Did Pope Francis know the backgrounds of the three Hollywood celebrities to whom he bestowed the Olive Medal for Peace on Sunday?
The question was raised by pro-life Canadian author Patrick B. Craine in a blog post published in LifeSiteNews on Thursday.
The pope awarded the medal to George Clooney, Richard Gere and Salma Hayek during a publicised Vatican event. All three Hollywood actors have a history of advocacy against the Church's moral and social teachings, according to Craine.
The pope gave the three Hollywood actors the Olive Medal in recognition of their activism against climate change, war and terrorism, according to Crux.
The three will now act as ambassadors for the arts projects of the Scholas Occurrentes, a foundation of pontifical right founded by Pope Francis in 2013, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The charity foundation is a network of schools intended to help children socially integrate within their cultures through the use of technology and the arts.
Unfortunately, all three actors have a history of supporting causes to dismantle the traditional family and morality, including abortion and same-sex "marriage," both in their films and their public advocacy work, Craine writes.
Hayek was born and raised in a Catholic family but eventually left the Church and has since then been openly critical of the Church and religion in general, the author says.
In a 2007 interview with Marie Claire, she explained why she left the Church: "The minute I started thinking it through, I realised all religions are a form of manipulation. And I started having problems with certain beliefs-like in Africa, where people are dying of AIDS and overpopulation, the Catholic Church is going over to convert them and take away the condoms! And I said, wait a minute . . ."
In a 2003 interview with The Advocate, Hayek also blamed the Church for attacks on homosexuals. "I disapprove of their lack of acceptance of gay people as equals. ... I am very angry about the way gay people are treated around the world. I think religion has a lot to do with it. I think that God doesn't make any differences—I think that we are all loved by God the same. He has accepted gay people. It's part of creation but it's a lot easier to judge than to learn," she said.
Clooney, for his part, joined other Hollywood actors in 2012 in a play called "8," ridiculing the pro-marriage backers of California's Proposition 8.
At Sunday's Vatican event, Clooney lauded Scholas Occurrentes, saying it was "wonderful" to see "so many religions talking about inclusion."
He also hailed Pope Francis for his effort to address "fundamentalist attitudes" by focusing on school children. "We have to start with schools, because we know that hatred and fundamentalist attitudes have to be taught. We're not born this way, it's a learned behavior. Pope Francis is focusing on schools, because he knows that this is the only way we're going to fight it," Clooney said.
Craine says that by honouring Clooney, Gere, and Hayek, Pope Francis is "undermining the Catholic faithful's effort to preserve the faith."
"The pope's actions," he says, "are unfortunately much worse than merely adding extra burdens on the faithful. Vastly worse. For by honouring the enemies of life and the natural family, the pope is playing a part in the cultural destruction going on all around us. This is truly a scandal of immense proportion ... because it involves the endorsement of the Vicar of Christ himself."
