Bill Donohue comments on last night’s edition of “Hannity”:
The subject of a discussion on “Hannity” last night was the Trump-Pope feud, a controversy set in motion by a dishonest reporter from Reuters: in a classic red-herring scam, he misrepresented Trump’s position on immigration, and then asked the pope to comment on it.
The way Sean reacted to the exchange was bizarre. Worse still was his guest, Rev. Robert Jeffress. Indeed, the only person who made any sense was Father Robert Sirico.
Sean’s dislike of Pope Francis is obvious, but the fact that he could not contain his anger without veering off about priestly sexual abuse does not speak well for him. That he went off the rails is indisputable.
Sean’s biggest mistake was inviting an anti-Catholic bigot, Rev. Jeffress, to comment on the pope.
In 2010, Jeffress said the Roman Catholic Church was the outgrowth of a “corruption” called the “Babylonian mystery.” Then he got really dirty: “Much of what you see in the Catholic Church today doesn’t come from God’s word. It comes from that cult-like pagan religion. Isn’t this the genius of Satan?”
Given this man’s pedigree, it was hardly surprising to hear him say last night that “the pope needs to ask for Donald Trump’s forgiveness for saying such an outlandish thing.” Wrong, Reverend: It is you who needs to ask for forgiveness for calling the Catholic Church the voice of Satan.
In 2011, I criticized presidential hopeful Gov. Rick Perry for inviting Jeffress to introduce him at a D.C. conference. Perry handled it well: after I blasted Jeffress on “Hardball,” Perry called me at home expressing his regrets for inviting the Dallas minister. That settled the issue.
Hannity should similarly settle this issue by not inviting this bigot to opine about the pope ever again, even if he is a Fox News Contributor.
