Steve Bannon-Shot Across the Bow

Steve Bannon-Shot Across the Bow VATICAN CITY — Two close associates of Pope Francis have accused American Catholic ultraconservatives of making an alliance of “hate” with evangelical Christians to back President Trump, further alienating a group already out of the Vatican’s good graces. The authors, writing in a Vatican-vetted journal, singled out Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s chief strategist, as a “supporter of an apocalyptic geopolitics” that has stymied action against climate change and exploited fears of migrants and Muslims with calls for “walls and purifying deportations.” The article warns that conservative American Catholics have strayed dangerously into the deepening political polarization in the United States. The writers even declare that the worldview of American evangelical and hard-line Catholics, which is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, is “not too far apart’’ from jihadists. It is not clear if the article, appearing in La Civiltà Cattolica, received the pope’s direct blessing, but it was extraordinary coming from a journal that carries the Holy See’s seal of approval. There has apparently been no reprimand from the pope, who is not shy about disciplining dissenters, and La Civiltà Cattolica’s editor has promoted the article nearly every day since it was published in July. The article and the backlash to it — accusations of anti-Americanism have been rife, and one prominent American prelate likened the authors to “useful idiots” — have highlighted the widening distance between Francis and American Catholic conservatives. Information Link https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/world/europe/vatican-us-catholic-conservatives.html Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief of Breitbart News and now President Trump's chief strategist, was the main driver of the president’s rapid signing of the executive order on immigration, which set off a political firestorm. At the center of critics’ concerns is the perception that the order is aimed at Muslims, though Mr. Trump said over the weekend that the order “is not a Muslim ban” and noted that it singled out only seven of about 50 majority-Muslim countries. Mr. Bannon has long argued that Americans, whether they know it or not, are in a war with radical Islam, describing it in sweeping, almost apocalyptic terms. His view appears to be shared by Mr. Trump and his national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, and by several lower-ranking officials. Illuminating Mr. Bannon’s views is a lengthy talk he gave in the summer of 2014 via Skype from Los Angeles to a Vatican meeting of the Institute for Human Dignity, a conservative Catholic group based in Rome. What follows are brief audio and video excerpts of the talk, which was first published in full by BuzzFeed in November, with explanatory comments. Information Link https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/01/us/stephen-bannon-war-with-radical-islam.htmlAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy