Back from their spring break on Tuesday, the liberal ladies of ABC’s The View were as hypocritical as ever. While they usually shrieked about the “separation of church and state” on issues like abortion, the cast (only one of which was supposedly a practicing Catholic) jumped at the opportunity to use Pope Francis’s death to push for their far-left open borders policy. Interestingly enough, they were suspiciously silent about Francis’s comments about abortion.
“He called on people to embrace those who are different or who are from different lands, because we are all children of god. Now, his final message to us was that. Do you think it will resonate?” moderator Whoopi Goldberg asked the rest of the table, recalling the Pontiff’s Easter sermon.
The first to spout off was Sara Haines, who had previously lashed out at more traditional Catholics who attend the Latin mass; calling them “extremist” and “cult-like.” Haines flaunted her ignorance of the origins of the Catholic Church (St. Peter the Apostol) when she dubbed Francis “the most Jesus-like” pope ever:
Gosh, I would sure hope so. It's interesting when people speak of the pope right now they talk about the type of pope he was. There's liberal popes, there's conservative. When I think of this pope, he was the most Jesus-like. You know, when you read of Jesus and what his word was and how he walked this, is what I think of, a person who lives their life this way.
She was followed up by purported devout Catholic and staunchly racist Sunny Hostin, who once insanely claimed: “Jesus would be the grand marshal at the pride parade.” Keeping with that sentiment, Hostin lamented that she had “struggled with Catholicism” because of “the doctrines” of marriage being an institution between a man and a woman.
Hostin touted how she and Francis were supposedly on the same page about immigration and empathy. She took his comments about the human condition’s conflict with empathy and suggested that it was only a problem with America:
I remember, I was having this discussion with you, Joy, about how I feel like there's a crisis of empathy in this country; that unless it happens to you, you can't feel the empathy of it happening to somebody else. They're going to deport that person, it's not going to affect my family so I don't care it's affecting others.
And I was watching a 60 Minutes piece that he was interviewed on and he said: ‘We have to get over our hearts to feel again. We cannot remain indifferent in the face of such human dramas. The globalization of indifference is a very ugly disease,’ that this country is suffering from. That's the kind of pope that he was, and that's the kind of pope that I hope will replace this pope after the current one.
Former Catholic Joy Behar seemed ignorant of how and who elected the pope. She feared “there might be a backlash against how good he was and how much humility he had compared to some of the leaders in this world right now.”
“So, there might be a backlash to it and they'll get some conservative guy in there who, you know, is anti-gay and everything else,” she decried.
Behar also demanded that the pope’s memory be forever used to shame President Trump and Elon Musk (Click “expand”):
One of the things that stands out just pictorially is a picture of somebody like Musk and Trump who are cutting back on helping children around the world, you know, cutting back on services for sick children and et cetera; and then you see the pope washing the feet of the poor. The contrast is astounding really.
You are talking about the legacy and whether there's any legs to this, yes, I think that those pictures should be put out there all the time because this administration is basically hurting children around the world with these cuts that they're doing. USAID and all of this other stuff, it's a disgrace.
Faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin said she “loved how he advocated for refugees which is a core tenet of the Christian faith…He brought Syrian refugees to Rome.”
“Listen, hopefully, hopefully the conclave will find a way to continue on his path because what it has done is it seems to have brought people back,” Goldberg proclaimed. “All of these things went on to bring people back into the church. And if the church is smart, they will not waste this. This is a legacy that has legs.”
Conspicuously absent was Francis’s comments about abortion doctors and about what abortion was: “Doctors who do this are – allow me the word – hitmen. They are hitmen…And on this you cannot argue. You are killing a human life.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
April 22, 2025
11:15:01 a.m. EasternWHOOPI GOLDBERG: Welcome back. Yesterday was a tough day, because Pope Francis, one of the great popes in my opinion, passed away just hours after sharing a very timely Easter message at the Vatican. He called on people to embrace those who are different or who are from different lands, because we are all children of god. Now, his final message to us was that. Do you think it will resonate?
SARA HAINES: Gosh, I would sure hope so. It's interesting when people speak of the pope right now they talk about the type of pope he was. There's liberal popes, there's conservative. When I think of this pope, he was the most Jesus-like. You know, when you read of Jesus and what his word was and how he walked this, is what I think of, a person who lives their life this way.
He also said at one point, in 2013 regarding gay priests: ‘If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?’ And these messages were what resonated with me, not as a Catholic but just a Christian, the love thy neighbor – love all thy neighbors, and do not judge. And he lived that through his words and his actions.
JOY BEHAR: I don't know if I love all my neighbors though.
[Laughter]
SUNNY HOSTIN: No, but I love how you said that. As a Catholic, you know, my whole life – and all of you know this, I've spoken to many of you about it. I've struggled with Catholicism because of so many of the church's -- the doctrines, especially when -- in regards to the LGBTQ+ community, in terms of the sex scandals. I've struggled with being a Catholic, but this pope changed this for me. And Whoopi and I have spoken about that.
I remember, I was having this discussion with you, Joy, about how I feel like there's a crisis of empathy in this country; that unless it happens to you, you can't feel the empathy of it happening to somebody else. They're going to deport that person, it's not going to affect my family so I don't care it's affecting others.
And I was watching a 60 Minutes piece that he was interviewed on and he said: ‘We have to get over our hearts to feel again. We cannot remain indifferent in the face of such human dramas. The globalization of indifference is a very ugly disease,’ that this country is suffering from. That's the kind of pope that he was, and that's the kind of pope that I hope will replace this pope after the current one.
BEHAR: I wonder because there might be a backlash against how good he was and how much humility he had compared to some of the leaders in this world right now. So, there might be a backlash to it and they'll get some conservative guy in there who, you know, is anti-gay and everything else.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: I have to say I'm a protestant but I loved this pope and I loved how he advocated for refugees which is a core tenet of the Christian faith. He visited – He was the first pope to ever visit Iraq and meet with Yazidis Christians who’ve been displaced by ISIS. He brought Syrian refugees to Rome. I mean, he was an incredible person and somebody we'll miss and I know you met him personally.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, he was great.
I mean, listen, he brought – And this sounds crazy, but he brought 100 comedians from around the world. 100 of us.
BEHAR: I remember that.
GOLDBERG: In to meet with him and what he said was –
[Laughter]
BEHAR: What are you doing?
GOLDBERG: What he said was I want to laugh more.
BEHAR: Oh.
GOLDBERG: We all need to laugh more and then he looked at the 100 of us and he said, ‘what you do is very important, because without you, it's a grayer day.’ Now, I don't know any other pope in my lifetime. He's -- my pope was John XXIII who I was a little kid and saw him and he was going by in a popemobile and he looked over and it was like, ‘I see you’ and I thought, I see you too.
[Laughter]
And this pope, his thing is this, he grew up around refugees. You know, he understood what people needed. He got it. Now, whether you like it or not, refugees are with us around the world. So why be negative? Why not be positive and help? Which is what he has always said. And help and walk in the grace of god.
[Applause]
Because that's how that works.
BEHAR: One of the things – One of the things that stands out just pictorially is a picture of somebody like Musk and Trump who are cutting back on helping children around the world, you know, cutting back on services for sick children and et cetera; and then you see the pope washing the feet of the poor. The contrast is astounding really.
You are talking about the legacy and whether there's any legs to this, yes, I think that those pictures should be put out there all the time because this administration is basically hurting children around the world with these cuts that they're doing. USAID and all of this other stuff, it's a disgrace.
HOSTIN: And hurting other people. Just to put a button on that. You know, what he said when he saw Trump during the first administration with the building a wall in Mexico will pay for it, we know Mexico didn't pay for anything. He said -- The pope said this, ‘A person who thinks only about building walls wherever they may be and not building bridges is not Christian.’
[Applause]
BEHAR: Well, you better tell that to some people.
GOLDBERG: Listen, hopefully, hopefully the conclave will find a way to continue on his path because what it has done is it seems to have brought people back, because they're not afraid of being divorced, because the pope wasn't mad about it. Because you're gay, the pope said, ‘look, you love god, I love god, why am I mad at you?’ All of these things went on to bring people back into the church. And if the church is smart, they will not waste this. This is a legacy that has legs.
We'll be right back.
