Pope Francis was visibly annoyed ahead of his traditional New Year’s Day address after a woman in the crowd grabbed his hand. The Pope was greeting people in the crowd in St. Peter’s Square when an eager woman latched on to a handshake and wouldn’t let go.
Obviously irritated, Pope Francis slapped at the woman’s hand until she let him loose. It also appeared in some video that the pope was shouting at the woman.
He has since apologized for the pope slap heard around the world.
“I apologize for the poor example yesterday,” Pope Francis said about the incident.
After the apology, Pope Francis took the time to denounce violence against women.
“Women are sources of life. Yet they are continually insulted, beaten, raped, forced to prostitute themselves and to suppress the life they bear in the womb,” the Pontiff said, as transcribed by the Vatican. “Every form of violence inflicted upon a woman is a blasphemy against God, who was born of a woman.
“Humanity’s salvation came forth from the body of a woman: we can understand our degree of humanity by how we treat a woman’s body. How often are women’s bodies sacrificed on the profane altars of advertising, of profiteering, of pornography, exploited like a canvas to be used. Yet women’s bodies must be freed from consumerism; they must be respected and honored. Theirs is the most noble flesh in the world, for it conceived and brought to light the love that has saved us! In our day, too, motherhood is demeaned, because the only growth that interests us is economic growth. There are mothers who risk difficult journeys desperately seeking to give a better future to the fruit of their womb, yet are deemed redundant by people with full stomachs but hearts empty of love.”
If the pope has already had enough of 2020, we are all going to be in for a long year.
