Sunday, September 14, 2014

Cain

A number of articles today say that Pope Francis has said that a "piecemeal" World War III has started.

Which is fully in line with what is expected from the view of this blog, that we're heading into a Crisis that is going to be on the level of the other World Wars. As we head deeper into this Turning, more people are likely to have similar thoughts, even if they don't pay attention to Strauss & Howe.

It's worth acknowledging, though, that it is a very loose interpretation of his remarks.  They were, in fact,  part of a homily given at mass celebrated at the Italian Military Memorial of Redipuglia. (That link, from Vatican Radio, uses "Pope Francis: War is 'madness' which brings destruction" as its headline. It does not mention World War III.)

 The entire section from which these stories flows is as follows:
Above the entrance to this cemetery, there hangs in the air those ironic words of war, “What does it matter to me?”  Each one of the dead buried here had their own plans, their own dreams… but their lives were cut short.  Humanity said, “What does it matter to me?”
Even today, after the second failure of another world war, perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction…
In all honesty, the front page of newspapers ought to carry the headline, “What does it matter to me?”  Cain would say, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The homily has a continued reference to Genesis 4:9, when Cain is confronted by the Lord over the death of his brother Abel. It's more about bloodshed continuing on from there, with the same response from all of us, than a detailed justification of why World War III has started.



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