Politics

By Dwight Longenecker, The Imaginative Conservative - For a long time (Pope Francis) has been given the benefit of the doubt, but now there is little benefit and plenty of doubt… In the meantime, two conservative authors have assessed Pope Francis’ pontificate with devastating results. Philip Lawler’s Lost Shepherd-How Pope Francis is Misleading his Flock, and Ross Douthat’s To Change the Church-Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism do not make for comfortable reading…

By William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine - A recent poll of U.S. Catholics reveals that they are more concerned about climate change and the global refugee crisis than about the global persecution of Christians... According to Aid to the Church in Need, “Christians are the victims of at least 75 percent of all religiously motivated violence and oppression.” The report adds that some 215 million Christians face severe persecution, mostly at the hands of Muslims.

By William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine - On other occasions, Francis has denounced Europeans for their “xenophobia,” thereby suggesting that the fear of immigrants is irrational. But, as a number of polls have revealed, Europeans aren’t anti-immigrant, they’re anti-Muslim immigrant. Europeans appear to have little or no problem with Hindu, Chinese, Filipino, Polish, and West Indian immigrants....