December 2, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) — LifeSiteNews’ publication of a news story detailing the Pope Francis’ statements on the plane returning from Africa on November 30 has caused much reaction. I will admit it’s hard to believe the pope actually said what he did. I had the same reaction when I saw his comments to the Lutheran Church in Rome about Communion. I would have found it hard to believe if I couldn’t watch the video myself.
Some reaction to our coverage suggested that we used faulty translation and did not put the pope’s words into context. Therefore we’ve put together the video of the pope’s remarks on the plane about fundamentalist Catholics with the official Vatican English translations (Vatican Information Service) at the bottom of the video. In those instances where the Vatican omitted translation we’ve supplied the missing words.
Therefore you can see for yourself what the pope said, in the context given by the Vatican. We stand by our earlier coverage.
The Vatican’s own rendition says, “A French journalist asked whether, faced with the danger of fundamentalism, religious leaders should intervene in the political arena.” As part of his response, according to the Vatican, the pope said, “Fundamentalism is a sickness that we find in all religions.” He added, “Among Catholics there are many, not a few, many, who believe to hold the absolute truth and they go ahead by harming others with slander and defamation, and they do great harm… And it must be combated.”
Please see the video for the full remarks: