IS THE POPE CATHOLIC?
The Pope’s Schedule from the official website of the Pilgrimage of His Holiness Francis in the Holy Land on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the meeting in Jerusalem between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras (May 24 – 26, 2014)
Monday, May 26, 20148:15 VISIT TO THE GRAND MUFTI OF JERUSALEM in the building of the Great Council on the Esplanade of the Mosques. Discourse of the Holy Father
Shortly before the Romans came to haul him away, Jesus Christ predicted that Peter would deny him three times before the cock crowed twice. After the Roman’s seized Jesus, Peter followed him at a distant to the high priest’s courtyard.
One of the high priest’s maids came along. Seeing Peter warming himself, she looked intently at him and said, “You too were with the Nazarene, Jesus.” But he denied it, saying,” I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” So he went out into the outer court. Then the cock crowed. [for the first time] (Mark 14:66-68)
So Pope Francis comes to Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior last preached. He goes to the Mount where both of the Jewish Temples once stood. The Temples that are mentioned many, many times in both the Old and New Testaments, places of enormous significance in Christian theology. It was a pilgrimage to the Temple that brought Jesus Christ to Jerusalem that fateful Passover.
“Temple Mount?” says the Pope. “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about. I am up here on the Esplanade of the Mosques, schmoozing with the Grand Mufti.”
Political correctness is one thing; denying that you are a follower of Jesus Christ is another. For the Pope, the world’s most conspicuous Christian, to deny the Temple is beneath contempt. What is next? Calling his pilgrimage to Jerusalem a visit to Al Quds?
Peter, in whose footsteps the Pope follows, had ample reason to fear for his own physical safety. What does Pope Francis fear?
Arabs are politicizing this trip to the hilt.
Jordanian papers made a big deal over the Pope visiting the Jordan River from the Jordanian side, claiming that this proves that this was the side Jesus used.
Honest Reporting notes that the PLO staged a photo-op of Francis in front of a mural of baby Jesus swathed in a Palestinian keffiyeh - an article of clothing that Palestinian Arabs openly admit is used symbolically to promote nationalism and "resistance."
Fox News reports:
Jordanian papers made a big deal over the Pope visiting the Jordan River from the Jordanian side, claiming that this proves that this was the side Jesus used.
Honest Reporting notes that the PLO staged a photo-op of Francis in front of a mural of baby Jesus swathed in a Palestinian keffiyeh - an article of clothing that Palestinian Arabs openly admit is used symbolically to promote nationalism and "resistance."
Fox News reports:
Palestinian officials have hailed Francis' decision to arrive first in Bethlehem, rather than Tel Aviv, and to refer to the "state of Palestine." In its official program, the Vatican referred to Abbas as the president of the "state of Palestine," and his Bethlehem office as the "presidential palace."
"The fact that he is coming straight from Jordan to Bethlehem, without going through Israel," is a tacit recognition of a Palestinian state, said Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian Christian who is a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The PLO managed to get the Pope to pray at the separation barrier along with graffiti that says "Pope we need to speak about justice. Bethlehem look like Warsaw Ghetto".
