POPE FEVER! Do you have it? You should! It’s all the cool kids are talking about this week, as the Catholic Rock Star Pope Francis is currently touring America and bringing his papal thunder like no other. From his humble Fiat to making stops to mingle with the homeless, Pope Francis has been stealing plenty of headlines and hearts as he is ultimately trying to express his concern for the biggest problems in the world. He has already spoken on climate change and he challenged Congress to “heal the world’s open wounds.” Short of tackling the Kardashian problem, this guy is scratching his humble followers in all the right places.
However, not everyone is feeling the pope-a-mania. Native Americans are very upset with the pope’s decision to canonize Spanish missionary Junipero Serra. While Pope Francis celebrates Serra’s legacy, describing him as a man who “sought to defend the dignity of the native community, to protect it from those who had mistreated and abused it,” California’s Natives want people to know that the new saint was anything but. In fact, the people behind one campaign to stop Serra’s canonization, because the church is “purposely overlooking the deaths and the cultural genocide of Native American people,” claim that they’ve received no response from the pope’s camp. Probably because they’re just too busy enjoying the rock star life.
For more on POPE MADNESS 2015, anchors Tom Storey and Briana Lane weigh in on today’s episode of The Desk.