Pope Francis Interview

Check out George Wittman’s latest blog post!

Pope Francis has done a lot on “rebranding” the public perception of the Catholic Church, speaking out against frivolous spending and breaking down security protocols to be closer to his followers.  Just a day after hosting a peace talk with Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the Vatican, he granted an interview to the newspaper “La Vanguardia”, the first ever to a Spanish daily.  In the interview, he reaffirmed his criticism of the current economic system that he says worships the “God of Money” and “discards” men and women.  He acknowledged the risks he takes by breaking Vatican security protocol, but stresses that he doesn’t want to be separated from his followers by a “sardine can”.

Pope Francis waving at at followers

According to the Pope, violence in the name of God is a contradiction that simply “doesn’t belong” in our era.  This is interesting to hear from the head of the Catholic Church, an institution that previously sponsored such horrible actions as the Crusades, the Inquisition and Thirty Years’ War.  But Pope Francis acknowledged this, stating that such actions are “unthinkable” in the modern age.  Religion has caused us, according to Francis, to reach some serious contradictions, such as fundamentalism.  Francis has turned down the “revolutionary” title that many have given him since he’s taken office, claiming that his process has just been to go back to the “roots” of Catholicism and see how it’s relevant in the modern age.

In regards to breaking security protocols, Francis recognizes that his actions put him at risk, but also accepts that something like that is in God’s hands.  In Brazil, they arranged for Francis to greet people in a closed Pope Mobile, but reaching people behind a glass building isn’t a good way to tell them that he loves them.  True, it’s possible that something could happen to him, but the 77 year-old religious leader doesn’t have too much to lose at this age.

Seeing starving children in this day and age is a shock to many people, who find it hard to understand.  Francis has taken every chance possible to criticize the modern economic system, saying that people worship the “money god”.  More and more younger people are unemployed.  Francis has expressed his displeasure that the current economic system is “discarding” the younger generation to keep up.

The entire interview with Francis was published today both online and in print.  When the reporter asked Francis how he wanted to be remembered, Francis said that the had “not thought” about it, although being remembered as a “good guy”, who did what he could and wasn’t that bad at what he did would be just fine with him.

Situation Escalates in Iraq

George T. Wittman’s latest blog post

In the past couple years, there hasn’t been that much news about the situation in Iraq; indeed, it seemed like everything had stabilized.  However, in the past couple weeks, the region has once again turned into a battleground, as a militant Sunni group operating out of Syria, known as ISIL, has seized a large chunk of western Iraq in a lightning sweep south toward the capital of Baghdad.  Their ultimate goal is to recreate a medieval caliphate carved out of fragmenting Syria and Iraq.  In response, Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has urged his followers to take up arms and defend themselves against the advance of Sunni militants.  People who are capable of carrying arms, said al-Sistani, should volunteer, to join security forces and repel the terrorists from Iraqi soil.  Those killed while fighting ISIL militants would be hailed as martyrs.

ISIL miltants marching.

Yesterday Obama threatened military strikes against ISIL, highlighting the danger that this group, who have threatened to redraw borders in an oil-rich region, pose.  In the chaos, Kurdish forces have taken control of Kirkuk, an oil hub just outside of their enclave that they have long viewed as their traditional capital.  Just yesterday, after seizing Mosul and Tikrit, ISIL entered two towns in the province bordering Iran.  The two towns, Saadiyah and Jalawla, had fallen to the Sunni insurgents after government troops fled their positions.  In response, the Iraqi army fired artillery shells at Saadiyah and Jalawla from the nearby town of Muqdadiya, sending dozens of families fleeing towards Khaniqin, near the Iranian border.

Yesterday, Obama said that he was considering “all options” to support Iraq’s Shi’ite-dominated central government that took full control after the end of US occupation back in 2011, a full eight years after the Americans entered the region.  In response to a question about air strikes, Obama said he isn’t ruling out anything, due to the need to make sure that these jihadists don’t gain a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria.  Nonetheless, US officials said that US ground forces would not be returning to Iraq.  This incident marks a rapid escalation in a conflict that is threatening civil war and the potential break-up of Iraq.

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