OPINION:
Pope Francis, from Vatican City, in the context of speaking about the coronavirus pandemic, called on the faithful of the world to rise up, unite and put a stop to all this “personal and collective individualism” that’s going on. Just stop it, he said. Just stop this “individualism” nonsense right now.
Well, we all knew this guy was a closet communist, right? Apparently, he’s coming out of the closet, dropping all pretense of tolerating nations’ sovereignties — nations’ rights to self-rule — and using the coronavirus pandemic as cause to call for an end to all that horrid American-esque individualism that’s been coursing around the world, interrupting globalist elitist plans to control and dominate and subjugate and so forth.
Just stop it, the pope says. Enough is enough.
“The pandemic,” Francis said, The Associated Press reported, “has revealed how vulnerable and interconnected we all are. … [It’s made us] more aware of th spread within our societies of a false, individualistic way of thinking, one that rejects human dignity and relationships, views persons as consumer goods and creates a ’throw-away’ culture.”
It’s high time we all “overcome our personal and collective individualism,” he went on.
Of course, as with all speeches the pope gives, the communist messaging comes couched in expressions of care and concern for the people. The world of COVID-19, he said, needs followers of the faith who will “look with care at our brothers and sisters, especially those who suffer” and who will see the “human dignity in every person, whatever their race, language or condition.”
That’s how the pope draws in the politically vulnerable — he smacks them with compassion, then kills them with communism. As if capitalists, for example, look with hate on those who suffer and refuse to see the inherent dignity of every person. As if only those who put aside their individualism for the greater good can properly care for their brothers and sisters in faith. What hogwash. What wickedness.
“Is Pope Francis a communist? Vatican editorial director Andrea Tornielli explains,” Novena News wrote in July of 2019, in a piece that painted the pope as simply someone who wants to end poverty and hunger.
“Top Vatican official says Americans misunderstand pope’s social agenda,” Crux, a website that covers the Catholic Church, wrote in May of 2019 — giving new meaning to the phrase “Christian apologetics,” by the way.
“Calling Pope Francis a communist is flat out wrong, according to one of his top advisors,” the Crux piece opened.
OK. We’ll play along. Communist, schmonunist. Leave the labels for the professional labelers.
But that doesn’t change the tone of this pope’s communist messaging. It doesn’t remove the collectivist stench from his cloak. It doesn’t dismiss the fact the pope is using the coronavirus to denounce individualism — to call on the world to “overcome” “individualism,” in all its “personal and collective” forms.
And that, no matter how it’s dressed, no matter how it’s pushed through the public relations channels, is outright un-American.
The pope, a supposed man of God, ought to reel in the politics and quit using the coronavirus pandemic as a tool that advances the designs of global elites. The coronavirus, even in the hands of Pope Francis, cannot be allowed to steal away the rugged individualism of the irrepressibly free.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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