Catholic League President: The Left Has 'Grossly Misinterpreted' Some of Pope Francis' Statements

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, criticized both the religious and secular left on the Glenn Beck Program Tuesday for "grossly" misinterpreting some of the statements made by Pope Francis in order to "get us in line with their (agenda)."

"I've been told many times by a number of people in the Catholic left that 'we have to listen.' Since when did the Catholic left have any interest in fidelity to what the holy father has ever said?" Donohue asked. "They certainly asked us to be in rebellion against Benedict and John Paul II."

Donohue said that there is actually very little difference between the religious and secular left in such matters.

"They're basically one in the same," he remarked. "It's just that some people have their foot in the Catholic camp or the Mormon camp or the Jewish camp ... and it doesn't matter at the end of the day. In terms of the Catholic left, which I know best, there's an attempt to cherry-pick this pope's words...and then they're using it as a sledgehammer to tell people like me to shut up."

President of the Catholic League Bill Donohue, right, speaks with Glenn Beck on Nov. 19, 2013. (Photo: TheBlaze TV)

Donohue said that what Pope Francis is truly concerned about is "secularization," and that if "we continue to go down the road of ripping up our Christian heritage and becoming increasingly secular - that's the idea of progressivism - we're done in this country."

"The public square is going to be filled with something. Traditionally it's been filled with the Judeo-Christian ethos in this country," Donohue said. "In the 20th century when Christianity was stamped out, you had totalitarianism. You saw it with Pol Pot; you saw it with Mao; you saw it with Hitler; you saw it with Stalin."

Donohue concluded his message with a stiff rebuke of those who "lecture" about "social justice."

"It has to be said - the people who give the least amount of money and of their time and voluntary activities are the people on the left," he declared. "Religious left, and the secular left. We don't need to be lectured to by the left telling us conservatives and people of faith how to help the poor. We're the ones who write the checks, not them."

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