to treat atheists and Muslims with respect, kindness, and understanding. Pope Francis has pretty much condemned everything conservatives stand for here in America. And that includes their refusal to budge from a rigid, extreme, and narrow-minded ideology based on hate.

In October, Pope Francis called ideological Christianity “an illness” that needs to be more in line with the teachings of Jesus.

“In ideologies there is not Jesus: in his tenderness, his love, his meekness,” the pontiff declared during a daily Mass. “And ideologies are rigid, always. Of every sign: rigid. And when a Christian becomes a disciple of the ideology, he has lost the faith: he is no longer a disciple of Jesus, he is a disciple of this attitude of thought… For this reason Jesus said to them: ‘You have taken away the key of knowledge.’ The knowledge of Jesus is transformed into an ideological and also moralistic knowledge, because these close the door with many requirements. The faith becomes ideology and ideology frightens, ideology chases away the people, distances, distances the people and distances of the Church of the people. But it is a serious illness, this of ideological Christians. It is an illness, but it is not new, eh?”

Pope Francis has even criticized the superior complex that conservative Christians demonstrate on a daily basis. In front of an audience in St. Peter’s Square last month, the pontiff said that Christians shouldn’t act superior to others because:

“God reveals himself not as one who stands above and who dominates the universe, but as He who lowers himself. It means that to be like Him, we do not have to place ourselves above the others, but come down, come down and serve them, become small among the small, and poor among the poor.”

Fundamentalism is dangerous. It always has been throughout history. Pope Francis understands this, which is why he is condemning it. It’s an extreme ideology steeped in hate that is based on strict interpretations — most of which are actually misinterpretations — and outdated notions that have become unacceptable to society. The Christian fundamentalism practiced by conservatives fits this description perfectly, and Pope Francis just called it out again. And an overwhelming majority of Americans and American Catholics, as well as people all around the world, agree with the Holy Father. Clearly, it’s time for conservatives to change.

If only they'd listen to him...

Wingnut Peter LaBarbera Charges Pope Francis With Naivete About 'Aggressive Homosexual Agenda'

Peter LaBarbera, the President of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, recently wrote a statement to his readers concerning the personal comments made by Pope Francis about the church's stance on various social issues, including gay marriage and abortion. He was, of course, displeased with the Pope's relatively open-minded and open-doored statement. In fact, he writes of his fears that the Pope has been duped by the homosexual agenda to infiltrate the Catholic Church.  

 

Right Wing Watch reports:

According to LaBarbera, “Satan’s earthly minions” concocted a plan to bring gay men into the priesthood so they can “seduce and molest” boys in order to discredit and weaken the Church’s authority to condemn homosexuality. LaBarbera now fears that the Pope is giving ammunition to “pro-homosexuality and pro-abortion militants” to further their goal of bringing “corruption and destruction to many institutions.”

LaBarbera's impassioned analysis of the homosexual agenda explains the gays' 6-step plan in fuller detail:

I dare say that a more sinister plot to undermine the Catholic Church and its reputation could not have been carried out had Satan’s earthly minions spent $100 million devising one:

1. Homosexual men take advantage of more lax standards to enter priesthood.

2. Homosexual priests and male Catholic school officials use their authoritative role to seduce and molest mostly male teenagers and boys. 

3. Homosexuals like then-Archbishop Weakland and their sympathizers in the Church cover up priest abuses and transfer predators to new, unsuspecting parishes, where they molest more boys. 

4. The homosexual-predator scandal blows up in the media — alienating millions of Catholics from the Church and doing untold damage to its reputation and moral, spiritual and political influence. 

5. Homosexuals and liberal allies who advocate for acceptance of homosexuality turn around and say Church is now discredited because it harbored “pedophiles.” Meanwhile, Church officials resist full disclosure of the scandal, thus perpetuating it.

6. Lastly, “gay” activists and their liberal allies continue to insist that the male-on-boy priest abuse scandal has little or nothing to do with homosexuals — but rather was a “pedophile” or “ephebophile” (adult who is sexual attracted to adolescents) problem.

My hunch is that each and every one of those complicit Church apologists for homosexuality, like Weakland, would consider himself “more compassionate” and “more Christ-like” than “anti-gay Catholics” who have been scandalized by the homosexualist advances in their Church. Such is the arrogance of liberals. This despite the untold suffering of boys victimized by sexual deviants masquerading as pastoral guardians of others’ souls.

It was only a matter of time 'til conspiracy theories began pouring in on this latest Catholic Church kerfuffle. LaBarbera's plan paints a particularly insidious portrait of the homosexual menace, one likely as difficult for us to believe as it is for anyone else. If only we could hear Pope Francis's rebuttal.

E.W. Jackson Says He Knows Better Than the Pope on Gays

E.W. Jackson, the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Virginia, says he knows God better than the Pope, who said in an interview late last week that the Church should stop obsessing over gays and abortion, and, referring to homosexuality, has no business "interfering in the spiritual life of a person." 

 

Jackson said he disagrees, in a sermon given on Sunday,, the Times Dispatch reports:

“The family was ordained by God. He ordained it one man and one woman in the bonds of holy matrimony,” Jackson said. “(In the Bible) I don’t hear anything about two people of the same sex being married,” he said.

Jackson said Sunday: “I know even the pope has said when we talk about these things, we imply a kind of intolerance. That is not the point at all. The point is to be true to the word of God. The point is to stand up and tell the truth. There is no better way found, ever, to raise children than with a mother and a father in the home. Even sociologically, you can make the argument.”

But Jackson said that “this is not about hating people based on their sexual orientation or based on same-sex relationships or having bigotry against them,” but about whether “this culture is going to remain a culture based on Judeo-Christian values and principles, or whether we’re going to become something else.”

In describing himself, Jackson said: “I am a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that is really who I am. I am called to do something in addition to that right now, but there is no higher priority and no higher office than being a proclaimer of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

Jackson has claimed he has never been hateful about homosexuality, though his statements tell a far different story. In addition to linking homosexuality and pedophilia, Jackson has said that gays are "perverted, they’re frankly very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally" and has said pro-gay rights liberals “have done more to kill black folks whom they claim so much to love than the Ku Klux Klan, lynching and slavery and Jim Crow ever did.”

Jackson also said on Sunday that unless you are a Christian, "you are engaged in some sort of false religion."

CNN host Chris Cuomo calls out anti-gay propaganda, bigotry

CNN host Chris Cuomo tangles with Catholic League president Bill Donohue on the subject of homosexuality, pedophilia, and the Catholic religion in general. This is how you handle anti-gay propaganda:

Maggie Gallagher on the Pope: I Would Love 'Nothing More Than to Be Wrong' on Gay Marriage

The Huffington Post spoke to former NOM President Maggie Gallagher about Pope Francis' statement on gays this week.

 

Pope Francis said that the Catholic Church had become too obsessed with gay marriage and abortion, and said it is wrong to "interfere spiritually in the life of a person" in reference to using religion against homosexuality.

Gallagher uses the Pope's statements to emphasize the persecution she says she has undergone as a "traditional marriage" crusader:

What I find most exhilarating about Pope Francis, is the possibility that we can reach out to those with whom we disagree without surrendering principle. I will say I have not found that true generally. I have found the gay rights community -- the activists anyway, not the ordinary folk -- is mostly asking for one thing: Agree, or be judged a hateful bigot.

But when you are in the fray of battle, it is easy to become fragile and to lose sight of possibilities. Maybe the pope can do things I cannot imagine. Imagine that!

Gallagher also says that if religious leaders move away from actively opposing same-sex marriage there will still be a case against it:

My case against same-sex marriage was always entirely secular. I believe we need a social institution that is about directing the passions of men and women attracted to the opposite sex -- 98 percent of people -- so that our sexual acts do not hurt the children our bodies create in passion. To me, that's the heart of "civil marriage" and the explanation for why the government is involved.

I don't see that changing. I hope I am wrong that gay marriage will change that as the public idea of marriage, but the evidence is pretty strong that I am right: It is very hard to see two men as a marriage, and still see marriage as integrally involved in procreation and family structure.

Would love for you to prove me wrong. I would love nothing more than to be wrong about this.

Full interview here.

Pope Warns Church Must Find New Balance or Fail

Pope Francis has warned that the Catholic Church’s moral structure might "fall like a house of cards" if it doesn’t balance its divisive rules about abortion, gays and contraception with the greater need to make the church a merciful, more welcoming place for all.

Six months into his papacy, Francis set out his vision for the church and his priorities as pope in a remarkably lengthy and self-critical interview with La Civilta Cattolica, the Italian Jesuit magazine. It was published simultaneously Thursday in Jesuit journals in 16 countries, including America magazine in the U.S. Full story here!

Popes Collaborate on New Text That Reiterates Catholic Church's Opposition to Gay Marriage

Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis have collaborated on a new Encyclical, a papal circular letters addressed to Roman Catholic clergy intended to summarise a pontiff's thoughts on a particular facet of Church life.

The piece of writing released yesterday was begun by Benedict and completed by Francis and reiterates the Catholic church's position rejecting same-sex marriage, the AAP reports:

Francis paid tribute to pope emeritus Benedict XVI in the encyclical, saying that the ex-pontiff had "almost completed" the text before stepping down in a historic resignation this year and that he himself had merely added "further contributions."

The 82-page text stresses that there is no contradiction between the Catholic faith and the modern world and calls for more dialogue with scientists, other religions and non-believers.

It also restates the Catholic Church's position on marriage saying it should be a "stable union of man and woman."

"This union is born of their love, as a sign and presence of God's own love, and of the acknowledgment and acceptance of the goodness of sexual differentiation," reads the text.

While some passages in the encyclical have a more academic and ponderous feel characteristic of Benedict XVI, others contain the simpler expressions and brighter outlook of his successor.