In what has become yet another case of re-litigating an old point, people are calling out Pope Francis for another tone-deaf public pronouncement.

In December, the Vatican released a “Decree of the President of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State” regarding those who enter the Vatican under false pretenses.  It states, “Anyone who enters the territory of the Vatican City State with violence, threats or deception is punishable by imprisonment from one to four years and a fine from €10,000.00 to €25,000.00.  Entry is considered to have occurred ‘by deception’ when the entry occurs through fraudulent evasion of the security and protection systems of the State, or by evading border controls.”

This is coming from an authority ensconced behind 40-foot walls.  Those walls have been there a long time.  After Muslim raiders sacked Old St. Peter’s Basilica in 846, then-pope Leo IV had them constructed around the Vatican.  The purpose was “to provide protection from invading forces.”  The walls are constructed of travertine, an attractive type of limestone, and serve practical, aesthetic, and symbolic purposes.

Hopefully, no one is expecting hordes of Muslim invaders to sack St. Peter’s anytime soon.  But the way things are going, who knows?  God willing, their practical purpose will never be put to the test.  They are undeniably beautiful and are visible from some distance away.  They symbolically separate the spiritual aspects of the Catholic Church from the temporal aspects of the world.

Upon publication of the Vatican document, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò responded forcefully and eloquently.

Bergoglio interferes in the policies of the States regarding immigration, and he does so by usurping papal authority and manipulating Catholic Morality to support the globalist plan. But while our cities are scientifically transformed into landfills for criminals and derelicts and citizens are exposed to violence and considered strangers in their own home, the deep state and the deep church watch from the top of their insurmountable walls the destruction of our society, confirming themselves as traitors and criminals.

In 2019, the pope visited Morocco and spoke about the hordes of migrants swarming into Western Europe.  He criticized those who objected to the invasion of their countries by saying they were “fomenting fear of ‘others.’”  He went on to say we should be building bridges, not walls.  Has he looked out the windows of his Vatican apartment?

In 2023, he had this to say about self-defense: “Another thing is how that need to defend oneself lengthens, lengthens, and becomes a habit.  Instead of making the effort to help us live, we make the effort to help us kill.”  That is a noble sentiment.  Perhaps the Holy Father could ask Laken Riley and Rachel Morin how they feel about it.

In June of 2015, the pope said that weapons manufacturers and investors in the industry are hypocrites if they call themselves Christian.  He went on to say that “duplicity is the currency of today. ... They say one thing and do another.”  While he’s waiting to hear from Riley and Morin, he could take a few minutes and walk around the Vatican Armory.  From all reports, it’s well equipped.

Walls around the Vatican?  A-O.K.  Nations building walls across their borders?  That’s fomenting fear.

Hordes of illegals, many with malicious intent?  Allow them full access to every nation on Earth...except not in the Vatican.

Using firearms to defend yourself?  That’s a bad habit, and if you manufacture them, you’re not a Christian.  But we’ve got a basement full of them here in the Vatican because we need them to defend ourselves.

These attitudes are shared by elites all over the world.  We have all heard those on the political left decrying walls and firearms from inside their gated homes while surrounded by armed security.  We’ve all heard them calling us racists and xenophobes for objecting to unfettered immigration while, like the residents of Martha’s Vineyard, they cry, “Not in my backyard!”  

The great Thomas Sowell, one of America’s treasures, has this to say: “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”  My sentiment exactly.

Image via Pexels.