What's Italian For "Butt Out"?

Vatican City, Jan 9, 2021 / 09:51 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis has said he was surprised by the news of the incursion of pro-Donald Trump protestors into the U.S. Capitol Building this week, and has encouraged people to learn from the event in order to heal.

“I was astonished, because they are a people so disciplined in democracy, right? But it’s a reality,” the pope said in a video clip published to the website of the Italian news program TgCom24 on Jan. 9.

“Something isn’t working,” Francis continued. With “people taking a path against the community, against democracy, against the common good. Thanks be to God that this has broken out and there was a chance to see it well so that now you can try and heal it. Yes, this must be condemned, this movement…”

 

 

Set the Way-Back Machine to 2019!

Pope Francis defended the Black Lives Matter protests that unfolded in the wake of George Floyd’s death while denouncing those protesting the COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.

In a new book, “Let Us Dream,” the Roman pontiff decried police brutality as an affront to human dignity and encouraged people to march in opposition.

 “Abuse is a gross violation of human dignity that we cannot allow and which we must continue to struggle against,” he wrote, as reported by Fox News.

Regarding the protests against the COVID-19 lockdowns in Europe and elsewhere, Pope Francis said the people were striking against “measures that governments must impose for the good of their people constitute some kind of political assault on autonomy or personal freedom!”

The Holy Father got even more direct by comparing the two groups of people, failing to note that the Black Lives Matter protests gave way to riots and looting in the streets. Anti-lockdown protests do not appear to sparked similar widespread violence, at least in the United States.