Aboard the papal plane, Apr 16, 2016 / 11:09 am (CNA).- Pope Francis on April 16 gave a 25-minute press conference for reporters during his return flight to Rome from Lesbos.
The Pope spoke about the refugee crisis and the global immigration crisis. He spoke of the 12 Syrian refugees, including six children, he was bringing to Italy on the flight.
Pope Francis said he saw a global family crisis and voiced concern that this was missed by media coverage of the controversy over Holy Communion for those who have divorced and remarried.
The Pope also discussed his brief greeting for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.). He said the greeting in no way represented an intention of “getting mixed up in politics.”
Please find below the full transcription, translated into English
Pope Francis: I thank you for your day of work, for me and also for you it was a bit powerful.
Ines San Martin (Crux): Holy Father, what we’ve read… The first question is about the trip. This trip is happening just after an accord between the European Union and Turkey has come about … Do you think this is a political question in order save time? This morning, you met with the presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, at Santa Martha. I wanted to ask you your feelings on the meeting and on your way of approaching North American politics…
Pope Francis: “First of all, there is no political speculation because I didn’t know much about these accords between Turkey and Europe. I saw them in the newspapers. Bringing these refugees away is a humanitarian thing. It was an inspiration from a week ago that I immediately accepted, because I saw that it was the Holy Spirit who was speaking. Everything was done legally. They’ve come with us with their documents in order. The Vatican, Italy and Greece have given them a visa. They will be welcomed by the Vatican with the collaboration of Sant’Egidio who will find work for them. But they are guests of the Vatican and they are added to the two Syrian families that are already given hospitality by the two Vatican parishes.
Second. This morning when I walked out, there was Senator Bernie Sanders who came to the congress on “Centessimus Annus.” He knew that I was leaving at that time and he had the courteousness to greet me. I greeted him and his wife, and another couple with him that was staying in Santa Marta, because all of the members of the congress, except the heads of state who I believe were staying in their embassies, were staying at the Santa Martha residence. I gave a greeting and nothing more. A greeting is an educated thing to do and does not mean to be mixed up with politics. If someone thinks that to give a greeting means to get mixed up in politics, I think he needs a psychiatrist.
Franca Giansoldati (Il Messaggero): You speak much about welcoming, but perhaps you speak too little about integration. Seeing what is happening in Europe, where there’s this massive influx of immigrants, we see that there are many cities that suffer from ghetto sectors… in all of this, it emerges that Muslim immigrants are those who have the most difficult time integrating themselves with our values, Western values… wouldn’t it be more useful to favor the immigration of Christian immigrants? And why did you favor three entirely Muslim families?
Pope Francis: I didn’t make a religious choice between Christians and Muslims. These three families had their documents in order. There were, for example, two Christian families who didn’t. This is not a privilege. All 12 of them are children of God. It’s a privilege to be a child of God. For what regards integration…you said a word which in current culture seems to be forgotten, after war still exist: the ghettos. And some of the terrorists are children and grandchildren of people born in European countries and what has happened? There was no policy of integration. And this, for me, is fundamental. In the post-synodal apostolic exhortation integration is spoken of. One of the the three pastoral dimensions for families in difficulty is integration into society. Today, Europe must take up again this capacity that it has always had: to integrate. With integration, Europe’s culture is enriched. I think that we need an education, a lesson, on a culture of integration.
Elena Pinardi (EBU): Holy Father, they’re talking about reinforcing the borders of different European countries, of deploying battalions along the borders of Europe. Is it the end of Schengen, is it the end of the European dream?
Pope Francis: I don’t know. I understand the governments and the people that have a certain fear. I understand. And, we must take a real responsibility for welcoming. How do we integrate these people with us? I’ve said this, but making walls is not the solution. We saw it in the last century, the fall of one. It doesn’t resolve anything. We must make bridges and bridges are made with intelligence, dialogue, integration. I understand the fear, but to close the borders doesn’t resolve anything. Because in the long run, that closure will hurt the people themselves. Europe must make a policy of welcoming, integration, growth, work, the reform of the economy. All of these are the bridges that lead us to not making walls. After what I’ve seen in that refugee camp, and what you saw, was to cry about. The kids. They’ve given me so many drawings. The children want peace because they’re suffering. It’s true that there they have educational courses in the camp. What have they seen? Look at this: what they’ve seen: a drowned child! The kids have got this in their hearts. Today was truly to cry about. It was to cry about. The same drawing was made by an Afghan child. These children have this in their memories. They’ll need time to remove this from their memories. There was a sun that cried in the drawing. A tear would also do us well.
Fanny Carrier (AFP): Why don’t you make a distinction between those who flee because of war and those who flee because of hunger? Can Europe give welcome to the misery of the world?
Pope Francis: It’s true, I said that some run because of war, others because of hunger. Together the two are both the effects of the exploitation of the earth. A head of government in Africa told me more or less a month ago that he is reforesting, because the land that was exploited was dead because of exploitation. Some run because of hunger, others because of war. I would invite the arms producers and traffickers, those who sell them to make war in different places - in Syria for example - I would tell these traffickers to spend a day in that camp, I think it would be healthy for them.
Nestor Pongutà, W Radio (Colombia): Good afternoon, Holiness. I’ll ask you the question in Spanish and then you respond in Italian. You said something very special this morning that really caught our attention: this is a sad trip. (And we understood from your words that you were really moved.) But, something changed in your heart when we found out about these 12 people, with this little gesture you’ve give a lesson to those who have turned their gaze before so much pain, before this “piecemeal third world war.”
Pope Francis: I will respond with a phrase that is not mine. They asked the same thing to Mother Teresa. They would say to her: ‘You spend so much strength, so much work, to help people to die, but what you do is not worth it.’ And she replied: ‘It’s a drop, it’s a drop of water in the sea, but after that drop, the sea will never be the same.’ Like this it’s possible. It’s a small act that we all must do in order to take the hand of those in need.
Josh McElwee (NCReporter): Thank you, Holy Father. We’ve gone to a nation of migrations, but also of an economic policy of austerity. I would like to ask you if you have an economic thought of austerity and also for another island, Puerto Rico. Do you have a thought on this policy of austerity?
Pope Francis: The work austerity mean, from an economic point of view, a chapter of a program. Politically it means another, and spiritually it means another. When I speak, I do so in comparison with waste. The FAO, it seems to me, in a meeting said that with one wasted meal, you could nourish the world. And we, in our homes, how much do we waste without intending to? This culture of waste. Austerity in the sense in which we speak and austerity in a Christian sense, let’s stop here and divide it a bit. I speak only in a Christian sense.
Francisco Romero (Rome Reports): Holiness, I simply would like to say: you have said that this refugee crisis is the worst after the Second World War. I would like to ask you what you think of the crises of migrants that arrive in America, in the United States, from Mexico, from Latin America…
Pope Francis: It’s the same thing. Migrants arrive there fleeing from hunger, etc. It’s the same problem. In Mexico, I celebrated Mass 100 meters from the border, where on the other side there were some 50 bishops from the U.S. and 50,000 faithful in one stadium. It’s the same. They arrive to Mexico from Central America. It’s a global problem. I spoke about it there to the Mexican bishops, I asked them to take care of the refugees.
Frank Rocca (Wall Street Journal): Thanks, Holy Father. I see that the questions on immigration that I had thought to ask you have been asked and answered by you very well. If you permit me, I’d like to ask you another question about an event of recent days, which was your apostolic exhortation. As you well know, there has been much discussion about on one of the many, I know that we’ve focused on this a lot…there has been much discussion after the publication. Some sustain that nothing has changed with respect to the discipline that regulates access to the sacraments for the divorced and remarried, that the Law, the pastoral praxis and obviously the doctrine remain the same. Others sustain that much has changed and that there are new openings and possibilities. For a Catholic who wants to know: are there new, concrete possibilities that didn’t exist before the publication of the exhortation or not?
Pope Francis: I can say yes, many. But it would be an answer that is too small. I recommend that you read the presentation of Cardinal Schonborn, who is a great theologian. He was the secretary for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, and he knows the doctrine of the faith well. In that presentation, your question will find an answer.
Jean-Marie Guenois (Le Figaro): I had the same question, but it’s a complementary question because you wrote this famous ‘Amoris Laetitia’ on the problems of the divorced and remarried (footnote 351). Why put something so important in a little note? Did you foresee the opposition or did you mean to say that this point isn’t that important?
Pope Francis: One of the recent popes, speaking of the Council, said that there were two councils: the Second Vatican Council in the Basilica of St. Peter, and the other, the council of the media. When I convoked the first synod, the great concern of the majority of the media was communion for the divorced and remarried, and, since I am not a saint, this bothered me, and then made me sad. Because, thinking of those media who said, this, this and that, do you not realize that that is not the important problem? Don’t you realize that instead the family throughout the world is in crisis? Don’t we realize that the falling birth rate in Europe is enough to make one cry? And the family is the basis of society. Do you not realize that the youth don’t want to marry? Don’t you realize that the fall of the birth rate in Europe is to cry about? Don’t you realize that the lack of work or the little work (available) means that a mother has to get two jobs and the children grow up alone? These are the big problems. I don’t remember the footnote, but for sure if it’s something general in a footnote it’s because I spoke about it, I think, in ‘Evangelii Gaudium.’
Thanks a lot, I feel calm with you. Now, they will give you something to eat!
24 comments:
"I don’t remember the footnote". What?
How many Christian families do have their papers in order? Would the drive to populate Europe with Muslims be aided in any way by ensuring that some have the proper documentation? It might be good to remember the names of these families for when the buildings of Vatican City are cast down and rebuilt or renamed.
His refusal to clearly state the Church's teaching that adulterers cannot receive communion without confession and amendment of life is telling. Actually no person conscious of mortal sin can receive communion without confession.
AND.......HE CAN'T RECALL THE FOOTNOTE! Does anyone believe that is a true statement? Really? The whole world is talking about that footnote and he can't recall it.
What's the problem with this man. Christ called adultery, adultery. Christ told the woman caught in adultery to stop committing this SIN. That is VERY VERY clear talk from Our Lord Himself. Was he being unkind to people because He didn't say I understand your irregular situation.
Everyone is trying their best to put an orthodox spin to this exhortation and it's not working. And sacraligeous communions aside what about sacraligeous confessions. Since when can a woman who had an abortion and is living in adultery go to confession and be absolved for the abortion while still living in adultery? Can I pick and choose what mortal sins I am going to confess.
And the pope seems to be so understanding of all these people who have freely chosen to live an adulteress life, excuse me I mean all those people who find themselves in an irregular situation, yet is adamant about the whole immigrant situation. Why can't he be understanding to those who don't want all these people pouring into their country? Why are some sins "understandable" while others are condemed?
Bob, dodge, and weave. Regardless of what he thinks, or means, or even what he thinks and means, the way in which he answers makes it appear as if he's trying to subvert the Magisterium. the "I don't remember the footnote" statement is about as credible as when Bishop Niederauer, Nancy Pelosi's bishop, in response to a question, stated that he really didn't know her position on abortion since he hadn't discussed it with her. Is he really so insulated that he doesn't know that that footnote has set off a firestorm?
?"Is he really so insulated that he doesn't know that that footnote has set off a firestorm?"
Pope Francis hasn't watched television during the past 26 years. I don't know whether he listens to the radio (news). He has said that there is just one newspaper that he reads daily. He spends just 15 minutes each day reading the newspaper.
He said that he doesn't surf the Internet.
Perhaps, as isolated that he is from mass communication outlets, Pope Francis is unaware as to the firestorm that has surrounded the footnote in question. However, he made it clear that he is aware as to how the news media distorted the Synod(s) on the Family.
Perhaps he didn't write the section of his Exhortation that has generated tremendous controversy within and without the Church. Perhaps he has forgotten some of the content, certain in regard to footnotes, of the massive 60,000 word Exhortation.
The following may pertain to the Pope's lack of knowledge in regard to the footnote: Pope Francis made it clear that unwarranted endless attention during the past couple of years has been placed upon divorced and "remarried" Catholics and the issue of their receiving Holy Communion. He made it clear that said issue pales in comparison to additional issues that pertain to the collapse of Catholic family life.
I take it that Pope Francis is akin to many, if not most of us, in that the endless attention that has been paid to the issue in question has left him exhausted.
Within the Church, liberals and traditionalists have beaten the issue to death. We are ten days removed from the presentation of Amoris Laetitia to the Church. But we remain fixated on a footnote from the Exhortation.
It is sickening.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Mark, if the pope is exhausted because of all the attention being paid to divorced and "remarried" people receiving Holy Communion, that is his own fault since the creation of this "controversy" was entirely of his own doing.
I agree -- it is sickening.
Father Mathias Guadron, SSPX has got it right : there are no known exceptions to the traditional moral teachings.The new moral theology is based on an irrationality
http://eucharistandmission.blogspot.it/2016/04/father-mathias-guadron-sspx-has-got-it.html
Sorry, Mark, but your defense isn't convincing. So he doesn't watch TV or surf. Surely someone at the Vatican does, and has told him of this firestorm? Someone? Anyone? He certainly presumes to know all about economics and climate change when he wants to . . .
And regardless of whether he wrote the footnote, by signing the document, he took responsibility for it (and I think it's also legitimate to ask what the heck other people are doing contributing to it anyway). Permitting something like this, i.e. the publication of material that may arguably presume to change a doctrine of the faith, while being ignorant of it, would be grossly negligent. And that's added to the arguable bad judgment of writing such a huge document anyway that would invite someone to add material such as this. If your assertions are correct, they make this already bad crisis even worse.
As to the idea that "said issue pales in comparison to additional issues that pertain to the collapse of Catholic family life": You (and the pope) can believe that if y'all like. I submit that no issue whatsoever is more important than the issue of whether the Church has contradicted herself, and thus taught error, in an area of faith or morals, thus revealing that she is not in fact guided by the Holy Spirit but is instead a purely fallible human institution. If she has done so, no statement or stand of hers on any issue (including family life) is worth the paper it's printed on.
Perhaps this is a bad translation, or perhaps the Holy Father just misspoke. But if he truly could not remember the famous/infamous footnote in question, then we're in serious trouble. In that case, this is no time for division among serious Catholics. We need to batten down the hatches and pray for divine intervention.
I'm now moving beyond patient confusion to full-blown bewilderment.
Anonymous at 4:20 P.M.
You made excellent points. I simply presented some possibilities as to why Pope Francis said that he's unaware as to the footnote in question. I acknowledged that the possibilities that I presented are not convincing. I thought that I'd offer a few possibilities that, again, I admit are weak.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Marc said..."Mark, if the pope is exhausted because of all the attention being paid to divorced and "remarried" people receiving Holy Communion, that is his own fault since the creation of this "controversy" was entirely of his own doing."
I understand your point. Pope Francis' style is to permit everybody to offer their ideas as he did during the Synods. For better or worse, he allows people to mix things up. Confusion can entail certainly from that style of Papal governance.
Now, in fairness to Pope Francis, he didn't position communion for Catholics who had divorced and entered into new unions as the overriding (along with homosexuality) issue in regard to Catholic family life.
Example: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-communion-for-divorced-remarried-isnt-the-only-synod-issue-50843/
Pope: Communion for divorced, remarried isn't the only synod issue
Vatican City, Sep 28, 2015 / 04:03 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Francis told journalists on board his flight to Rome that giving communion to divorced and remarried Catholics is a “simplistic” solution to the issue, and stressed that there are also other problems that need to be discussed.
“(It) seems a bit simplistic to me to say that the synod, that the solution for these people is that they can receive communion. That's not the only solution (asked for).”
What the “Instrumentum laboris” proposes “is a lot,” he said. “Also, the problem of the new unions of divorcees isn't the only problem.”
“In the instrumentum laboris, there are many (problems to be addressed). For example, young people don’t get married. They don’t want to get married. It's a pastoral problem for the Church. Another problem: the effective maturity for a marriage. Another problem: faith.”
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Mark,
Thanks for your clarification. I wish that I could give him the benefit of the doubt. But the pattern of behavior--the modernists' in general as well as Francis's in particular--make it very difficult for me to do so.
Very convenient that the Christians didn't have their papers in order but the three Muslim families did. How did the Muslim families manage to get documentation and visas to Rome unless they had advance warning of when and where they were going? Totally unbelievable as is not being aware of the footnote. In fact, you would expect the Pope to be aware of the footnote more than he would know of the situation as regards the papers of families picked "randomly" from thousands of refugees ... only the absolutely gullible would believe what we're being fed by the Vatican these days.
If we were to go back over the last three years and revisit the interviews to the atheist and other things where we're been told over and over again that the Pope has been misinterpreted etc, taken out of context and so on, it is absolutely appalling. Not one word do I believe. In my wildest dreams I never ever imagined as a Catholic I would think that of the Vatican but, having seen pictures of gays kissing in L'osservatore Romano, etc, I don't believe a word of what comes out of there but I don't think we've hit rock bottom yet. There is much more to come and in the end even apologists like Mark Thomas will eventually realise how naive they were ... or reluctant as we all have been in the past to face up to the reality ... unfortunately, it is as it is. There is no misinterpretation or taking out of context.
Jan:
So now you accuse the Holy Father of lying? You speak of being gullible and naïve. I wish you would bring the same skepticism to some of the mendacious and manipulative videos to which you have posted links on this Blog during the past year – from global warming to Muslim refugees arriving in Europe (admittedly, not all of the videos fell into this category, and some of your posts on these topics have been genuinely informative). I agree we have not reached rock bottom yet but we take another dive with your post today. Sorry, but that is how I feel about it.
Jan said..."There is much more to come and in the end even apologists like Mark Thomas will eventually realise how naive they were ... or reluctant as we all have been in the past to face up to the reality ... unfortunately, it is as it is."
Jan, I know very well that a revolution within the Church has been in progress for decades. Beginning in major fashion with Pope Venerable Pius XII, our Popes have "razed the bastions" of the Church that had been in place from the time of the Protestant Revolution.
That doesn't mean that the Churchmen who instituted and have supported the revolution within the Church are unholy. They were/are, I believe, holy men. It is simply that they believe that the Church's "fortress mentality" is obsolete.
The massive loss of life during World War II also influenced greatly the thinking of the Churchmen in question. That war spurred them to adopt a new sense of "communion" (solidarity) with non-Catholics.
Jan, I don't have any illusions as to what goes on within Rome and the Church. That said, I don't see the need to believe that every thing...every single thing that Pope Francis says/does is nefarious.
In regard to the Lesbos "controversy", the explanation that Pope Francis offered is rational. The Holy See didn't have weeks and months to coordinate the movement of refugee families from Lesbos to Rome.
Pope Francis said that the plan was to bring three Christian families to Rome. Rome went by the book in following the laws of governments. The three Christian families did not have their paperwork in order. That is that.
I don't have any reason to doubt the Pope's explanation. We are dealing with bureaucrats, immigration laws...we're also dealing with the Vatican. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
Come on...the Vatican has fallen to the point where they are unable to produce and present without controversy an Apostolic Exhortation on the family. You think that the Vatican can deal smoothly with the handling of refugees?
Pax.
Mark Thomas
I am sorry, Mark, as other Christians are saying, I think that what Pope Francis did was a disgrace. He had a chance to highlight the plight of Yazdis and Christians but did nothing.
I am sorry but I simply don't believe the pat story that there were no Christians or Yazdis in the camp who didn't have papers ready, although happily for them the three Muslim families did. It simply beggars belief ...
Anonymous 2 there is simply too much evidence of Muslim crime - including the woman who made out she was set upon because she was wearing a veil - on the internet now for you to gloss over. Even converts from Muslim are speaking out against Islam.
They say a picture paints a thousand words:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/04/16/article-urn:publicid:ap.org:7b56947ebc114dba8769aafa483dca6a-2NxE52hGF58066a471634f8e48ab-639_634x421.jpg
Jan you are walking on thin ice here. You might as well say our Lord is a disgrace for telling the parable of the farmer owner giving as much to the worker who only did one hour of work as he gave to those who did the whole day.
I won't put up with contempt to the person of the pope or the papacy in general as the first is a mortal sin against charity and the other an act of schism.
Jan, time and again, and far more than any world leader, His Holiness Pope Francis has highlighted the genocide that Islamic terrorists and, for that matter, the "world" has inflicted upon Christians.
But time and again, within, for example, the Traditionalist blogosphere, Pope Francis' comments in question have been ignored. Instead, all day long, stories are concocted about Pope Francis being a "heretic", "evil"...he plots supposedly to "trick and trap" the SSPX...bizarre nonsense.
On the world stage, Pope Francis has been ignored time and again in his numerous attempts to call attention to the genocide and persecutions that are ongoing against Christians.
Unlike countless world leaders, Pope Francis has not hesitated to have used the word "genocide" in relation to the persecution of Christians.
Finally, Pope Francis explained in plausible fashion that three Christian families had been selected to return with him to Rome. Unfortunately, the paperwork of each family was not in order. If you wish to see that as a lie...well, I don't...but you do. Sorry, we disagree about that.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
Father, it is fellow Catholics and protestants, Christians, who are also saying the actions of the Pope were disgraceful and also it is being discussed on social media. I agree with them. I don't think that disagreeing with the actions of a Pope is demeaning the papacy or showing contempt for the Pope. I think as Catholics we are entitled to expect that the Pope will treat everyone fairly. And this is not something new. The Pope has been approached on numerous occasions and his assistance requested to help Christians in Syria. You see the photo there of him with the Yadzis at the refugee centre that he plucked the Muslims from, imploring him to help. But he did nothing. Sorry, but I sincerely believe, with righteous indignation, that this was wrong and cannot be defended. It cannot be in any way compared to Our Lord's parable.
Mark, Christians don't have to be on the plane with the Pope. What is to stop him bringing Christian families or Yadzis to Rome now? The Pope is supposed to be the good shepherd who looks after his flock. People look up to the Pope. If the Pope doesn't look after his own, who will? I know that of all the Syrian refugees brought to my country recently - I understand they were all Muslim - not a Christian among them. The Pope needs to stand up for the Christians in a concrete way otherwise the rest of the world will leave them to rot ...
I wonder how many in the US know of the statistics of Christian refugees brought to the US? It is very low. CNS reported in November last year:
"So Far: Syrian Refugees in US include 2,098 Muslims, 53 Christians" - so 53 Christians since 2011. I think these figures should galvanise Christians in the US to press for an increase in acceptance of Christian refugees. It can be done as can be seen from the article in the National Catholic Reporter last year about the plight of Christian refugees and what some Americans have done privately to help them.
"No Room at the Inn: Why Few Syrian Christian Refugees Come to US (5856)
Since 2011, only 2% of Syrian refugees have been Christians, even though they comprise 10% of Syria’s pre-civil war population and are subject to harsh persecution by Islamist militants.
WASHINGTON — Only weeks before Christmas, 153 Iraqi Christians will be welcomed to their new home in Slovakia, courtesy of an unlikely team of Americans moved by their plight.
Nina Shea, an expert on religious-freedom issues at Washington’s Hudson Institute, hopes to be on hand to meet the Iraqis as they deplane from their chartered flight.
“Seed money for this came from Hollywood producer Mark Burnett. The resettlement was funded by contributions to Glenn Beck’s Mercury One Nazarene Fund,” Shea told the Register.
Shea further noted that Rev. Johnnie Moore, the author of Defying ISIS: Preserving Christianity in the Place of Its Birth, and Joseph Assad, a security expert — both under contract to the Hudson Institute — helped arrange the airlift.
The unlikely group of collaborators might raise some eyebrows, but this private effort marks their growing frustration with the limited options available to Christians who have fled their homes because of wartime violence and religious persecution in the Middle East and now seek to find safe haven in the West.
The particular group of Iraqis assisted by Shea are internally displaced persons (IDP) -- those who have not left their country, and so have no legal recourse for resettlement in a foreign land. Hundreds of thousands are thus in limbo, surviving day to day with the help of relatives, fellow believers and church-affiliated charities.
"These now essentially stateless Christians are very needy-- and all but forgotten," Shea explained.
"The United National High Command for Refugees doesn't resettle them and they're not part of European Union quotas. But any country can admit anyone they wish," and she hopes that more countries and private groups will work together to replicate her initiative.
Meanwhile, many hundreds of thousands of Syrian Christians who have been forced out of their country also face a bleak, uncertain future.
A scant 53 Syrian Christians have been admitted to the U.S. for resettlement since the civil war began in 2011, according to the Refugee Processing Center. That number represents just over 2% of the total number of Syrians accepted, 2,184, though Christians accounted for 10% of Syria’s population before the war broke out.
“Syrian Christians want to come to the U.S. But there is no expedited status for them,” Maronite Bishop Gregory Mansour of the Eparchy of St. Maron in Brooklyn told the Register.
In late November, the State Department’s Refugee Processing Center released data on the 132 Syrian refugees that have arrived in the U.S. since the Paris terror attacks, and all were Sunni Muslims. Not one was a religious minority.
Yet Syria’s brutal civil war has been accompanied by the rise of the Islamic State and its campaign to cleanse the region of vulnerable religious minorities, who have faced beheadings, rapes and exile from their ancestral communities."
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/no-room-at-the-inn-why-few-syrian-christian-refugees-come-to-us/#ixzz46QUk9kFl
Jan:
On “the woman who made out she was set upon because she was wearing a veil,” you did not provided a link so I googled it. I did not find that story but I did find this one, in the Daily Mail:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3225020/Shocking-moment-hijab-wearing-woman-attacked-knocked-floor-unconscious-police-reveal-huge-rise-hate-crimes-against-Muslims.html
Not much “making out” there I think.
Regarding Christian refugees, the very NCR article you cite helps to explain the reasons. It is not because of discrimination against Christians in favor of Muslims. Here is another article along the same lines:
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/19/syrias-christian-refugees-four-wrong-assumptions/?_r=0
But perhaps anti-Christian discrimination isn’t your point. If not, perhaps you can explain just what exactly your point is. Is it that we should not be using the UNHCR system and pipeline for processing refugee applications?
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