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We are about to find out because we have uh the velvet hammer with us this morning. Jean Valentino live from Pensacola, Florida. Good morning, Jean.

How’s the weather?

Good morning, guys. 66° sunny. Uh looking like we may see a dip of some coldness coming through, but good

weather’s underway. The sprinkler systems working outside. We’re getting things uh nutrition getting back into the

plants as we get our greenhouse and our garden going again and we’re looking forward to a good spring and summer.

All right. So, thank you for joining us.

We appreciate you doing this each Friday and we’d love to hear what you have to say. You and I were talking before the show and one of the things that ticks us

off as Catholics is how the pope has uh taken a position in politics which is

something that uh well frankly from from the uh as far as the church is concerned. He can do whatever he wants to but Catholics do not have to necessarily follow what he has to say.

And there’s a term called ex cathedral. And if you haven’t ever heard of that,

well, let me just explain it to you for a second. Excathe is Latin from the chair. That’s what it means. It’s a

technical term in Catholic theology referring to the infallible teaching authority of the pope. Now, here’s the

key to this. For uh for it to be an infallible teaching, the pope must speak as supreme pastor and teacher of all

Christians. He must intend to define a doctrine.

I mean, he’s got to use clear definitive language. The doctrine must concern faith or morals, not discipline, not

science, not politics, etc., etc. Two things, faith or morals. So when the

Pope steps out and starts criticizing the president of the United States, we don’t have to pay any attention to him

as Catholics. That’s that’s just the way it is. And so a lot of Catholics don’t even know that. So I I just wanted to bring that out this morning because that is a church teaching.

This is um one of the most sensitive things that we talk about when it comes to religion that bothers me the most and

describes most accurately why I don’t consider myself a Catholic anymore. I’m a very faithful Christian, but I’m not a

Catholic. It’s um when Catholicism overreaches

and tries to impose man-made rules or doctrines that supersede what I would

call the apostolic, the original Christianbased, Bible-based teachings.

Uh Billy Graham talks about that. I listened to um Sean Hannity last night on Fox talk about it and he went on

talking about the fact that he was born and raised a a Catholic, came from a standard Catholic family. He too was a

alter boy in the ca in the church um church sessions and so was I and went to

Catholic school for about four or five years. uh I actually couldn’t take it anymore. So I went into the public

school system which at the time was considered a good move. Uh the public school systems in the 60s and 70s was a

pretty was a pretty good thing. And um uh I got to tell you the authority that

they extend uh was so imposing in my upbringing that I felt the need to walk away from it.

And right now it hit a sore spot with me when the pope who has a little bit of a

smug attitude towards the United States and um ends up um taking on Donald Trump

on this issue. uh uh you know he has if he is a faith leader and um he is uh

discussing faith and morals and uh defining that within church doctrine that’s one thing but he does not control

federal doctrine or the doctrine of government which is the constitution of the United States and all of the leaders

within notwithstanding the faults of the individuals uh which we talk about every day and

pick on every day and there’s plenty to pick on. Um these short company comp

these shortcomings, Michael, do not allow us to then impose a standard on

faith regardless of the u the sect it is. Uh we’re talking Catholicism today.

It could be Episcopalian uh Methodist and any of the other Protestant faiths. It could be the Israel. It could be the Jewish faith. It

it could be the Muslim uh jihad Islamic uh factors. We we talk about all of

them, but they do we talk about them as an imposing cult, if you will, that tries to extend

its doctrines into governance. And that’s the mess we’re in in the Middle

East right now. There is no small coincidence that the Pope got off on a tangent to think that he was going to

interfere with the president’s authority that was given to him by 70 plus million

Americans here in the United States. I’m faithful. I go to worship services every

Sunday. Uh but I’m not going to allow the leaders in those buildings to interfere

uh other than their right to vote to interfere with what is considered um uh

governance through a constitution which by the way we are the only one that has

God in it. So I don’t make light of God uh or the authority vested in God that

was given to us in our constitution. Uh I don’t make light of that. But uh when they say a separation of church and

state, this is what they’re talking about. Not the um not the not anything else that you’ve heard criticism of.

You know what what’s interesting about this is the truth is the pope is a man and the man that the pope is is from

Chicago and he is a liberal man and and let me tell you something I you know I

don’t I don’t have to listen to what he’s got to say when it comes down to his liberalism. Now, if he wants to talk

about morals and and church values and stuff like that, that’s fine. But I don’t think we have to listen to him.

And I think a lot of Catholics out there need to understand that that there is church teachings that tell you that when

he delves off into politics, well, he’s just a man.

his he also has a brother who’s um an American and uh strongly supports the

MAGA movement and was a supporter of Donald Trump. There’s um this is what

happens with power. What the frailties of the human condition

uh is occur when you have people taking positions of authority and control

whether it’s apostolic authority in the church setting or um elected authority

in the government setting. The what happens with many is that they develop an overstated sense of selfworth.

They think there’s something that they now are over are entitled to extend

authority and control and impose their will on you. Now,

Donald Trump certainly has a strong personality, but he leaves room for you and I to have our strong personality and

our opinion. while we have a choice. We either buy into his strength of

character or we rebel from it. And what I see trickling over into the religious

side of this of this conversation is a pope who uh resists uh the authority

vested in uh Donald Trump. Donald Trump’s worrying about the United States of America.

Uh uh Pope uh Pope Leo I guess it is is worried about um the the the uh morals

and faith issues around the world and somehow he considers himself of of a

grander scan standard. What he fails to realize is that preventing wars is exactly what Donald Trump is doing.

Whether he like whether he understands it or not, acquiescing, sitting around in the circles, kumbaya, praying

together. Uh you say that to an Islamic jihadist, see if you end up at the end of the conversation with your hands or even your life.

Yeah, you’re exactly right. Let’s switch gears for a minute. Uh, you know, the the United States Congress worked overnight last night and they extended the authority of this uh what is it?

It’s it’s it’s to be able to spy on uh on folks that that are not from this country that are maybe having communications across the planet.

Yeah. FISA FISA. Yeah. FISA. And and so I just wanted to get your take on that and what

you think about FISA and what what should we do about FISA? It looks like there’s some second thoughts in Congress about FISA.

Well, it’s because of bad behavior.

FISA’s intention was good. It’s called FISA, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance

Act, and it governs how the US conducts uh electronic surveillance for national security purposes, especially involving

foreign threats. But the problem has been is that it’s le where foreign threats threats involve the potential of

American citizens or elected citizens is where we’ve gotten into trouble and they’ve applied the overreach of

surveillance upon elected officials in the United States uh under the forest uh

FISA um FISA surveillance act um it’s it was designed to balance

uh security and civil liberties. But I got to tell you, um, there’s a flash point in the act under section, I think it’s 702,

uh, which allows, uh, uh, unprec unrestricted warrantless surveillance of non US citizens located abroad abroad,

but it can be accident incidentally collect American communications. in the process of going after that foreigner,

you may be picking up data on Americans,

and that’s where it’s gotten into trouble. Now, do we keep it because we’ve got serious national security

issues at hand uh in and around the Ukraine Russia relationship in and

around Iran and Israel and so forth? Do we keep it in place because we have

garnered in good information which has positively impacted our ability to put up the right kind of a defenses and

assaults against these enemies in in a timely way? Or do we quash the whole

concept because of the in because of the abuse by certain select few that have

used it for political purposes to promote um and protect the political

campaign or political policies of one elect of one political party. That’s what’s happened in the last 6 to 8

years. And um I hope indictments come from it. Uh that’s why the congressmen are a little skittish today and saying,

“Well, well, hold on now. Before I go renewing this FISA act, you better make sure you’re not abusing it like you did

on Donald Trump in the past.” And that’s why you see some Republicans stepping up and saying, “I’m not going forward with

renewing FISA unless you ensure that the kind of uh surveillance, illegal surveillance you did on Donald Trump and

the rest of the crew around him uh does not happen again. That’s the issue.”

You know, it’s interesting. We’re out of time, but uh it it only really works,

Jean, if you have good and honest men that are using it.

Yeah. And a good honest pope conveying moral and ethical standards. You know,

we all are victims of one human factor.

It’s called the human condition. And our frailties can work for us and in many cases evidence themselves and work

against us. What a balance we what a challenge we take to find that balance uh in society especially with all the

various governances. Take care buddy. See you next week.

Best to you now. Relationships matter because people buy people. And that’s why I buy Eddie Xarin Insurance of the Xarin Insurance Agency in Pensacola,

Florida. A family-owned business with over 50 years in the business. and they treat people the right way. From homeowners insurance to contractor’s

insurance, condo insurance, commercial insurance, all the different coverages that are out there, and of course, auto

insurance. They’ve got you covered. They worry about you first. You’re more than a policy number. You’re a person who

they’re watching out for, not when the sun is shining, but after the hurricane has left. If you want real service with

real savings, contact Eddie Zuran at the Eddie Xarin Insurance Agency. www.zarins insurance.com.

Give them a call today. You’ll be glad you did when you do.