Pope on critics: It's 'an honor if the Americans attack me'
Source: Associated Press
Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Updated 12:12 pm CDT, Wednesday, September 4, 2019
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis acknowledged his growing opposition within the conservative right-wing of the U.S. Catholic Church and said in off-hand remarks aboard the papal plane Wednesday it is "an honor if the Americans attack me."
Francis commented on critics of his papacy when he received a copy of a new book about his detractors in the United States, "How America Wants to Change the Pope." Author Nicholas Seneze, who covers the Vatican for the French Catholic newspaper La Croix, presented it to Francis on a flight to southern Africa.
. . .
In his book, Seneze charts the fierce criticism of Francis among American conservatives who loathe his outreach to migrants and China, his denunciation of free-market capitalism, his environmental concerns and his relaxation of church rules on the death penalty and sacraments for civilly remarried Catholics. Some have gone so far as to accuse Francis of heresy.
The pope's most outspoken conservative critics in the U.S. include Cardinal Raymond Burke, who Francis ousted as a Vatican supreme court justice, and former White House adviser Steve Bannon. Well-funded, right-wing Catholic media amplified their disapproval. Wealthy Catholics are putting money behind initiatives to discredit Francis' allies with the goal of electing a conservative, doctrine-minded churchman as the next pope.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Pope-on-critics-It-s-an-honor-if-the-Americans-14413334.php
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All the more so in Pope Francis' case - given that his own country, Argentina, is currently in severe crisis thanks largely to Trump's old friend (and ideological kin), Mauricio Macri.
Macri basically adopted Bushonomics when he took office 4 years ago. And when the debt bubble popped in April 2018, he ran to the IMF for a bailout.
The IMF's board strongly advised against it, since they knew that (a) Macri's deregulation would lead to most of that money being offshored by his friends (Argentina's banking and landowning elite);
and (b) that $50 billion could never be repaid within the stipulated 4 years without an eventual rescheduling (to, say, a 10-year extended fund facility).
But because Trump's right-wing Cuban advisers (who know next to nothing about Argentina) convinced him the bailout might save Macri's re-election chances, he insisted the IMF give him the bailout.
Not only did it not work (Macri lost the first round by 16%, and polls show him losing the 2nd round by at least 25%); but now the IMF has 61% of its entire global loan portfolio committed to Argentina.
And because Macri's friends have offshored most of it, they can't pay it back!
So next year, guess who the IMF will turn to for their bailout?
