UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

* Pope Francis’ well scripted trip to the Philippines began and ended with unscripted injections of reality about street children. The trip began with shocking revelations that young street children were being rounded up by Manila officials and held in horrible conditions to clear the streets for Pope Francis’ visit, as reported by the UK Daily Mail here: [Daily Mail]

* The pope’s last full day in the Philippines began with an emotional youth gathering where he faced a tough question from one of the street children.

* Pope Francis concluded his trip in open-air Mass. In his homily, the pope took another swipe at the Philippines’ government’s new program to make effective family planning options accessible to, and affordable by, the countries poor, saying the family was under threat from “insidious attacks and programs contrary to all that we hold true…