“[I]f you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” – Jesus Christ, Luke 22:36
Reuters reports that last Sunday, June 21, 2015, at a rally of thousands of young people at the end of the first day of his trip to the city of Turin, Pope Francis declared that anyone who makes weapons or invests in weapons industries is a hypocrite if they call themselves Christian.
Putting aside his prepared address, Francis told the young people in a long, rambling talk about war, trust and politics that “If you trust only men, you have lost. It makes me think of … people, managers, businessmen who call themselves Christian and they manufacture weapons. That leads to a bit a distrust, doesn’t it? Duplicity is the currency of today … they say one thing and do another.”
The dictionary defines “duplicity” as “dishonest, deceitful behavior that is intended to trick someone.”
In effect, Pope Francis is calling gun manufacturers who are Christian dishonest and deceitful and unworthy of being Christians.
Even the manufacturers of the guns used by the Swiss Guards (the pope’s personal body guards) and by the Pontifical Gendarmerie (the police force of Vatican City)?
From Encyclopedia Britannica:
Swiss Guards, Italian Guardia Svizzera, corps of Swiss soldiers responsible for the safety of the pope. Often called “the world’s smallest army,” they serve as personal escorts to the pontiff and as watchmen forVatican City and the pontifical villa of Castel Gandolfo…. While in traditional dress, the guards carry pikes and swords, but they are also trained in the use of modern weaponry and counterterrorism techniques….
The Swiss Guards are sometimes referred to as the Vatican City police, but a separately administered police force [Pontifical Gendarmerie] is charged with the overall security of the nation-state (except St. Peter’s Square, which is under the jurisdiction of the Italian police).
According to Wikipedia, the Swiss Guards are equipped with traditional arms of sword, command baton, partisan, halberd, flamberge and cuirass, and with modern arms of SIG P220 pistol (see below), Glock 19, Steyr TMP, Heckler & Koch MP5A3, Heckler & Koch MP7A1, SIG SG 550, and SIG SG 552.
This is what the Vatican says about the Pontifical Gendarmerie:
[O]n 16 July 2002 His Holiness Pope John Paul II issued a new law (n. CCCLXXXIV) concerning the Government of Vatican City State that established a Directorate for Security Services and Civil Defence, which is headed by the Chiefs of the Corps of Gendarmes and of the Fire Brigade. This law assigns to the Corps of Gendarmes general responsibility for security and public order which encompasses all regular police duties, including border control, crime prevention and investigation, and enforcement of financial and commercial regulations.
This is what Wikipedia says about the Pontifical Gendarmerie or the Corps of Gendarmerie:
The corps is responsible for security, public order, border control, traffic control, criminal investigation, and other general police duties in Vatican City…. The Vatican Gendarmerie includes two special units, the Rapid Intervention Group (Italian: Gruppo Intervento Rapido; G.I.R.) and an anti-sabotage unit (Italian: Unità Antisabotaggio).
While the protection of the Pope’s person is primarily the Swiss Guard’s responsibility, the gendarmes ensure public order at the audiences, meetings and ceremonies at which he is present….
The Gendarmerie is equipped with the Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol in 9 mm Parabellum as the standard issue weapon.
They also have more powerful weapons, such as the Beretta M12 and the Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine gun, a weapon also used by the Italian police. Against possible riots, they are supplied with batons, pepper sprays and tear gas. For the elite-unit Rapid Intervention Group (GIR), members are equipped with the Carbon 15 carbine and Heckler & Koch FABARM FP6 shotguns.
You want to see a hypocrite, Pope Francis? I suggest you look in the mirror.
H/t Clash Daily
See also:
- Pope Francis calls for a new global authority to combat ‘climate change’
- UK Telegraph: Pope Francis is delusional about climate change
~Éowyn
