Althouse: If you think his meeting with Bernie Sanders represents involvement in politics, the Pope thinks you need a psychiatrist.

April 16, 2016

If you think his meeting with Bernie Sanders represents involvement in politics, the Pope thinks you need a psychiatrist.

“This is called good manners, and it is not getting involved in politics. If someone thinks that greeting someone means getting involved in politics, I recommend that he find a psychiatrist."

49 comments:

Saint Croix said...: Maybe he's trying to convert him! That would be awesome.; 4/16/16, 2:37 PM
CarlF said...: Why would the Pope try to convert Sanders to Marxism? Sanders already believes.; 4/16/16, 2:39 PM
Saint Croix said...: Bernie is thinking, "we're just a couple of socialists plotting world domination," and Francis is all, "have you heard about Jesus who died for our sins?"; 4/16/16, 2:40 PM
damikesc said...: Yes, a Pope meeting with a non-Catholic who happens to agree with him politically. Why would anybody see something more than a simple meeting in that?; 4/16/16, 2:49 PM
Saint Croix said...: Between Franklin Graham endorsing Little Baby Satan and Pope Francis meeting with Angry Grandpa, It's like a Christian tag team cage match.; 4/16/16, 2:51 PM
traditionalguy said...: FranciS is just pulling our Gringo leg. He very much sees his role as The Pontafex Maximus sent here by Jesus's Momma to build bridges that connect the Empire sitting in Rome to its past, present and future provinces.

Since Papa Francis ascribes to the modernists gospels of Marx and of Climate Hoax CO2 Pollution as tools to further his Rule on earth, he likes Commissar Bernard as much as he admires Fidel Castro.; 4/16/16, 2:52 PM
Michael Fitzgerald said...: What a snarky dick this pope is. Obama with a crucifix.; 4/16/16, 2:59 PM
Michael K said...: "Why would the Pope try to convert Sanders to Marxism? Sanders already believes."

Absolutely. Thanks for a chuckle.; 4/16/16, 3:24 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: Sanders was lucky this Pope is a pussy. Real Popes burn Jews at the stake.; 4/16/16, 3:24 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I thought it was weird of the Pope to go with the get-psychiatric-help reaction. I would have thought of him as more of a get-religion type guy.; 4/16/16, 3:25 PM
Saint Croix said...: I like the snark! It's funny when a Pope tells a secular audience to go to a psychiatrist. It's humble snark! Instead of saying, "get thee to church!" he is saying "go to a psychiatrist, I don't think I can help you."; 4/16/16, 3:25 PM
Unknown said...: If someone thinks meeting with a politician - even secretly, which this was not - is ever not a political act he may be a bit naive. More likely self serving describes the assertion. I find a priest recommending psychiatry amusing.; 4/16/16, 3:39 PM
The Godfather said...: So does this mean Bernie was trying to use the Pope for political advantage? How will that fly with the Catholic voters of New York? Or the Jewish voters, for that matter?; 4/16/16, 3:41 PM
rehajm said...: Yah, this pope's a dick. Suggesting people are mentally ill? Lots of hail marys and our fathers for you...; 4/16/16, 3:45 PM
mccullough said...: Maybe they discussed Milton Friedman and how they have no idea what Friedman wrote about; 4/16/16, 3:58 PM
Michael K said...: " I thought it was weird of the Pope to go with the get-psychiatric-help reaction."

Very few modern priests, even in Argentina, have not been seeing psychiatrists. The guy I was once in practice with was very involved in the Church and was always getting requests for "Catholic psychiatrists."; 4/16/16, 4:01 PM
Mary Beth said...: If it's not political, does that mean the Pope will politely meet with anyone who asks?; 4/16/16, 4:02 PM
sunsong said...: Sanders meets with Pope; 4/16/16, 4:02 PM
Saint Croix said...: Real Popes burn Jews at the stake.

You can read about the Inquisition here. What's notable to me about the Inquisition is that you often had Christians killing Christians (and Jews and Muslims and atheists). My favorite Christian movie is about this subject.

Of course the crucifixion of Jesus is similar! Jews are killing Jews. The anger at Jesus was because the Jews believed that he had violated Jewish laws and offended God. Note that Christians refer to the event as Good Friday, and celebrate it. If you are a Christian, you have no anger about the death of Jesus whatsoever. Nor should there be any guilt or feelings of guilt. As Jesus said, "I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again."

I have a theory that the Nazi Holocaust was a product of religious mania. Adolf Hitler rejected Christ. He rejected the idea that Jesus is our savior, that he is the way and the path to God. And yet simultaneously Hitler believed that the Jews would give birth to a messiah. So he wanted to murder all the Jews in order to stop the arrival of a messiah. His desire to kill the Jews was a desire to stop God.

I think of 93 million who were murdered by the Communists as a product of a secular mania. They had no regard for religion, no thought of religion. They weren't angry at God or trying to stop God. They had no belief in God, no regard for God whatsoever.

The devil has many forms!; 4/16/16, 4:07 PM
Fabi said...: Pope Che can kiss my ass.; 4/16/16, 4:11 PM
Sebastian said...: "I thought it was weird of the Pope to go with the get-psychiatric-help reaction. I would have thought of him as more of a get-religion type guy" Huh? Not this Pope. Quite a come-down after Wojtyla and Ratzinger. The Sankt Gallen mafia won. Remains to be seen if it is a pyrrhic victory.; 4/16/16, 4:14 PM
walter said...: Link was dead..divine intervention?

Maybe Sanders is recruiting Pope "punch them in the nose" Francis to be his muscle.; 4/16/16, 4:15 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: The Pope's speech on immigration in front of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, using the lectern used by Lincoln at Gettysburg, proved that the Pope most definitely wants to interject himself into American politics. Strange seeing a pope using a "you must be crazy" line, so juvenile.

BTW, Sanders is going for the anti-Jewish vote, in case there is any confusion. I saw the comments over at Huffington Post regarding Sanders's recent remarks about Palestinians. The most horrific anti-semitic rants you can imagine.; 4/16/16, 4:27 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Althouse says "meeting," but the article says "greeting." There is a difference. I'm unfortunately unsure which this is.; 4/16/16, 4:52 PM
Lydia said...: The article also says: "Sachs [one of Sanders' advisors] said Sanders and his wife Jane met the pope in the foyer of the domus [the Domus Santa Marta hotel in the Vatican gardens] as the pope was leaving for Greece. The meeting lasted for about five minutes, Sachs said."

Sounds like more of a greeting than a meeting to me.; 4/16/16, 5:01 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Althouse says "meeting," but the article says "greeting." There is a difference. I'm unfortunately unsure which this is."

The headline says "meeting."

It was short. 5 minutes.; 4/16/16, 5:05 PM
Anonymous said...: I'd like to be a fly on the wall when Francis has his polite meeting with Donald Trump.; 4/16/16, 5:16 PM
Michael said...: Two clueless lefties. This pope is steeped in the same moldy sauce as the Bernie. Liberation theology with marxist spice.; 4/16/16, 5:30 PM
Curious George said...: Dear Pope:

Fuck you.; 4/16/16, 5:36 PM
tim maguire said...: The past couple popes were smart enought, but we sometimes wondered if they cared enough. The current pope cares enough, but we sometimes wonder if he's smart enough.

The most powerful country in the world is led by a man who doesn't understand what it means to be president, why shouldn't the largest religious sect in the world be led by a man who doesn't understand what it means to be pope?

Pope Francis is a jerk.; 4/16/16, 5:53 PM
tim maguire said...: Blogger Saint Croix said...
I like the snark! It's funny when a Pope tells a secular audience to go to a psychiatrist. It's humble snark! Instead of saying, "get thee to church.

Did Pope Francis agree to let you put words in his mouth?; 4/16/16, 5:55 PM
Fabi said...: @Miriam -- Spoken like a true Catholic. Screw you and the pope you rode in on.; 4/16/16, 6:17 PM
Michael K said...: "Quite a come-down after Wojtyla and Ratzinger. "

I still would like to know what happened to Ratzinger.

Too bad Malachi Martin is gone. Eventually he would tell us in one of his novels. They were fascinating. He was a fascinating writer.

This book, which is not fiction, confirmed much of what Martin wrote in his novels.; 4/16/16, 6:28 PM
Fabi said...: @Miriam -- Thanks for the free advice. I always hold a one iron during thunderstorms -- even God can't hit a one iron.; 4/16/16, 7:04 PM
Saint Croix said...: "He's the VIcar of Christ. He's the chief. I don't run down the pope. I think he's absolutely right."

Antonin Scalia on Pope Francis.; 4/16/16, 7:06 PM
Jason said...: Francis probably noticed loads of American libtards running with the meeting and trying to make political hay out of it. It was time to pop the little bubble they were inflating.; 4/16/16, 7:18 PM
Dr Weevil said...: Maybe the Pope was pulling his punches out of politeness. Suggesting that someone see a psychiatrist is a lot nicer (if less Catholic) than offering to send an exorcist.; 4/16/16, 7:20 PM
Fabi said...: I forget my conjugations -- is it smit, smite, smote? "Miriam done smoted me to Hell!"; 4/16/16, 7:33 PM
Saint Croix said...: BTW, Sanders is going for the anti-Jewish vote, in case there is any confusion. I saw the comments over at Huffington Post regarding Sanders's recent remarks about Palestinians. The most horrific anti-semitic rants you can imagine.

Is Sanders an anti-Zionist? More here.; 4/16/16, 7:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Sanders is losing me, his over the top anger and now using the Pope to further his political aspirations is off putting.; 4/16/16, 7:53 PM
cubanbob said...: Poor Amanda. Sanders is losing her. Soon she will be reduced to supporting the other Democrat-Communist: the felonious traitor.; 4/16/16, 8:41 PM
Anonymous said...: The remark stands out more for the rudeness involved in suggesting we need a psychologist if something is seen in this other than common courtesy.

Normally, I would be disinclined to believe this meeting wasn't arranged, but the details provided on the Crux website seem to indicate that at least on the Pope's part, it was an unplanned encounter.

Sanders seems to have been able to take advantage of the fact that this Pope lives in a building that functions as a hotel within the Vatican and almost all of the participants at the conference Sanders was attending were also lodged in the same building. All he had to do to get this encounter was be present as the Pope was leaving Saturday, and presumably the Sanders staff was competent enough to tell him when and where to be to get his greeting/meeting.; 4/16/16, 9:05 PM
Theranter said...: OMG. In the Fox article: "Jeffrey Sachs, a Sanders foreign policy adviser...."

He's Sander's advisor?

There was major controversy over Sander's "invite" (still not clear if he invited himself, Vatican said no (stating that would be against protocol) then there was infighting over whom invited him, then it looked like they made an official one up...regardless, what is obvious now is the Sachs connection-- Sachs and 'Pope' Francis (an insane Marxist pseudo-Protestant) are very, very tight--Sachs, the population control freak, helped Francis write his global warming manifesto "Laudito Si" OMG--THAT's how Sander's finagled this! (Sachs also had a presentation at this Conference.)

Even yesterday it was vehemently denied that Francis would meet Sander's, he was supposedly still on the Greece gig. (I guess Francis had to get those twelve Muslim refugees back sooner than planned.); 4/16/16, 9:18 PM
Etienne said...: What a lot of people don't realize, is that Senators can go over to Andrews AFB, and take a 757 anywhere they want. The Air Force flies them for free.

So 757 round-trip, 5 minutes with the Pooper, and ka-ching - $200 grand...; 4/16/16, 9:54 PM
Gahrie said...: Sanders appears to be almost as ashamed for being a Jew as he does for being a Democrat.; 4/16/16, 10:19 PM
M Jordan said...: Sanders isn't considered a true Jew by many Jews. As one Jewish leader put it, "He's Jew-ish."; 4/16/16, 11:26 PM
whitney said...: The pope seems to be a classic narcissist. He does something with a clear intent and then when he is asked about it he says the other person is crazy.; 4/17/16, 7:32 AM
MayBee said...: So weird.

Of course it was political, as was his response to Donald Trump. Why be dishonest and accusatory about it? He's the Pope! He shouldn't be making people think they are mentally ill for coming to a very obvious conclusion!; 4/17/16, 7:37 AM
RBE said...: I am amazed how some of the usually anti-religion folks have latched on to this Pope...funny. Look up Ann Barnhardt's blog and read what she says about the Pope and his inner circle. I'm not Catholic but I find her writings very interesting.; 4/17/16, 8:12 AM