Floyd, the bishop of Washington to Trump: "Do not manipulate religion"

2020-06-02T21:06:14.660Z

After the analogous photo in front of the Episcopal church, the media echo of President Trump's visit to the National Shrine dedicated to John Paul II provokes the harsh reaction from the Archbishop of Washington, who defines the political exploitation of places as "disconcerting" religious symbols. "American President Donald Trump has chosen this method to oppose protests for the death of African American George Floyd, who has unleashed a wave of violence from Minneapolis that has also turned New York upside down. But the choice of religious symbols has aroused harsh reactions from the local Catholic Church, after similar grievances from the Episcopalian ", underlines Vatican News. "I find it disconcerting and reprehensible - said the Archbishop of Washington Wilton D. Gregory - that any Catholic institution accepts to be manipulated and that it is misused in order to violate our religious principles, which instead call us to defend the rights of all people, even those with whom we may disagree. " St. John Paul II, continues the note, "was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings. His legacy is a living testimony to this truth. He would certainly not approve of the use of tear gas and other deterrents aimed at silence, disperse or threaten these people just to have the opportunity of a photograph in front of a place of prayer and peace ". Monsignor Shelton Fabre, bishop of Houma-Thibodaux and president of the Commission against Racism of the US Bishops' Conference, also explains clearly: "In this country we are once again faced with the loss of a life due to racism. Anger and indignation are justified because, once again, it is incredible that we had to witness the death of an African-American man who was in police custody and, once again, witness indifference towards a person who is pleading to be able to breathe. Not having accepted this plea is simply beyond what is possible. " "There are many initiatives underway today: from the street riots, which include everything, from the - fortunately - peaceful protest to the conflicts and riots that lead to the destruction of private property, and this we cannot approve of. And of course we ask the end of this, "he continued during an interview with the Vatican media," this is something we have been struggling with since the birth of our country: racism. The thought that people of a different race - the black people - they are worth less than me because of their racial belonging. Racism is this: to believe that someone is worth less than me because they belong to a race different from mine. I don't want to attribute what is happening to the current situation: the roots are not are in the present moment. The roots of all of this lie in our long history of attempts to combat racism constructively and adequately. I think the pandemic we are experiencing ndo and which caused the lockdown has certainly fomented justified frustration and anger. " Now "the pandemic has revealed the" racial "reality, so the black people of this country, and especially African Americans, have been particularly affected by the virus precisely because of systemic racism, of all those things that they put them in the conditions they are in. Many of them don't have health insurance. Many work in the service industry, and don't have sick leave. Many live in housing conditions that span several generations, all together, and therefore make social distancing is impossible. All these aspects of systemic racism have spilled petrol on the fire of frustration. " "Certainly we cannot justify the violence. We are asking for peaceful protests. Just in this period, a phrase by Martin Luther King was recalled, according to which a riot is the language of those who are not listened to. While we firmly condemn the violence in the unrest, we understand the frustration and indignation of those people who also engage in peaceful protests to be heard, "he concluded.