VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis is urging Christians to work together to abolish every form of torture, condemning the practice as a grave sin.
Francis told the public in St. Peter’s Square Sunday he wanted to reiterate his “firm condemnation of every kind of torture.” He sought united efforts to work for torture’s end and to support victims and their families.
Francis said it was a “mortal sin, a very grave sin, to torture people” and noted that Thursday marks the United Nation’s day for torture victims.
Torture was a powerful tool of the military regime ruling his native Argentina from 1976 till 1983. The local church hierarchy then openly sided with the junta.
Francis has been credited with saving lives of political dissidents while a Jesuit priest in Argentina.
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This pope is not just Catholic, he’s a Christian. And let me say this to our friendly neighborhood trolls—thinking torture is ever justified is one of the most vile and loathsome positions you can take in your moral life. And it is always counterproductive. God damn Bush and Cheney to hell for staining our nation with it, and if you think otherwise then God damn you.
Oh, but what if there’s a ticking time bomb in an orphanage run by saints, and you have only minutes to find out where it is, and blah, blah, blah, blah…
You’re being facetious, of course, but that actually happened one time. There was this plot going on and they told the president just over a month before it happened. If he’d taken it seriously and asked for coordinated conventional intelligence work he might have stopped it. He could at least have tried. But he said “All right, you’ve covered your ass, now,” because he was basically a snotty obnoxious rich boy. Then the fucking bastard took the rest of the day off and went fishing. They did the torturing after the bomb had already gone off. True story. Funny thing is a lot of people thought this guy should be president because of his oft-professed Christianity. Anyway, don’t get me started. I don’t have much patience or humor about torture. Pet peeve, you might say.
Perhaps he should shorten the Mass . . . . .
If Frank is really serious about ending torture, I have a list of reality shows that need to GO.