Monday, June 4, 2018

"Do you like Pope Francis?" New Italian Families Minister: "Let's just say I prefer Cardinal Burke"

Lorenzo Fontana

In the first post-war Italian elections of 1948, Pope Pius XII told Catholics that they could not vote for the socialist and communist left.

A few generations later, in the elections of 2018, the current occupant of the Papal throne sided with the socialist and communist left.

This would have been a stunning development if we had not already become so used to the radical and bizarre directions Francis has attempted to take the Church in the last five years.  

Fortunately, the majority of Italian voters were on the other side.

Lorenzo Fontana, 38, became the Minister for Family and Disability in the new Italian coalition government of Giuseppe Conte on June 1.

Gloria TV just reported on a 2016 interview he had with Italian media:
In November 2016, he told liberoquotidiano.it that he impressed his future wife Emilia on her first visit to Verona by taking her to the Old Latin Mass. 
To the question whether he is "ultra-Catholic" Fontana replied, “I try to be Catholic. It is not easy.” 
Asked, if he likes Pope Francis, Fontana said, “Let’s say that I prefer Cardinal Burke.”
Here is the current Wikipedia entry on Fontana's politics:
Fontana is widely considered a social conservative. He calls himself a "crusader" who fights against abortion, same-sex civil unions and stepchild adoption, which he considers as a "weakening of the family". He is also against "pro-LGBT" sexual education, stating that Vladimir Putin's Russia "is the reference for those who believe in a nationalist model of society". On 2 June 2018, the day after becoming minister, he added that "gay families do not exist". 
He strongly opposes illegal immigration to Italy, claiming that it is, together with the "gay marriages and the so-called gender theory in schools", a serious threat that "aims to erase the Italian people along with their communities and traditions". 
Fontana is married and has one daughter. He is a Roman Catholic.

H/t Hilary White at What's Up with Francis Church @WUWTS

1 comment:

  1. Just some wild speculation here, but, it seems that there's a correlation between ones contact with the traditional Mass and ones willingness to speak out in favor of positions and policies that push the limit of acceptable political speech. I mean this by reference to Mr. Fontana, Mr. Rees-Mogg of England and Ms. Marechal-Le Pen of France. They may not all fit neatly within the boundary of full Traditional Catholicism but they seem to be more willing to speak out and be honest about the situation in Europe than just about anyone else, certainly mainstream novus ordo "conservative" Catholics. I recall that one of Poland's outspoken senior political leaders is also the mother of a recently ordained traditional priest (of the FSSP I believe). The point being that "conservative"-but-not-traditional Catholic political leaders have served the Church and the interests of Christian civilization perhaps only marginally better than the Pelosi-Biden-Kennedy Catholics-in-name only/Catholic-when-its-time-to-appeal-to working-class-Catholics-for-votes crowd.

    One day, perhaps we might even hope soon, a full Catholic counter-revolution may come into full view.

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