No justice, no peace: Why Catholic priests are kneeling with George Floyd protesters
Two days after the Catholic bishop of El Paso, Mark Seitz, knelt with a dozen other priests in a silent prayer for George Floyd holding a “Black Lives Matter” sign, he received a phone call from Pope Francis.
Bishop Mark Seitz and priests from his diocese knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds to honor George Floyd, El Paso, June 1, 2020.
Courtesy of Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters, CC BY-ND
In an earlier era Seitz, the first known Catholic bishop to join the anti-racism protests spurred by Floyd’s killing, might have expected censure from the Vatican, which is often associated with social conservatism.
Instead, Steitz told the Texas news site El Paso Matters, the pope “thanked me.”
Days earlier Pope Francis had posted a message to Americans on the Vatican’s website saying he “witnessed wi...