The highest priest of 1.4 billion with a b people made a speech. How can we make this about us instead?
New Pope Leo blasts non-religious people, saying (quite shockingly) that 'lack of faith' comes from 'the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity'
We'll remain composed in the face of such abject nastiness, but it's untrue to say the least
in context his criticism is not generally aimed at atheism (or other faiths) anyway; it is rather pointedly at people who, while calling faith absurd or weak or unintelligent, seek the security of "technology, money, success, power, or pleasure", and that those people often turn to sociopathy
They're putting a petulantly negative spin on it, but I'm not sure it's entirely unfair to say it's a criticism of irreligiosity. It's just a bit silly to get outraged at the literal pope thinking religious faith is important in that way, even as it's entirely fair to disagree with him.
I mean, to the extent it's a criticism of irreligiosity it is attenuated. It's more a criticism of /bad/ religiosity
May 11, 2025 00:18Agreed; I'm born and raised Irish/Italian New York Catholic but have been areligious for a long time. My initial reading was more that there are a lot of people creating problems for others who have no true core ethical beliefs, only the team sports that American capitalist Christianity has become
