Pope Francis is “Ashamed” by Use of Word “Mother” in Relation to a Bomb

By Gary Nguyen --
09 May 2017 --

Casa Rosada (Argentina Presidency of the Nation) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Pope criticizes Trump for using the name ‘Mother of All Bombs’.

Pope Francis and Donald Trump have yet again reached a very tense point.[/tweetit] The pope is aghast that a new bomb in the U.S. is named “The Mother of All Bombs” (MOAB). For the pope, the use of the word ‘mother’ in relation to such a weapon of mass destruction is sacrilege to the life-giving role of a mother.

Pope Francis is “Ashamed” by Use of Word “Mother” in Relation to a Bomb[/tweetthis]

Speaking to a group of students at the Vatican, Pope Francis expressed his distaste for the bomb’s name, saying he was ‘ashamed’ it was called a ‘mother’. "A mother gives life and this one gives death, and we call this device a mother. What is going on?" he asked. As such, he believes naming the bomb ‘mother’ is a sad irony. The pope believes no weapon of destruction should ever be given such a name.

The bomb, officially known as GBU-43/B MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Blast), was dropped in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province last month by a U.S. military aircraft to destroy an ISIS complex. The bomb, with a blast radius of one mile, weighing over 21,000 pounds and containing over 11 tons of explosives, is the largest non-nuclear missile the U.S. military has ever used. Although it was tested in 2003, it was officially launched by President Trump in April and has resulted in the death of 94 ISIS militants.

Naming devices of destruction and celebrating the results of their destruction is not the ways of a Christian.
https://t.co/7dllowB74J
— Tanya A. Seljos (@TSeljos) May 8, 2017

The two leaders are set to meet on May 24. Already having had a tense history, it would be interesting to see if the pope’s latest comments will have an impact on the meeting. Pope Francis had earlier spoken strongly against Trump’s views on immigrants and refugees, even going as far as to say a person who thinks of building walls instead of bridges is not a Christian and thoughts such as these are not reflective of gospel values. The pope was making a reference to Trump’s proposition to build a wall separating U.S.A. and Mexico.

Trump, on his part, said it was ‘disgraceful’ of Pope Francis to raise doubts about the faith of a devout Christian like him, despite having called him a ‘good guy’ a little earlier. Trump even challenged that in case the Vatican were to be attacked by the ISIS, the pope would be glad that he was in power in the U.S. so the Vatican can be saved.