Pope Francis has apologised today for angrily smacking the hand of a woman in St Peter’s Square who grabbed him during New Year Mass and wouldn’t let go.
Featured Image VIA
Here’s the footage:
Not exactly Pope-like behaviour but I guess that’s why Pope Francis prefers riding around in his Popemobile – his lunatic followers can’t get close to him that way. I mean come on lady, that’s the Pope, not Justin Bieber!
Anyway, Pope Francis has now put out a (probably insincere) apology for the ‘bad example’ he set smacking that woman’s hand away while she tried to pull his arm out of its socket.
Via Reuters:
His unusual apology came after he used his first homily of the new year to denounce violence against women, which he compared to profaning God.
“So many times we lose patience, even me, and I apologize for yesterday’s bad example,” the pope told thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday at the end of the traditional New Year Mass.
“All violence inflicted on women is a desecration of God,” he told a packed St. Peter’s Basilica.
“How often is a woman’s body sacrificed on the profane altar of advertising, profit, pornography,” he said, adding that the female body “must be freed from consumerism, it must be respected and honored”.
Despite creating life, women “are continually offended, beaten, raped, forced into prostitution” and made to have abortions, he said. “We can understand our level of humanity by the way we treat a woman’s body,” he told the congregation.
During his homily, Francis also addressed another theme close to his heart, immigration, saying women who moved abroad to provide for their children should be honored, not scorned.
Bit of a long-winded apology there. Not sure why he didn’t just say ‘sorry for smacking that lady’s hand’ and been done with it but of course he had to start banging on about “the profane altar of advertising, profit and pornography” and be extra dramatic about the whole thing.
I guess we should have seen this whole thing coming though – remember how disgusted he was when people tried to kiss his hand?
WTF… pic.twitter.com/bOibJyLS4H
— Matt Couch 🎙 (@RealMattCouch) January 1, 2020
As for the lady whose hand he smacked, what a story to tell the grandchildren and so on for generations to come. If there’s one thing more special than getting a New Year’s kiss it’s being on the receiving end of a New Year’s slap from Pope Francis himself. Fair play to her.
P.S. Did you know that the reason Pope Francis became a priest is because his childhood crush rejected him at age 12? True story.
