Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was booed at an annual Catholic charity event last week. At the Al Smith dinner, where candidates usually poke gentle fun at each other, Trump was thought to have overstepped the mark.
First he accused Hillary Clinton of being corrupt, then half-joked that she was “deceivingpeople … Here she is tonight, in public, pretending not to hate Catholics”. He was referring to leaked “anti-Catholic” emails from senior Democrats.
What the media are saying
Michael Daly of the Daily Beast said Trump “should never have been allowed at a church-sponsored dinner”. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who hosted the event and sat between the two, “has said nothing of the bigotry, hatred, and intolerance incited by the Trump campaign.”
But Cardinal Dolan later revealed that the two candidates had prayed together. Afterwards, “Trump turned to Clinton and said, ‘You are one tough and talented woman,’” the cardinal told NBC News. Clinton replied: “Donald, whatever happens, we need to work together afterward.”
Michael Brendan Dougherty of The Week tweeted sardonically that “The Al Smith Dinner shows another problem of the post-Vatican II Church; an old-school cardinal would have made sure the food was poisoned.”
What pro-lifers are saying
Joseph Matt of The Wanderer, one of many pro-lifers who have come out in support of Trump, wrote: “Donald Trump has said he will support the pro-life cause … He also has assured us he will protect our religious liberties.” He compared this to Hillary Clinton’s plans for an “all-out assault on life and religious liberty”.
Others are strongly opposed to Trump. In The Federalist, Matthew Loftus argued that Trump would be unable to effect any major change, and that his attitudes, especially to women, could discredit the pro-life cause. “It is better to slowly foster a culture of life along with incremental laws that restrict abortion – rather than to spend all of our political capital on a move that might not pay off, and will only be walked back in subsequent years.”
The most overlooked story of the week
✣Christians ‘attacked in German refugee centres’
What happened?
Christians in German refugee centres are being intimidated and sometimes assaulted by Muslim refugees and guards, according to a report from World Watch Monitor.
One recently arrived refugee was “shocked” to find graffiti on the wall of a shelter saying: “The time has come to cut off the heads of all non-believers!”
Why was it under-reported?
The report is unsettling, because it suggests Angela Merkel’s humanitarian gesture of opening Germany’s doors to migrants has had unintended consequences. Last month, Germany’s home secretary admitted that the government had “underestimated the role of religion” in settling new arrivals.
While the news raises issues many would rather forget, it was also overlooked because the media finds it hard to think of Christians as a marginalised minority. Yet the global reality of anti-Christian persecution may have come, in a small way, to Europe.
What will happen next?
Open doors germany has urged the German government to provide separate accommodation for refugees of different religions, and to provide more non-Muslim guards in refugee camps.
Meanwhile, Merkel’s government seems to be introducing stricter measures to limit immigration. The government has proposed to limit EU citizens’ access to welfare payments for the first five years after they arrive. The chairman of Merkel’s own party has suggested a ban on the full-face veil.
✣The week ahead
The knights of Columbus have released a novena for the US presidential election, beginning this Sunday. Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson quoted Pope Francis as advising voters to “study the proposals well, pray and choose with your conscience’. Anderson said: “This novena is designed to help Catholic Americans do that.”
The second series of Sister Rita to the Rescue begins on BBC1 next Monday. The series follows the work of the formidable “Attila the Nun” helping people at a drop-in centre and food bank in one of the poorest parts of Manchester.
A newly decorated scheme depicting the 40 English Martyrs will be dedicated by Cardinal Vincent Nichols today in the Chapel of St George and the English Martyrs in Westminster Cathedral. The 16th- and 17th-century martyrs’ names are emblazoned in mosaic in the chapel vault. The Tyburn gallows in marble on the west wall depicts their suffering.
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