Francis and the far-right: the Pope puts himself in the crosshairs of the left-wing

There are statements by Pope Francis that are incomprehensible, especially considering who is making them.

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Francis' criticism of the "far-right" and the "right"

On March 31, the Argentine outlet C5N published an interview by leftist journalist Gustavo Sylvestre with Pope Francis. The journalist asked some ideologically biased questions and the Pope gave in to that bias without hesitation. For example, at one point during the interview, Sylvestre asked: "Are you concerned about the progress of the far-right in the world? The Pope replied: "Always" , and added:

"The far-right is recomposing itself and, curiously, it is always recomposing itself because it is centripetal, it is not centrifugal, it does not create possibilities for reform outward. The right is always centripetal."

Sylvestre did not miss the opportunity to ask a new, clearly biased question: "And what would be the antidotes? Because we are seeing it getting closer?" Yielding once more to That bias, Francis answered: "Social justice. There is no other. In other words, if you want to argue with a politician, a far-right thinker, talk about social justice, talk horizontally." You can see that part of the interview at point 49:54 of this video, I have inserted it so that it starts at that moment (the video is in Spanish, you can activate the automatic subtitles in English in the bottom bar of the player):

Francis has not once cited the "far-left"

It is striking to hear a Pope speak in these terms, and specifically joining not only the leftist demonization of what he calls the "ultra-right", but also the "right" (note that in the answer goes from talking about the first to mentioning the second as if they were the same).

Let us remember that there are no longer far-right dictatorships in the world, but 1,556 million people live under communist dictatorships that persecute Christians because of their faith. We are talking about far-left regimes, but what worries Francis is the far-right. In fact, he has never used the term "far-left" since he became Pope.

The political bias of the official Vatican news service

The same bias can be seen in VaticanNews, the official Vatican news service: on its website there are four mentions of "ultradercha" (far-right) -all negative, and among them the one pronounced by the Pope in that interview- and nine mentions of "extrema derecha" (extreme right), but not a single one mention of "ultraizquierda" (far-left) and only one mention of "extrema izquierda" (extreme left).

The question is: what does Pope Francis understand by "far-right"? Judging by what he says in that interview, it would be the opposite of social justice. However, we must remember that groups that have been described as "far-right" oppose capitalism and call for social justice (such is the case of the Spanish Falange, an anti-capitalist party whose motto is "Homeland, Bread and Justice" ).

VaticanNews labeled a pro-life party as "fat-right"

If we refer to the aforementioned news service, in 2021 VaticanNews labeled Vox party as "extrema derecha" (extreme right) in a news item about the euthanasia law, a law that party rejected from a position of firm defense of human life in accordance with Catholic doctrine. Curiously, in that news item VaticanNews did not describe the other parties mentioned (the Socialist Party and the Popular Party). It is very striking to see an official Church media thus disqualifying a pro-life party in a debate on euthanasia.

The things that Francis says and that the left considers "far-right"

In January 2020 I reviewed here some things that the left has described as "far-right". It is curious to observe how Pope Francis defends some of those things:

• The defense of patriotism: April 6, 2019, in a speech to teachers and students, Francis stated: "One criticism I will make is the lack of patriotism. Patriotism is not just going to sing the national anthem or to pay homage to the flag: patriotism is belonging to a land, to a history, to a culture ... and this is identity. Identity means membership."
• The rejection of abortion: Francis has made many statements against this crime. For example, on April 11, 2014, in a speech to the Italian pro-life movement, he stated: "Let us remember the words of the Second Vatican Council: «Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes»."
• The rejection of communism: in May 2015, in his encyclical letter "Laudato si", Francis criticized "the array of technology which Nazism, Communism and other totalitarian regimes have employed to kill millions of people."
• The defense of freedom of education in the face of gender ideology: on October 2, 2016, at a press conference, Francis stated: "A French father told me that he was at the table speaking to his children – he is Catholic, his wife is Catholic, the children are Catholic, lukewarm Catholics, but Catholics – and he asked his ten-year old son: “And what do you want to be when you grow up?” – “A girl.” And his father realized that the schoolbooks were teaching gender theory. This is against the realities of nature. It is one thing if a person has this tendency, this option; some people even change sex. But it is another thing to teach this in schools, in order to change people’s way of thinking. I call this “ideological colonization”."
• The defense of motherhood: on January 7, 2015, during a general audience, Pope Francis stated: "being a mother doesn’t only mean bringing a child to the world, but it is also a life choice. What does a mother choose, what is the life choice of a mother? The life choice of a mother is the choice to give life. And this is great, this is beautiful."

For decades now, many left-wing politicians and media outlets have been describing as "far-right" to say these same things that Francis says. Thus, when the Pope tells a leftist journalist that he is concerned about the extreme right, what Francis does is put himself in the crosshairs of the left, and what is worse, he also puts millions of us of people who say those same things not only because it is what our reason dictates, but also because it is something in keeping with our Catholic faith.

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Photo: VaticanNews.