Biretta tip to His Hermeneuticalness
Protect the Pope.com is a new website which counters attacks on Pope Benedict’s reputation and integrity, and provides information and resources for Catholics to respond to incidents that constitute incitement to religious hatred.
At the launch of Protect the Pope.com Rev Nick Donnelly, a permanent deacon of Lancaster Diocese who set up the site, said:
‘Its been said that anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice, and in a way we Catholics have colluded in this by ignoring it, hoping it will go away. But the personal attacks on Pope Benedict in the run up to the Papal visit show us its not going away.
Since 2006 we’ve had the legal right to protect ourselves from religious hatred. Of course people in this country have freedom of expression, but this does not mean they have the right to create a climate of hostility and fear. It’s a question of protecting our human rights to freedom of belief and freedom of worship.’
The website gives information on the law regarding hate crime and provides Catholics with the means to report to the police incitement to religious hatred or acts of religious hatred which take place during the Holy Father’s visit. The website also has an anti-Catholicism log tied into its news feed to help raise awareness of anti-Catholic prejudice.
And don’t forget your
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What a fantastic site. Thanks for the heads-up, Father Z. I am glad to see the Ian Paisley reference, which I found earlier and which shows the level of anti-Catholicism among some. Thankfully, even the British press finds his invective appalling.
This is great! Yet why isn’t the Vatican doing this? Why isn’t the Holy See press office, or the congregation for propagating the faith doing such a thing?
Why aren’t national bishops conferences doing this?
Or am I the only one who finds the Holy See’s reaction to what is soon to amount to another Commune or KulturKampf rather mute?
Dear Lord… it’s a great site but most things they report make me sick to my stomach.
Some people are so full of hate…
Apparently, even one of the Popes Bishops would resign if he celebrated the Traditional Latin Mass, according to the Telegraph , so, the Pope is under fire from all sides. No good deed goes unpunished. In the same piece Bishop Fellay states that the Pope celebrates the TLM in private; no doubt he hasn’t done so in public because he feels the repercussions would be too great.
It’s good to see folks speaking up, but I hate hate crimes laws. They all end up being used to declare an unpopular opinion unclean, and to punish its holders for letting it be known that they hold it. See the Canadian Human Rights Commissions.
Have added this to my blog roll.
Now I need to get a photo of the Holy Father on my blog as well. (Sorry to all the liberal/”progressives”, but I am blessed and very happy to be Roman Catholic.)
Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Father Z. This is exactly what is needed — a way for all Catholics to “dead agent” anti-Catholic bias and propaganda.
Over the years I have watched the JDL and ADL work in this field. I have not always been a fan of how they go about it.
As a lover of Francis, I wonder if it does not make sense to start a group that works to combat bias. The group would be trained in how to remain loving in the face of the enemy. They would be trained to use mediation principles to engage those who hate and transform them, just as Francis tamed the wolf of Gubbio.