This article by Bill Donohue was originally published by Newsmax on September 28, 2015.
What do Ann Coulter and the Westboro Baptist Church have in common? Both are obscene anti-Catholics. Indeed, they are the worst of Pope Francis’ vile critics to emerge during his visit to the United States.
Coulter tweeted last week that the Catholic Church was “largely built by pedophiles.” This is the kind of comment we might expect from the likes of Bill Maher.
No wonder these two bigots are best of friends. Coulter also tweeted, “I’m an American and this is why our founders (not ‘immigrants’) distrusted Catholics and wouldn’t make them citizens.”
If she doesn’t already belong to the Klan, they would love to have her.
“The Pope is a Lying Whore.” That’s the way the maniacs at the Westboro Baptist Church greeted the Pope. A few protesters from this group showed up in Philadelphia with signs that read, “Pervert Pope Francis.”
Predictably, Coulter’s buddy couldn’t resist insulting the Pope on his weekly HBO show. “The Pope said the one regret he had was he didn’t go inside the Statue of Liberty because it would be nice to say that, for once in his life, he spent some time inside of a woman.” Vintage Maher.
Freedom From Religion Foundation loves abortion and hates the Catholic Church, so it was fitting that it spent over $200,000 in full-page ads condemning the church.
Sounding like 19th century nativists, the atheists sounded the alarms in last Thursday’s New York Times warning us of “A Dangerous Mix.” What was so scary? The Pope’s speech before the Congress. On the same day, in the Washington Post, the same crazies blasted the Congress for inviting the leader of the “aggressively homophobic, patriarchal and undemocratic religion.”
The microphone was hot when CNN picked up a rant by a violent woman who threatened to throw her shoe at the Pope’s head.
Violence was more than threatened when vandals wrote “Saint of Genocide” on a headstone at the Carmel Mission in California where Saint Junipero Serra is buried.
They poured green paint on a statue of this champion of human rights (the Pope canonized Father Serra last week), smashing headstones with blood-red paint; only the headstones of people of European descent were targeted by the racists.
They were encouraged by people such as Randy S. Woodley, a professor with little credentials who teaches at a “Christian” school in Oregon: without a scintilla of evidence, this “Intercultural” guru blamed Serra for torturing Indians. Pity his students.
Alex Jones is known for dabbling in conspiracies, so it came as no surprise that this radio talk-show genius would accuse the Pope of hiring mercenaries to shield him from immigrants.
Meanwhile, the deep-thinkers at Charisma News were raising the question, “Why so Many People Think Pope Francis is the Antichrist?” Similarly, some guy named Tom Horn showed up on the online “Jim Bakker Show” wondering whether the Pope is “demonically inspired.”
George Will showcased his brilliance on all matters Catholic when he lambasted the Pope for allegedly standing “against modernity, rationality, science and, ultimately . . . open societies.”
Someone should ask Will if he knows which institution gave us the first universities, the Age of Science, and the world’s greatest music and art, just for starters.
Judge Andrew Napolitano went off the rails when he accused the Pope of changing the church’s long-standing teaching that abortion is murder. He is factually wrong — nothing of the sort ever happened. Worse, he throws dirt at the Pope by branding him a “false prophet”; this is the kind of lunacy we are accustomed to hearing from those in the academy or the asylum.
To top things off, Daily Kos writer Frank Cocozzelli is so upset with me for not criticizing the normally level-headed judge that he incorrectly attributes to me words written by Napolitano.
Many notable conservatives were critical of the Pope’s previous remarks on capitalism and income inequality. Disagreeing with the Pope is entirely acceptable, which is why such commentary merits no attention in this article.
I only wish they listened more attentively to what Pope Francis said in the United States, instead of relying on his past, admittedly controversial, remarks. For example, in his address before the Congress, the pope called business a “noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world.” That’s a far cry from his previous, Bernie Sanders-type, comments.
Pope Francis is open to fair criticism, but when facts are distorted, they need to be corrected. Worse, the kind of rank anti-Catholicism voiced by Coulter cannot go unchallenged. It’s about time conservatives called her out for her hate speech.
Dr. William Donohue is the president of and CEO of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the nation’s largest Catholic civil rights organization. The publisher of the Catholic League journal, Catalyst, Bill is a former Bradley Resident Scholar at the Heritage Foundation and served for two decades on the board of directors of the National Association of Scholars. The author of six books, two on the ACLU, and the winner of several teaching awards and many awards from the Catholic community, Donohue has appeared on thousands of television and radio shows speaking on civil liberties and social issues. Read more reports from Bill Donohue — Click Here Now.
