@FreddyLA7 WELCOME TO TEXAS! Born and raised in Houston and now live in the DFW area. Been following you from day one and so enjoy your journey. May Texas treat you well this second time around.
La
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@UTaustinftbll please make these guy welcome. Give them the VIP treatment they deserve. @FreddyLA7 you have this 69 year old mother and grandmother looking forward to seeing your adventures. Love your positivity.
We are back on the road after the Oktoberfest weekend in Cullman! Our next destination is Dallas, TX for Oklahoma vs Texas on Saturday. We have five days to get there, so the plan is to spend some time exploring Arkansas along the way.
So long, America🫡🇺🇸
49 days ago we landed in the USA to follow our country at the World Cup. We had no idea it would turn into the trip of a lifetime.
Thank you to everyone who followed along, and to all the people we met who made this journey even more special. We honestly don’t have the words to express how grateful we are for everything you did for us.
This trip exceeded every expectation we had. We came here with an open mind, wanting to experience as much of the country as possible. I still remember telling my friends on the flight to Atlanta that I hoped we’d get to meet a few locals on this trip. Now we’re flying home with friends all across the USA.
Before we came, we heard so many stereotypes and warnings about America. People told us about safety concerns, that they might check our social media at the border, and all kinds of other things. None of it matched our experience. This was probably the most welcoming country we’ve ever visited.
So if you have the chance to travel, do it. The world isn’t nearly as bad as the media often makes it seem. 99% of people are awesome!
I heard this quote somewhere during the World Cup, and I think it sums up our experience perfectly:
“If you want to hate the world, watch the news. If you want to love it, travel it.”
Thank you, America ❤️🇺🇸
@FreddyLA7 I followed you on here almost from one. I am a grandmother who fills my children in on your daily adventures and love you have for our country. I live in the Dallas area and was so excited when you were here. I started following you instagram as well.
Peace begins in the human heart, passes through relationships, takes root in neighborhoods and peripheries, and expands until it embraces the entire city and the world. Peace is built by promoting a culture that rejects violence, through daily gestures, education, and practical acts of justice. #PastoralVisit #Naples
There comes a moment when each of us feels challenged by the Pope. His words & witness force us to confront our failings & weakness.
We can respond with a humble heart, willing to convert at the behest of the Vicar of Christ, or we can angry tweet about him late at night.
I’m going to be blunt.
I’d like to talk about some of the very stupid things that people are saying right now
If you’re not catholic, I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to people who say they are Catholic.
Let’s start with the talking point about the pope sitting behind walls.
Have you been to the Vatican? These “high walls” that were built in the fourth century leave an opening about a half a mile wide so that anyone and everyone can simply walk in anytime.
Look at an image of Saint Peter Square you’ll see exactly what I mean.
What the heck are you guys talking about with high walls?
Would you like them to tear down a fourth century wall so that you think their politics might be more defendable?
Would you like a pope that runs about shouting “cry havoc and let’s slip the dogs of war!” is that the pope you want? What mighty army would he summon? How did our invasion of Iraq in the Afghanistan go? How many corpses do we need to pile up until everyone understands that war is a horror. Statistically, more than 99% of the people screaming for war will never be affected by it.
Maybe The Pope should call for a crusade?
I’m sure all 27 Americans who replied to it would make a huge difference.
Your political masters .2 about eight posts to see how bad the pope is. You believe them.
He’s given a ton of speeches about Islamic violence, he’s done everything in his speaking power to encourage people toward peace. But your political masters told you different and you followed like good acolytes.
Most of our Protestant brothers and sisters love us, Catholics. But the Huxter‘s and the insecure don’t. I’m watching Catholics repeat the talking points of anti-Catholic madman and acting like they have a geopolitical sense greater than that of a man in charge of a world wide institution with 1.3 billion members.
Pardon my intensity, but I am very sick of Americans being more formed by right wing and left-wing political commentators then they are by the spirit of the living God.
Do you want war? Go fight in one. Stand with me at the funeral of these beautiful lives, shredded and cut short so that your political masters are appeased.
God’s heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice and lies. But our Father’s heart is not with the wicked, the arrogant, or the proud. God’s heart is with the little ones and the humble, and with them He builds up His Kingdom of love and peace day by day. Wherever there is love and service, God is there. #ApostolicJourney #Algeria
VATICAN CITY — Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin warned that the “logic of the strongest” risks prevailing on the international stage and called on Christians to become “voices of peace” who do not leave Pope Leo XIV standing alone in his opposition to war.
In an interview with Dialoghi, a cultural magazine linked to Italian Catholic Action, Parolin said the voice of the pope is “prophetic” but risks becoming “a voice crying in the wilderness if it is not supported and helped concretely.”
His remarks also offer a key to understanding the peace prayer vigil Leo XIV has called for April 11 in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Parolin recalled the 2003 Iraq war, when St. John Paul II pleaded for the conflict to be avoided but “was left alone.” He therefore stressed the need to support the current pontiff’s appeal for a peace that is “unarmed and disarming” and to reject “the false propaganda of rearmament.”
“There is a need for more voices of peace, more voices against the madness of the rush toward rearmament, more voices raised in favor of our poorest brothers and sisters, more voices and more proposals — I am thinking, for example, of the world of Catholic universities — for new economic models inspired by justice and care for the weakest instead of the idolatry of money,” Parolin said.
The cardinal described an alarming international climate in which military action appears to impose itself too easily.
“I am struck by how much determination — I was about to say ease — with which the military option is presented as decisive, almost inevitable,” he said.
According to the Vatican secretary of state, this trend has left diplomacy practically “mute,” unable to activate alternative tools, while awareness of the tragedy of war and the value of shared rules is being lost.
Parolin said the root of the problem is a “multi-polarism inspired by the primacy of power,” in which states place greater trust in force than in international law. That, he said, has produced “double standards,” visible in the differing reactions to attacks on civilians in Ukraine and the destruction in Gaza.
“Many governments,” Parolin said, “have expressed indignation over attacks against Ukrainian civilians by Russian missiles and drones, imposing sanctions on the aggressors.”
“I do not think the same has happened with the tragedy of the destruction of Gaza,” he added.
For the cardinal, this is a case of “double standards” tied to the “primacy of power” — the dominance of one’s own country over others — with international law invoked “only when convenient” and ignored in many other cases.
“It seems there has been a lack of awareness of the value of peace, awareness of the tragic reality of war, awareness of the importance of shared rules and of respecting them,” he said.
Parolin also lamented the weakening of the global diplomatic architecture and said it is “utopian” to think peace can be guaranteed “by weapons and by balances imposed by the strongest rather than by international agreements.”
“We cannot surrender to the logic of the strongest,” the cardinal insisted, because that logic “bends international law to its own interests” and weakens multilateral institutions.
In that context, he also expressed regret that Europe has been unable to speak with one voice. He said it is necessary “to rekindle in peoples the sense of European belonging and, in leadership, the awareness of the need for common actions without ever failing the principles that are at the foundation of the European Union itself.”
Regarding the United Nations, Parolin said the Holy See “continues to believe in its importance,” considering international organizations essential for restraining the logic of the strongest. At the same time, he acknowledged that the use of the veto has limited the U.N.’s ability to act.
“We cannot move from the force of law to the law of force,” he warned.
Parolin also highlighted the role believers can play, including defending life and human dignity, protecting religious freedom, promoting reforms to the economic and financial system in line with the Church’s social doctrine, and caring for creation.
Finally, the cardinal addressed the cultural impact of new technologies, saying hyper-connectivity and the spread of fake news help fuel fear and build new walls.
“As Christians, we must oppose this drift with our daily lives,” he concluded.
https://t.co/tMa70mscCt