Ray Flynn, former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, tells
Newsmax TV that politicians would rather talk about a pizza shop in Indiana than address the persecution that's facing Christians this Easter season.
"What's the issue today? It's the killing of Christians throughout the world," Flynn, former mayor of Boston, told John Bachman, Miranda Khan and Vera Gibbons on "America's Forum" on Friday.
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"This season of hope . . . namely Easter, has become a season of despair, a season of shame, in fact, because our political leaders refuse to take a position," he explained.
"Political correctness now dominates what they talk about," he contends.
"A pizza shop in Indiana has become more of an issue that they talk about than the brutality and the killing of innocent Christian children in Kenya by radical Islamic groups," he said.
"We're seeing politicians now escaping the tough issues to focus on the popular issues, and therefore, we're seeing the world in crisis this Easter season," he added.
Almost 150 people were brutally killed Thursday at a college campus in Kenya, in which
Somali Islamist terrorists were reportedly targeting Christians.
"It's spiraling out of control. There's not really any moral leadership or political leadership. It's a group of bandits, of terrorists, as radical religious terrorists controlling the political environment in many of these countries and areas in the Middle East and into Africa," Flynn explained.
"We don't even have to watch the accounts on TV this Easter season about the crucifixion of Christ — we're seeing the crucifixion of innocent Christian children in countries like Kenya and throughout the world in the Middle East," he contends.
"It's right before our eyes, and if the world ended today, a lot of political leaders would have lots to account for, explain why they sat silently while the fire, the hate, the brutality and the killing was taking place," he said.
"I studied the Holocaust. I was fascinated by what took place in Europe in the early 1930s, but you know what, people in the future, generations are going to be looking at this era in our history and say, 'Where was the moral conscience of the world where we could allow innocent powerless young children be brutalized and the rest of the world remains silent?''' the former ambassador explained.
Flynn said this is why
Pope Francis is so popular in America and in the world, as seen in a recent poll, which showed that the pope is significantly more popular in the United States than President Barack Obama.
"It's refreshing to hear a public figure like Pope Francis speak and demonstrate this humility that we don't often find in our political leaders and speak frankly to the public, even though many of the political leaders don't pay attention to what he has to say, particularly about the crisis that's happening in the Middle East and Africa," the former Boston mayor told Newsmax.
"He's perhaps the one moral voice that people can identify with throughout the country and throughout the world," he said.
"It's refreshing in this climate of political correctness of politicians who are afraid to speak out about the atrocities and the tragedies that are taking place around us that Pope Francis is not afraid," he explained.
"He's like Pope John Paul II, he expresses what's really important, what's on people's minds, what's in people's hearts, and that's the secret of the success of the popularity of Pope Francis," he added.
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