Bill Donohue comments on the reaction to Pope Francis’ meeting with Kim Davis:

The Catholic and secular Left are beside themselves. They thought they owned the pope, and now they are in a state of disbelief. If they don’t get what they want at the Synod next month, watch for them to turn on him with a vengeance.

Charles P. Pierce at Esquire is calling the Holy Father’s meeting with Kim Davis “a sin against charity,” and the “dumbest thing this Pope has ever done.” Nice to know he acknowledges the existence of sin. But to say that it was “dumb” of the pope to meet with this heroine, or to characterize it as a “hamhanded blunder,” is to seriously misread Pope Francis. He is, after all, a real Catholic, not a “pretend Catholic” (the pope used this term this week to describe the Mayor of Rome, a gay marriage enthusiast).

Pierce is so despondent with the pope that he said the Davis meeting “undermines his pastoral message, and it diminishes his stature by involving him in a petty American political dispute. A secret meeting with a nutball?” It would be more accurate to say that the meeting elevates the pope’s stature with real Catholics. Not surprisingly, Pierce does not see calling Davis a “nutball” as “a sin against charity.”

Gay activist Michelangelo Signorile is ripping the pope as “a more sinister kind of politician,” one who “secretly supports hate.” Signorile has a reputation of being quite open about his brand of hate speech, so that may account for his aversion to secrets. It is driving him mad that the pope broke bread with this courageous woman, which is why he said the meeting “is only encouraging the bigots.” By “bigots” he means practically every man and woman who ever walked the face of the earth, up until the day before yesterday.

Bless the Holy Father for being so inclusive that he reached out to Kim Davis. If the “pretend Catholics” who consider themselves his base get nasty, they will be answered by the Catholic League.

Bill Donohue comments on two unscheduled meetings by Pope Francis when he came to the United States:

The pope made several impromptu stops and visits while in the United States: he hugged disabled children on the street; he visited orphanages; and he stopped by St. Joseph’s University. But beyond these pastoral gestures, he made two very important cultural statements: he visited the Little Sisters of the Poor and he greeted Kim Davis.

The Little Sisters of the Poor are suing the Obama administration for forcing them to sanction the distribution of abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plan. The pope’s visit was a clear rebuke of the heavy-handed tactics of the administration’s HHS mandate. Indeed, he encouraged the brave sisters to stand fast.

Now we have learned that the pope met privately with Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused, on religious grounds, to issue a marriage license to a gay couple. “Thank you for your courage. Stay strong.” These words by the pope need no interpretation. Moreover, his invocation of conscience rights as a fundamental human right can only be read as a statement against the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage.

To read my defense of Kim Davis, click here (the article appears in the October edition of our monthly journal, Catalyst).

These two unscheduled meetings by Pope Francis should convince everyone that he is an ardent advocate of life, religious liberty, and marriage (properly understood). He didn’t have to make himself available to the Little Sisters of the Poor or Kim Davis, but he did.

Kudos to Pope Francis.

Bill Donohue comments on Trevor Noah’s remarks made on “The Daily Show” last night:

Looks like Jon Stewart passed his obscene baton to Trevor Noah. The new host of “The Daily Show” picked up right where Stewart left off, using his first show to comment on the pope’s penis.

The offensive segment begins with a voice-over:

“After being greeted by the president, the vice president and an adoring crowd at Andrews Air Force Base, he [Pope Francis] was whisked away in a tiny Fiat dwarfed by the Secret Service vehicles surrounding him.”

This tees it up for Noah: “That’s a tiny car. Somebody’s compensating. I’m saying the pope has a huge c**k [bleep]. That was a joke. That is a joke. And what a waste.”

The real waste is Noah. Look for him to continue the Stewart legacy by giving a pass to Muslims (out of fear), African Americans and Jews (out of respect), homosexuals and illegal immigrants (out of political correctness), and all the others for whom it is taboo to mock in the entertainment industry.

If Noah had any guts, he would break the Stewart mold and choose new targets, but that would mean new writers. Even if he did, he’d still be stuck with those who have a genital fixation—it’s who these people are.

The real joke is that Noah and his fans think he’s creative. How much are they paying this guy?

Contact Steve Albani, Comedy Central Communications: steve.albani@cc.com

To read Bill Donohue’s latest Newsmax article about the vile attacks on the pope by Ann Coulter, Bill Maher, the Westboro Baptist Church, and others, click here.

Bill Donohue comments on the pope’s embrace of religious liberty:

Everywhere Pope Francis went he flagged religious liberty; it was his most consistent theme.

He opened his trip by addressing religious liberty at the White House, arguing that we are called “to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.” If there were any doubt about what he meant by those words, it was removed altogether when he made his unscheduled visit to the Little Sisters of the Poor later that day. That was a direct shot at the Obama administration’s HHS mandate.

The next day, on Thursday, he admonished the Congress of the necessity of “safeguarding religious freedom.” At the U.N. on Friday he emphasized “religious freedom” again, calling attention to “natural law.” He saved his most extensive remarks on this subject for Philadelphia.

On Saturday, Pope Francis spoke outside Independence Hall, summoning the crowd to embrace an expansive interpretation of our first freedom. “Religious liberty, by its nature,” he said, “transcends places of worship and the private sphere of individuals and families.” Thus did he shoot down the Obama administration’s position that we should be satisfied with freedom to worship. Similarly, the pope lashed out at attempts “to reduce it [religious freedom] to a subculture without the right to a voice in the public square….” He wants a full-throated exercise of religious expression, one that is not marginalized by secular elites.

Aboard the plane on his way home on Sunday, Pope Francis was asked about Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused, on religious grounds, to issue a marriage license to a gay couple. The pope was unaware of Ms. Davis, but not of the wider issue. He contended that “conscientious objection is a right—it is a human right.” He added that all human beings are entitled to human rights, including conscience rights.

We stand with Archbishop William Lori in commending the pope for his steadfast support of a robust understanding of religious liberty.

Bill Donohue comments on two stories from today’s New York Times:

Anyone can make a mistake, but when five reporters from the New York Times are assigned to one story, and they screw up the facts, it makes one wonder what is going on. The two principal writers, Jim Yardley and Laurie Goodstein (they were joined by three other reporters), commented on the pope’s unscheduled visit on Wednesday to the “Little Sisters of Charity.” Wrong. Pope Francis met with the Little Sisters of the Poor.

These same reporters said that the pope “never mentioned same-sex marriage” in his speeches yesterday in Philadelphia. Wrong again. Speaking about marriage, the pope cited the “unprecedented changes” that we are faced with, specifically warning about the “social, cultural—and sadly now juridical—effects on family bonds.”

What in the world do the Times reporters think he was talking about when he mentioned the “juridical” effects on the family? “Until recently,” the pope said, “we lived in a social context where the similarities between the civil institution of marriage and the Christian sacrament were considerable and shared. The two were interrelated and mutually supportive. This is no longer the case.” Is it not clear what he meant?

Goodstein, along with two other reporters, also wrote a skewed story about the homosexual scandal. “The scandal has hardly died down in the United States,” she writes. In fact, the scandal ended 30 years ago: most of the abuse took place between 1965 and 1985. She cites one gay priest today [as always, she does not identify him as gay, yet his victims were 14-year old males] who was recently convicted of abusing Honduran teenagers. She does not mention that in the last five years there have been 6.8 credible allegations made against approximately 40,000 priests. No institution has a better record than that. Nor does she mention that it is in the public schools and Orthodox Jewish community where the problem is most acute these days.

Contact NYT public editor, Margaret Sullivan: public@nytimes.com

Bill Donohue comments on Pope Francis’ speech before the U.N.:

In a wide-ranging speech before the United Nations General Assembly, Pope Francis’ central message was fraternity: the obligations that men and women have to each other, and to the environment.

Interestingly, he did not call for all nations in the international community to have an equal voice; rather, he emphasized equity, or fairness. Moreover, instead of calling upon nations to expand their powers, he called for them to exercise restraint. The “effective distribution of power,” and the creation of an impartial “juridical system for regulating claims and interests,” he said, “are one concrete way of limiting power.” That he said this to an assembly of potentates was something to relish.

Pope Francis spent much time exhorting the nations of the world not to abuse the environment, for when we do, the poor suffer the most. He graphically described their condition as a “culture of waste.”

Without mentioning Islam by name, he emphasized the right to education—”also for girls (excluded in certain places).” He also condemned radical Islam, without naming it, for Christian persecution in the Middle East and the disrespect for the rights of religious minorities.

The Holy Father’s condemnation of “the marketing of human organs and tissues” was an oblique shot at Planned Parenthood. By punctuating how “we recognize a moral law written into human nature itself, one that includes the natural difference between man and woman, and absolute respect for life in all its stages and dimensions,” he made clear his rejection of the conventional wisdom on this subject. Similarly, he railed against “an ideological colonization” which seeks to impose “anomalous models and lifestyles”; he called them “irresponsible.” This was a veiled shot at cohabitation and gay marriage.

The pope makes us proud. On to Philadelphia!

Bill Donohue comments as follows:

The Empire State Building will not light its towers tonight in honor of Pope Francis. Instead, it will acknowledge the opening night gala of the New York Philharmonic. In doing so, this decision by Anthony Malkin, the principal owner of the iconic building, shows his true colors once again: his disdain for Catholics is palpable.

Malkin is, of course, most known for stiffing Mother Teresa on the anniversary of her centenary. Now he’s stiffing Pope Francis and, by extension, all Catholics.

Malkin represents intolerance and disrespect for diversity. He is a disgrace to all New Yorkers.

Bill Donohue comments on Pope Francis’ first day in the U.S.:

The most significant thing about the pope’s first day in the United States was his unscheduled visit to the Little Sisters of the Poor. By embracing this order of nuns, Pope Francis laid down an unmistakable marker: He rejects efforts by the Obama administration to force Catholic nonprofit organizations to pay for, or even sanction, abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans.

Earlier in the day, Pope Francis spoke pointedly about the need to protect religious liberty. That he did so in the company of President Obama, at the White House, was critically important. The pope’s commitment to our first freedom was then underscored with his visit to the Little Sisters of the Poor.

I got a chance to meet the pope briefly following the prayer service at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. It was a moment I will never forget. Whatever Cardinal Donald Wuerl said to him as he introduced me must have struck a chord: the pope broke out into a radiant smile. Bernadette Brady-Egan, our vice president, was also thrilled to meet the Holy Father.

Of course, not everyone is pleased with the pope. From that preppy school-boy atheist George Will on the right, to the militant atheist Catholic-bashers at the Freedom From Religion Foundation on the left, cheap shots abound. And, of course, the professional victims’ advocates are cashing in on this historic trip. No matter, as we saw at the canonization Mass yesterday, those who love the pope represent the most diverse community on earth. Go Pope Francis!

Bill Donohue comments on Pope Francis’ remarks concerning religious freedom this morning at the White House:

Calling religious freedom “one of America’s most precious possessions,” Pope Francis this morning pointedly embraced the efforts of American Catholics, led by their bishops, to defend religious freedom against government encroachment.

The Holy Father spoke following President Obama’s welcoming address at the White House, in which the president detailed the horrific persecution of Christians and others in various parts of the world, and pledged to Pope Francis that “we stand with you in defense of religious freedom.” The President made no mention, however, of domestic attacks on religious freedom being perpetrated or supported by his own administration, such as the HHS mandate requiring religious entities to cover abortion-inducing drugs, or family-owned businesses being forced to participate in same­-sex wedding ceremonies in violation of their religious beliefs.

Pope Francis made clear that the protection of religious freedom is a vital concern to Catholics in America.

“With their fellow citizens,” he said, “American Catholics are committed to building a society which is truly tolerant and inclusive, to safeguarding the rights of individuals and communities, and to rejecting every form of unjust discrimination. With countless other people of good will,” he said, “they are likewise concerned that efforts to build a just and wisely ordered society respect their deepest concerns and their right to religious liberty. That freedom remains one of America’s most precious possessions. And, as my brothers, the United States Bishops, have reminded us, all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it.”

Pope Francis’ words are both a message to President Obama and a summons to action for Catholics in America, to stand up courageously whenever religious liberty is threatened—here at home as well as around the world.