Pope Francis apologizes for slapping woman's hand on New Year's Eve [View all]

[Eugene]

Source: CNN

Pope Francis apologizes for slapping woman's hand on New Year's Eve

By Livia Borghese and Sheena McKenzie, CNN
Updated 0238 GMT (1038 HKT) January 2, 2020

Rome (CNN) — Pope Francis has apologized for slapping a woman's hand to free himself from her grip while greeting children and pilgrims in St. Peter's Square on New Year's Eve.

The incident occurred as Pope Francis made his way to the Nativity scene in Vatican City. On Wednesday, the Pontiff apologized for losing patience with the worshiper before using his New Year's Day address to denounce violence against women.

"Love makes us patient. So many times we lose patience, even me, and I apologize for yesterday's bad example," he said.

The Pontiff continued in his address: "Women are sources of life. Yet they are continually insulted, beaten, raped, forced to prostitute themselves and to suppress the life they bear in the womb.

"Every form of violence inflicted upon a woman is a blasphemy against God, who was born of a woman."

-snip-

Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/01/europe/pope-francis-slap-woman-apology-intl/index.html

______________________________________________________________________

Source: Washington Post

Most of us are bad at apologizing. The pope just showed us how it’s done.

By Ruth Marcus
Deputy editorial page editor
1/2/2020, 4:59:44 p.m.

Is there a better illustration of the frayed state of our collective nerves than the fact that the pope slapped a woman’s hand? Is there a better example of how we should deal with our inevitable imperfections than the pope’s swift and un-caveated apology?

Watch the video of the pontiff outside St. Peter’s Basilica on New Year’s Eve and you can understand both how the woman forgot herself and why the pope reacted so strongly. He is walking down the rope line, stopping to shake hands with the cheering throng: an elderly nun in her black habit, children in their winter hats, a girl on her father’s shoulders who lifts her arms in triumph after the pope reaches over the crowd to touch her hand.

The woman crosses herself and folds her hands, as if in prayer, as the pope draws closer. She stares intently, but he has begun to turn away. She reaches out and grabs him, with one hand, then another. She yanks him backward and will not let go. The pope slaps her hand — once, and then again. He turns away, glowering.

“Frankly, the pope kind of lost it,” Catholic writer John Allen Jr. told CNN.

Really, haven’t we all? “Love makes us patient,” the pope said the next day, veering from his scripted homily. “So many times we lose our patience. Me too, and I apologize for yesterday’s bad example.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/most-of-us-are-bad-at-apologizing-the-pope-just-showed-us-how-its-done/2020/01/02/711aea90-2d99-11ea-bcb3-ac6482c4a92f_story.html