Republicans successfully purged moderates from their party by saying that they were RINO — Republicans in Name Only. But now we are seeing something truly amazing — conservatives who profess to be Catholics attacking Pope Francis and calling him names, because he issued a papal encyclical on climate change that calls on us to reject rampant greed and treat our God-given planet with more respect. How dare he!
My favorite, although almost incomprehensible, comes from professional political candidate Alan Keyes, who while claiming to be a Catholic, attacks the the Pope, saying that he looks more like Marx, Stalin, or Mao Zedong, and claims that Francis is exploiting the issue of man-made climate change as “an excuse to advance a totalitarian agenda for the use or abuse of government power throughout the world.” Keyes goes on to repeat the misinformation about climate change that “the facts have not been thus established. In fact much that has come to light supports the view that scientific data were purposely skewed to support a conclusion contrary to fact.” The best part (hold on tight) is “But if the climate change allegations against humanity are unproven, the whole push for totalitarian government remediation of the allegedly terrible damage we are inflicting on God’s creation is a slander against the human race, a sin against humanity being committed as a pretext for the rape of human life, human conscience and God-endowed human liberty.” Wow.
The right-wing noise machine was even worse. Rush Limbaugh says that the encyclical “seems to confirm” that Pope Francis is a “Marxist”. He also called the encyclical “The Pope’s Leaked Marxist Climate Rant”.
Michael Savage was even blunter, saying “The Pope is a Marxist. I stand by those words. He is a wolf in pope’s clothing, he is an eco-wolf in pope’s clothing. He is a stealth Marxist in religious garb.” He also said “He sounds like the false prophet in revelation … directing mankind to worship the Antichrist.”
Fox Business News warned that Pope Francis and President Obama are forming “a policy alliance” and are “a powerful force, a very powerful force, pushing left.” He then asked: “Will Francis and Barack reshape the world by taxing the rich, taxing fossil fuels, and redistributing the wealth? That’s exactly what they are trying to do.”
Have any of these people calling the Pope a Marxist read anything in the Bible about Jesus Christ?
And of course, Republican presidential candidates are getting into the act. Jeb Bush, who also claims to be Catholic, suggested that the Pope should butt out of political issues. Rick Santorum, a self-professed devout Catholic, slammed Pope Francis for getting “involved with controversial political and scientific theories.” (Santorum, of course, doesn’t mind making religious issues like gay rights into political issues).
The “religious right” has shown their true colors. They worship only money and greed.
