For more than a century, the Canadian government was responsible for perpetuating horrendous abuses against native peoples who were unfortunate enough to be living in an area where a imperial colonialist power decided to set up shop. It was government policy for Indigenous children to be separated from their families, the without the permission of their parents or tribal elders, and them into what were known as residential schools: institutions predominantly run by the Catholic Church, along with a small handful of schools that were handled by Anglican, Presbyterian and United Church interests.
Once the kids were secured into these boarding schools, they were taught the 'right' way to live--right being in accordance to western culture. Were the incarcerated children to dare to speak their own language or act according to cultural norms outside of what their white caretakers felt was 'civilized,' they were met with severe corporal punishment. Mortality rates at the schools were high. So were instances of physical and emotional abuse. Children were often buried in unmarked graves or simply disappeared. Even after the last residential school closed in 1998, its legacy of hate and abuse remains.
In 2015, Canada finally confessed to its part in this long-running crime. The nation's Truth and Reconciliation Commission looked to the crimes of the residential school system, saying that they amounted to cultural genocide. The commission made 94 recommendations that it felt would go along ways towards righting the wrongs of the past. One those recommendations was that the Pope step forward and apologize for his church's role in the residential school system. Read the rest
Praying is boring and Pope Francis is sparing us some of the Catholic guilt for dozing off while prostrating ourselves before God.
The Pope admitted to occasionally sleeping on the job while he prays.
“When I go to pray, a few times I fall asleep,” he said during an interview for TV2000 published Tuesday. Pope Francis also cited St. Therese’s belief that God appreciates it when people fall asleep while praying.
The Guardian reports His Holiness gets around seven hours of sleep each night, along with a nap after lunch.
Image: Benhur Arcayan Read the rest
Pope Francis, according to ABC News, suggested that U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump is "not Christian" due to his building of symbolic walls rather than bridges.
The pope's strong dismissal of Trump was in response to measures Trump has proposed on the campaign trail, including building a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and deporting millions of undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S.
When asked by a reporter, "Can a good Catholic vote for this man?" Francis responded by saying, "Thank God he said I was a politician, because Aristotle defined the human person as 'animal politicus.' So at least I am a human person. As to whether I am a pawn -- well, maybe, I don't know. I'll leave that up to your judgment and that of the people… And then, a person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.
It's not quite as if he said, as some have reported, that Trump was not a Christian. But if ever it was obvious to all that Trump believes in little beyond his own vanity, look who it took to say it almost-plainly.
Update: This is purportedly Trump's response, but I'm genuinely confused about what reality is at this point.
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Where is your Cool Pope now, America? His PR game is undoubtedly on fleek, but he's still beholden to the same homophobic crap we know and love from the Catholic Church, the world's most powerful supporter of impunity for priestly pedophiles. Read the rest
Apparently the Pope, or one of his attachés, likes to put popsicles in mailboxes when they roll into town. The D.C. Post Office was prepared.
[via] Read the rest
The United Nations declared coca leaves an illegal substance in 1961, but Pope Francis told the government of Bolvia to break out the leaves when he arrives for a visit later this month - he plans to chew them. Coca leaves, which are the raw ingredient of cocaine, are legal in Bolivia for religious and medicinal purposes. It has mild stimulant qualities.
Bolivian Culture Minister Marko Machicao says visiting dignitaries are usually offered coca tea, but when he contacted the Vatican to discuss the tradition, the pontiff had "specifically requested" to chew coca leaves.
"We will be awaiting the Holy Father with the sacred coca leaf," Mr Machicao said.
Image: Shutterstock/Jess Kraft: "Coca leaves and cigarettes for sale in Potosi, Bolivia" and Shutterstock: "Pope Francis" Read the rest
