Pope Francis, a vaccine advocate himself who has found ways to absolve Catholics from guilt for receiving vaccines developed with aborted fetuses, took a stand against traditionalism and in favor of progressive politics in a call for the Catholic Church to become an “open place where everyone feels welcome.”
His statements were marred by ongoing protests happening in Rome against the COVID-19 vaccine passport the Italian government recently imposed, known in the country as the “green pass.”
In Italy, those without proof of vaccination have been barred from indoor dining, museums, gyms, and other normal parts of public life for some time, but the vaccine passport program recently intensified. Now, Italians who resist becoming vaccinated will have their pay deducted, and soon Italians who refuse to become vaccinated will be barred from places of employment.
According to Jules Gomes of Church Militant, Pope Francis “kicked off his much-talked-up 2021-2023 Synod on Synodality” by attacking traditionalist Catholics and calling for the Church to embrace the contemporary “zeitgeist” and allow the Church to become “an open place, where everyone feels at home and can participate.”
At the same time, Gomes notes, Italy has been embroiled in protests over vaccine passports for months with no end in sight, and the government is growing increasingly harsh in its treatment of the protesters. As the Pope was preparing his remarks, “Italian police attacked mostly peaceful demonstrators” armed with “water cannons, tear gas and batons.”
Francis has “displayed no support for the workers’ protests” as the vaccine passport deadline making vaccination required to enter workplaces draws near, reports Church militant.
Interpellation brutale d'un manifestant lors de la manifestation à Rome. Un policier en civil est filmé en train de donner plusieurs coups de poing et un viol*nt coup de pied à un manifestant au sol. #NoGreenPass #manifs9octobre pic.twitter.com/lU5cgcJ4pm
— Anonyme Citoyen (@AnonymeCitoyen) October 10, 2021
The crowd of Romans numbered at over 100,000. The government has described those who refuse the vaccine and joined the protests as being “extreme right-wing” and “fascists.”
One author told Gomes, “The children ask the Holy Father for bread; he gives them a snake” and decried the Pope for his political connections.
Francis “accompanies baby killers like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi,” the author added, before charging that the Pontiff “is unable to discern the diren call of Big Pharma killing hundreds of thousands through the experimental vaccine”.
The ongoing protests have already caused at least one diplomatic faux pas for Italy. When U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended mass in the country last weekend, she was forced to flee before it was over after vaccine passport protests intensified in the area of the church. Pelosi was also reportedly heckled at the church, though this was later denied.
ROME—@SpeakerPelosi reportedly heckled at St Patrick’s Catholic American Parish, in Rome, causing her to abruptly leave the Mass she was attending.
Paulist Fr. Steven Petroff, rector of St. Patrick's, addresses the alleged “security incident”, causing the Speaker to leave. pic.twitter.com/IxBlfiBAMp
— Bree A Dail (@breeadail) October 9, 2021
As National File previously reported, Pelosi and her husband Paul Pelosi Sr. met with Francis at the Vatican City. According to the Catholic News Agency, “At the time of publication, the Vatican had released no information about what the pope and Pelosi discussed, in line with its usual custom for papal meetings with non-heads of state.”
