Earlier today, Pope Francis tweeted from his English-language account, "Inequality is the root of social evil." Not long afterwards, the Daily Beast shouted out its Amen by placing the development at the top of its Tip Sheet digest, complete with the cheeky caption "Occupy Vatican." [see screen captures below page break]
Naturally, however, the Beast completely ignored statements the pontiff made on Friday lamenting the emotional and spiritual effects that abortion has on women who have obtained them. As TheWire.com reported yesterday:
Ahead of the weekend's event, Pope Francis showed glimpses of that complexity on Friday, when he made a seemingly rare statement to a group of African bishops in which he strongly condemned abortion.
Abortion compounds the grief of many women who now carry with them deep physical and spiritual wounds after succumbing to the pressures of a secular culture which devalues God’s gift of sexuality and the right to life of the unborn.”
Pope Francis has made a habit of focusing on poverty and social inequality rather than abortion, which remains a divisive issue both within and beyond the Catholic church. Two weeks before, he had called abortion "an unspeakable crime" during a speech to an Italian anti-abortion group.
Searches of DailyBeast.com for "abortion compounds the grief" and "an unspeakable crime" and "devalues God's gift" produced, you guessed it, nothing.
Here's today's Cheat Sheet item about Francis's social inequality tweet in full:
Has Pope Francis been reading Thomas Piketty? The pontiff tweeted Monday: “Inequality is the root of social evil.” In the past, Pope Francis has spoken out against economic systems that reinforce inequality, saying last year that “there was the promise that once the glass had become full it would overflow and the poor would benefit. But what happens is that when it's full to the brim, the glass magically grows, and thus nothing ever comes out for the poor.” While right-wing American critics have been quick to criticize the pope for his economic remarks, his words appear to resonate with the masses. More than 5,000 people have retweeted the statement within three hours.
