Pope Francis, in his characteristic way of attacking controversial issues often ignored by others, have taken on the weapons industry, saying all those involved in it can`t call themselves Christians.
The head of the Roman Catholic Church told a rally of young people on Sunday that people who manufactured weapons or invest in the weapons industries were hypocrites if they call themselves Christians.
“Duplicity is the currency of today ... they say one thing and do another,” the Pope said in the speech dedicated to war, trust and politics.
“If you trust only men you have lost,” he added.
The rally in the Italian city of Turin brought thousands of young people together marking the end of the first day of his trip there. And the Pope`s comment is said to be his toughest condemnation to date of the hitherto seemingly invincible weapons industry.
“It makes me think of ... people, managers, businessmen who call themselves Christian and they manufacture weapons. That leads to a bit of distrust, doesn’t it?” the Pope said amidst applause from his audience.
He also criticized failure of the “great powers” to prevent the World War II.
“The great powers had the pictures of the railway lines that brought the trains to the concentration camps like Auschwitz to kill Jews, Christians, homosexuals, everybody. Why didn’t they bomb (the railway lines)?”
Pope Francis has become known for his characteristic style of propagating the rights of the weak and oppressed in society. This way he has espoused a papacy that shuns wealth and glorification of the wealthy.
Comments attributed to him in the past and which have sparked outcry include the vexing issue of the alleged genocide committed by Turkey on Armenians. Up to 1.5 million Armenians were massacred in the said act some 100 years ago. Turkey doesn’t accept that as genocide. It recalled its ambassador to the Vatican in April after the Pope`s reference to the event.
But on Sunday Francis avoided the “genocide” word and only referred to “the great tragedy of Armenia”.
(C) Politico 23/06/15
