Fox’s Shepard Smith Tells Colleague That Pope Isn’t Being “Political” Regarding Climate Change

Lately, Fox News and the rest of the Conservative Entertainment Complex has gotten its collective panties in a bunch over the so-called liberal positions that Pope Francis has been espousing. Now that the pope has made his way to the United States for his first-ever visit as the leader of the Catholic Church, right-wing pundits, politicians and journalists have been tripping over each other to see who can criticize the pontiff the most. Their main objection seems to be that Francis is being too “political” when he brings up the realities of climate change and income inequality,

While covering the pope’s speech at the White House Wednesday morning, Fox News anchor and lone sane person at the network Shepard Smith set the record straight regarding the pope’s message and how it actually isn’t political at all. With Smith on location in Washington, fellow anchor Bill Hemmer read the standard narrative about Francis’ overly liberal political positions and the fact that he is deliberately making conservative Americans uncomfortable. Smith shut that shit down by stating that a Christian leader saying we should care for the poor, help those in need and our planet should not be seen as politically controversial.

Below is Shep’s response to Hemmer:

“I think we are in a weird place in the world when the following things are considered political.

Five things, I’m going to tick them off. These are the five things that were on his and our president’s agenda. Caring for the marginalized and the poor, that’s now political. Advancing economic opportunity for all. Political? Serving as good stewards of the environment. Protecting religious minorities and promoting religious freedom globally. Welcoming and immigrating, I should say integrating, immigrants and refugees globally. And that’s political?

I mean, I don’t know what we expect to hear from an organization’s leader like the Pope of the Catholic Church, other than protect those who need help, bring in refugees who have no place because of war and violence and terrorism. These seem like universal truths that we should be good to others who have less than we do, that we should give shelter to those who don’t have it. I think these were the teachings in the Bible of Jesus. They’re the words of the pope, they’re the feelings of the President. And people who find themselves on the other side of that message should consult a mirror, it seems like. Because I think that’s what we’re supposed to do as a people, whatever your religion.

I mean, it seems to me and I think to probably, as Bill O’Reilly would put it, most clear-thinking Americans, that that’s how we’re supposed to roll.”

Sadly, Shep didn’t drop his mic and walk away after that statement.

Of course, his words will fall on deaf ears as he will surely be drowned out by the dozens of others on the network who will lambaste the pope for being a dirty communist foreigner who has no place criticizing America. (Unlike other foreigners, like Bibi Netanyahu, whose criticisms of Obama are more than welcome.) However, it is still refreshing whenever Shep chimes in and brings a little bit of reality into the Fox News bubble.

Below is video of the exchange, courtesy of Media Matters: