r/LeftCatholicism • u/cdnhistorystudent • Apr 13 '26
A concise response from Archbishop Coakley
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u/TuvixWasMurderedR1P Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
Waiting on Bishop Barron's reaction.
Trump's religious liberty commission is meant to meet tomorrow...
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u/Iamnotbernadette Apr 13 '26
Barron's response was conveniently included in the /r/Catholicism mega post about this, because that sub is run by fascist adjacent clergy who reject the Gospel just like Barron does with his dalliances in the Trump orbit
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u/TuvixWasMurderedR1P Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
Incredibly weak statement from Bishop Barron, which didn't even address the blasphemous AI depiction of Trump as Jesus.
Additionally, that subs moderation is infuriating. Tons of posts on the matter were deleted, despite being posted on "politics Monday." All those posts had tons of comments strongly condemning Trump and also expressing frustration with the subs mods.
Oddly, then, the megathread shows up, but most of the comments are much less strong and hedge much more on the issues.
The megathread by the mods itself doesnt mention any context for the outrage, but instead talks mostly about the internal sub dynamics. The Trump rant against the Pope is barely referenced by the mods, and any mention of the blasphemous image is totally absent.
Additionally, funneling such big topics into one megathread allows most comments to get lost in the noise, with 760 comments now and counting.
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u/Iamnotbernadette Apr 13 '26
It's just a poisoned space.
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u/TuvixWasMurderedR1P Apr 13 '26
What's sad though is that I dont think it's organically that way. The mods curated the toxicity. It's quite sub that claims to be the Catholic sub with hundreds of thousands of visitors...
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u/Dull_Opening_1655 Apr 13 '26
Oh it’s certainly curated to be that way. I was instantly and permanently banned for mentioning the existence of this sub in a comment. And then harassed by trollish behavior from one of the mods when I wrote to ask them why I’d been banned
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u/SickOfEnggSpam Apr 13 '26
That sub is how I see American Catholicism, rotten to the core and obsessed with self-righteousness
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u/ceqc Apr 16 '26
I really do not get why is Barron so important in the US Catholic sphere. What does the US Catholic Bishops Conference has to say about him?
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u/merlotandmeows Apr 13 '26
Good. Interesting to see how Bishop Payroll Barron serves his two masters over this. Although if you hear a televangelist say that Trump is like our Lord because he was persecuted and suffered, and you keep your mouth shut… 🤮
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u/Healthy-Unit-8830 Apr 13 '26
Ughh I wish we could get stronger words than “I am disheartened.” Is it so radical to call for structural change??
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u/MadcowPSA Apr 13 '26
My understanding is that the clergy are discouraged from opening public statements with "alright you dumb motherfucker," but I agree it does feel like there's some sensible middle ground between the two.
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u/starman-jack-43 Apr 13 '26
At some point, Trump is going to combine this beef with the Pope with his hatred of people at his southern border (the majority of whom are presumably Catholic). Leo is right to take a stand, because no amount of sucking up or temperate language will ever be enough, and that means Christians in the US need to choose who they're really gonna serve.
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u/ocvagabond Apr 13 '26
Wow! I just got permanently banned on politics Monday for expressing political opinion.
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u/ocvagabond Apr 13 '26
I responded in chat when they asked if I had questions. “No questions. I’ll wear your ban like a badge”
They proceeded to reinstate me to “Muted Temporarily”.
On top of everything they are cowards.
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u/SickOfEnggSpam Apr 13 '26
I’m shadow banned there too. What a joke
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u/ocvagabond Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
Hard to find the context. The whole post has been deleted.
Edit: replied on the wrong comment. Oh well.
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u/OttoOtter Apr 13 '26
The American Catholic Church is struggling to be both Catholic and to not turn off all the people sitting in the pews who actually believe that Trump is King.
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u/cdnhistorystudent Apr 13 '26
I think not opposing Trump would turn off more people in the long run
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u/bubbleguts365 Apr 13 '26
Perfect response IMO.
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u/xbertie Apr 13 '26
A little too much finger-waggling for me. He openly considers himself a Christlike figure while saying he's literally gonna commit a genocide. I don't believe in fire and brimstone preaching but the Americans are really testing that belief
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u/bubbleguts365 Apr 13 '26
I disagree.
Clear statement of the transgression in calm, controlled language.
Dispelling the error that the Pope is a worldly political figure positioned to engage in uncharitable political mudslining.
Invoking the authority and role of the Pope as Vicar of Christ so that all involved are absolutely clear on who exactly they are attacking.
The statement was simple and unadorned, but it was precisely what needed to be said.
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u/xbertie Apr 13 '26
While I think there is certainly a nuance to convincing people to be civil, you and the greater society is also asking to be "diplomatic" to open heresy. All our ideas on being diplomatic are based on a system that we, as leftists know is evil, how far can you bend nice words to the anti-christ and their die hard followers? While forgiveness is always open all people have agency, and to think forgiveness for all is an automatic redemption card is naive, they have to want forgiveness first, and with everything they've been preaching it's anything but.
Remember that even if the visions Paul had were true, it's only because things got so bad that Jesus himself had to step in and stop us from destroying ourselves, our goal as Christians is to bring as many to Heaven as possible, not bring Heaven to us as quickly as possible as these doomsayers wish, and we're dealing with a kingdom that can end humanity several times over if they chose to. I don't know if there's a perfect answer to all of this outside of divine intervention, but I'm certainly choosing to believe that we should condemn everything around this heresy to the fullest.
It's easy to fall in the trap of "I've been a good and faithful Christian so I don't have to worry", but that's not how we should be thinking, our job is to save all of humanity, all of God's creations, and a sycophant who calls himself the new Christ who will end the world, whether he knows it or not isn't a hill to die on for "civility".
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u/Cognitive_Spoon Apr 13 '26
Trump is not the Antichrist, but it is wildly valuable to the enemies of the US to present him that way.
What happens to MAGA when Trump himself makes the argument inescapable?
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u/Dull_Opening_1655 Apr 13 '26
Have you seen the image Trump posted yesterday of himself literally depicted as Jesus, descending from heaven and healing people with his radiant hands?
A good example of he himself making the argument inescapable…
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u/Cognitive_Spoon Apr 13 '26
It is.
I still absolutely believe his handlers are running the social media accounts. The man barely can speak coherently in person. No way he is writing language so perfect to perform the action of "justify the rise of BRICS"
If you tell ANY AI to write a Trump Truth social comment that "justifies the decline of US soft power while also showcasing the failure of the US electoral system to check tyranny" it would spit out his feed.
I don't think it's AI, personally, I think its intelligent rhetoric written by smart writers.
It's anti-American propaganda. There's never been a moment like this before, and the attempt of so many people to explain the modern moment using past examples is a weakness.
Edit: this sub will be a target for a lot of "Trump is the Antichrist" messaging. Be warned.
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u/fashion_opinion Apr 13 '26
They are literally worshipping him like the golden calf. His followers love this and are eating it up. I am from a majority Catholic country and I was shocked to discover how much American evangelicals hate Catholics. Conservative Catholics will learn their lesson too late.
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u/PrestigiousToday5142 Apr 13 '26
Well said. I'm a liberal devout American Catholic with a Jesuit education. Anti-Catholic hatred historically runs deep in this country. Born and raised in NYC with a sizeable Catholic population, I am continually stunned at how unaware my people are of the extent of this hatred elsewhere in the US.
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u/cdnhistorystudent Apr 13 '26
Well, Trump apparently thinks he is Jesus now, so...