For these working stiffs, ambivalence rather than amore from the Pope
- Apr 18, 2021
ROSARIO, Argentina — When history books look back on how the Catholic Church experienced Christmas 2020, no matter where that history is written, inevitably the COVID-19 pandemic will loom large. In Rome and around the world, bishops and other Catholic leaders called for vaccines to be made available to poor
Progress in passing a bill that would legalize euthanasia in Spain signals a failure of morality and of the government’s mandate to protect the life of its citizens, the country’s bishops said.
Despite restrictions on hate speech on social media in Spain, a trending hashtag calling for Catholic priests to be burned alive was not removed for violating rules against posting calls for violence.
Spain’s Catholic bishops warned of a “deep wound” left by rising inequality and moral collapse during the COVID-19 crisis, as churches across Europe also cited plummeting incomes and deteriorating conditions.
As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops holding a virtual fall assembly, the bishops of Spain are also holding their fall gathering.
In Spain, the situation of low income people has been worse than in much of Europe during the COVID-19 crisis due to the big role of hard-hit industries like tourism and weaker social welfare benefits.
If concern about being seen as partisan close to an election were actually as strong as the Vatican often likes to say, would it have been so hard to wait a few days to give a thumbs-up to a book or to name a new crop of cardinals?