Vatican Gun Control

Catholic institutions in Georgia will restrict firearms from their sanctuaries, schools and other institutions following Gov. Nathan Deal’s approval of legislation that widely expands the state’s gun laws.   Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta. Archbishop Wilton Gregory wrote in a column in the Georgia Bulletin that he will “officially restrict” the presence of weapons in Georgia’s Catholic churches and religious institutions. Limited exceptions could be made for members of the military, law enforcement officials and others authorized by the government to protect the public, Gregory said. Wrote Gregory: The last thing we need is more firearms in public places, especially in those places frequented by children and the vulnerable. I do not want to suggest restricting firearms in places where they are needed, to protect one’s home and property or to defend the public by officials who are entrusted with our protection. Yet this new legislation de facto makes firea

By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times - Thursday, April 11, 2013 Banning guns builds a “culture of life” and lawmakers must consider more clampdowns, not less, said one Catholic Church bishop in California in a written petition to U.S. senators. “Sadly, gun violence is too common a reality,” said Bishop Stephen Blair , chairman on the bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, in a letter to the U.S. Senate that was quoted by Catholic News Agency. The “violence that occurs daily in our homes and communities should lead us to answer the call of Pope Francis to ‘change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace.’” SEE ALSO: Senators avert gun filibuster, setting up hard fight; 16 Republicans among ‘no’ votes The bishop referenced in his letter S. 649, the Safe C

CHICAGO — A Chicago community group is suing three suburbs, accusing them of not adequately monitoring gun stores they believe are the source of weapons that have filtered into the city. The Rev. Michael Pfleger on Tuesday announced the lawsuits against Lincolnwood, Lyons and Riverdale. The activist priest says many of the guns recovered from Chicago crime scenes came from stores in those communities. Lawyers for the Coalition for Safe Chicago Communities filed the lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court claiming the suburbs' gun store regulations violate the Illinois Civil Rights Act. Pfleger contends violence is a civil rights issue and by failing to monitor the gun sales adequately the stores are violating families' rights by preventing them from doing regular activities such as walk to school and play in parks. Link to story

Pro-gun Catholics clash with bishops' desire for firearm regulation A woman holds a handgun at the Cabela's store in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2008. (CNS/Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi) Aaron Schrank Religion News Service  |  Apr. 11, 2013 Share on facebook Share on twitter More Sharing Services 35 Print email PDF As the Senate takes up a heated debate over gun control and background checks, Catholic bishops have used the months since the Newtown, Conn., school shootings to push gun control in email blasts and Senate Judiciary Committee testimony. But among the Catholic faithful, not everyone supports gun control measures. Call them the NRA Catholics. John M. Snyder, a lifelong Catholic and former seminarian, is one.

VATICAN CITY -- The Catholic Church's position on gun control is not easy to find; there are dozens of speeches and talks and a few documents that call for much tighter regulation of the global arms trade, but what about private gun ownership? The answer is resoundingly clear: Firearms in the hands of civilians should be strictly limited and eventually completely eliminated. "The answer is resoundingly clear: Firearms in the hands of civilians should be strictly limited and eventually completely eliminated." But you won't find that statement in a headline or a document subheading. It's almost hidden in a footnote in a document on crime by the U.S. bishops' conference and it's mentioned in passing in dozens of official Vatican texts on the global arms trade. The most direct statement comes in the bishops' "Responsibility, Rehabilitation and Restoration: A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice" from November 2000.

This 'sculpture' stands outside of the United Nations building. The Vatican wants private firearms to be banned for all citizens of the world. They are very quiet about this fact and you can only find their statements in footnotes on Crime and Small Arms Treaty documents. Although not widely known, their desire to take guns away from private citizens is clear. Here is a statement from the US bishops taken from “A Catholic Perspective on Crime and Criminal Justice from November 2000: “As bishops, we support measures that control the sale and use of firearms and make them safer–especially efforts that precent their unsupervised use by children or anyone other than the owner–and we reiterate our call for sensible regulation of handguns.” The footnote says: “However, we believe that in the long run and with few exceptions–i.e, police officers, military use–handguns should be eliminated from our society.” The United Nations also calls for a ban on firearms for pri

MAX ROSSI/REUTERS Pope Francis criticized weapons manufacturers who call themselves Christians on Sunday. “They say one thing and do another,” he said. TURIN, Italy — People who manufacture weapons or invest in weapons industries are hypocrites if they call themselves Christian, Pope Francis said on Sunday. Francis issued his toughest condemnation to date of the weapons industry at a rally of thousands of young people at the end of the first day of his trip to the Italian city of Turin. "If you trust only men you have lost," he told the young people in a long, rambling talk about war, trust and politics after putting aside his prepared address. "It makes me think of ... people, managers, businessmen who call themselves Christian and they manufacture weapons. That leads to a bit a distrust, doesn't it?" he said to applause. He also criticized those who invest in weapons industries, saying "duplicity is the cur

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican praised President Barack Obama's proposals for curbing gun violence, saying they are a "step in a right direction." The Vatican's chief spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said Saturday that 47 religious leaders have appealed to members of the U.S. Congress "to limit firearms that are making society pay an unacceptable price in terms of massacres and senseless deaths." "I am with them," Lombardi said, in an editorial carried on Vatican Radio, lining up the Vatican's moral support in favor of firearm limits. `'The initiatives announced by the American administration for limiting and controlling the spread and use of weapons are certainly a step in the right direction," Lombardi said. Obama is trying to rally support for reinstating a ban on assault weapons and requiring background checks on all gun sales. He faces stiff opposition in the U.S. Congress and from powerful gun lobbies. C

In the aftermath of the Newtown school shooting, Jesuit Father Greg Boyle cautions against looking at the tragedy from too distant a perspective. Looking at this from “an aerial view of nonviolence oddly keeps us from solutions,” Fr. Boyle told the National Catholic Reporter . “In the same way the [Connecticut] governor said, ‘A great evil visited this community today,’ well, actually, armed mental illness visited your community that day. This is what keeps us from addressing actual issues,” said Fr. Boyle, who has worked with gang members in Los Angeles since 1988 through his Homeboy Industries ministry, which is the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the U.S. “When we take our views lower, we know we need to address guns and we need to address mental illness,” Fr. Boyle said. “The elephant in the room is mental health, which is something I see more and more with the gang population with whom I work.” Fr. Boyle also told the Natio

On Friday, July 20, after the shooting rampage in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater that left 12 dead, Jesuit Father James Martin, culture editor at America magazine, posted the following on Facebook: “Gun control is a pro-life issue. Pray for the families of the victims in Colorado, and for an end to the taking of life by violence.” That post sparked a debate on Fr. Martin’s Facebook page that USA Today’s Faith & Reason blog reported on later that day, in a post titled “ Would Jesus pack heat? Is gun control a God issue ?” On July 22, Fr. Martin expanded on his views in a post on America magazine’s blog . Fr. Martin stated that he is a religious person, not a political person, and that he believes gun control is a religious issue: “It is as much of a ‘life issue’ or a ‘pro-life issue,’ as some religious people say, as is abortion, euthanasia or the death penalty (all of which I am against), and programs that provide the poor with the same access to basic human n

Posted on June 22, 2015 Pope Francis AmmoLand Gun News Italy – -( Ammoland.com )- Pope Francis spoke with a group of young people at a rally of thousands at the end of the first day of his trip to the Italian city of Turin. Francis started by attacking the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as well as accusing the allies during World War Two of being complicit in the killing of Jews, Christians and homosexuals. Francis issued his toughest condemnation to date of the weapons industry, saying. “If you trust only men you have lost,” he told the young people in a long, rambling talk about war, trust and politics after putting aside his prepared address. “It makes me think of … people, managers, businessmen who call themselves Christian and they manufacture weapons. That leads to a bit a distrust, doesn’t it?” he said to applause. He also criticized those who invest in weapons industries (gun owners), saying “duplicity is the currency of today … they say on

( Blog mirrored from original site ) from John Snyder gundean@aol.com How can Vatican bureaucrats justify support for United Nations gun control initiatives while at the same time advocate the right to life? How can Vatican bureaucrats deny the right to the means necessary for defense of life against violent criminals, including dictatorial criminal governments, proliferating around the world today? The St. Gabriel Possenti Society, Inc. is the international linchpin between support for the right to life and the right to the means necessary for defense of life. The following front page Crossfire article appeared in the National Catholic Register, Volume 77, Number 34, August 26-September 1, 2001: DOES BUSH OPPOSE THE VATICAN ON GUN CONTROL? By Kevin Michael Grace Register Correspondent VATICAN CITY – Only the strong opposition of the Bush administration has prevented the establishment by the United Nations of a global gun control policy. This position appears