Statement from the Association of Catholic Priests
Wed 19 March 2025
As people who value both our Irishness and our Faith, we wish to state clearly that Mr. Conor McGregor’s speech in the Oval Office, where he purported to be speaking on behalf of the Irish people, was not representing what we value and hold dear. We believe that he confuses personal opinions with truth.
The sentiments expressed by Mr. McGregor in his speech in the White House in respect of migrants and refugees, are contrary to our understanding of the message of Jesus. His views are in stark contrast to those of the recently appointed Cardinal Archbishop of Washington, Robert McElroy, when he said:
“Our truth is the person of Jesus Christ. The task of a Christian is to notice that Jesus’ first instinct is not to judge or condemn but to embrace people, to help them with whatever issue they’re dealing with, and to address the different elements of woundedness or exclusion they have in their lives.”
The reasons for inviting Mr. McGregor to the White House on our national holiday are to be questioned. We wish it to be known that he did not represent us.
For media interviews contact:
Tony Flannery 087-6814699; Roy Donovan 087-2225150;
Tim Hazelwood 087-1337164; Gerry O’Connor 087-2320295.
For verification: Liamy Mac Nally, ACP Admin Secretary 087-2233220
Thank you to all in ACP for these comments. The world needs to know Mc Gregor’s views are not us.
It would be impressive if every Bishop & Cardinal followed Cardinal McElroy and made similar statements.
I see further funding has been withdrawn from independent media organizations.
If anyone has doubts where this is going, I recommend this book: ” The Nazi Mind: twelve warnings from history” by Laurence Rees, 2025.
Well done to ACP on their statement, perhaps the Catholic Hierarchy might summon up courage now and do likewise.
I’m Irish and I agree with what he said in relation to the refugee scam! Ireland is being ruined!
BREAKING: A White House scandal erupts as an Irish rape crisis charity shreds Donald Trump for hosting adjudicated rapist MMA fighter Conor McGregor on St. Patrick’s Day, calling it “very sinister.”
This is a new low for this vile administration…
The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre sent a letter to the United States Embassy in Ireland condemning the White House meeting because it “effectively normalises sexual violence and trivialises its impact on survivors.”
“We do believe that the meeting between Trump and Conor McGregor was really very sinister and we have called it out for what it is, which is … an attempt to rebuild the very damaged reputation of Conor McGregor,” said the centre’s chief executive Rachel Morrogh.
She stated that her organization “sees first hand the trauma of sexual violence on our clients”.
“I believe these events undermine the efforts of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and other organisations that are working towards the elimination of sexual violence,” she said.
An Irish woman accused McGregor last year of “brutally” raping her in a hotel and eventually won a civil court case against him. The fighter was ordered to pay out over €248,000.
Disgustingly, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt introduced McCregor to the podium for a press briefing and declared that “she “couldn’t think of a better guest to have with us on St Patrick’s Day.” McGregor then went on to deliver an unhinged anti-migrant screed.
The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre asked the embassy to “communicate these concerns to the Trump administration.”
Unfortunately, the White House will likely ignore the letter. Donald Trump himself is an avowed sexual predator and adjudicated rapist — as decided in the E. Jean Carroll civil case.
Birds of a feather flock together.
I should have mentioned that I found the information above in the comment re Trump and McGregor on a site called Occupy Democrats which appeared on my FB page and I did a copy and paste.
I presume it’s American. I should have mentioned that.
This might be old news from Occupy Democrats but I think it is worth sharing again.
BREAKING: Pope Francis unleashes a historic attack on the Trump administration over its cruel treatment of migrants — and takes specific aim at remarks made by J.D. Vance, a Catholic convert.
So-called Christians in the MAGA movement are melting down over this…
The Pope, head of the Catholic Church, issued a rebuke of Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan, stating that it removes the migrants of their inherent dignity as people and “will end badly.”
Usually one to abstain from commenting directly on the internal politics of individual countries, Francis made his new remarks in a letter addressing U.S. bishops.
In it, he invoked the Bible’s Book of Exodus and said that God is “always close, incarnate, migrant and refugee” and pointed out that Jesus Christ was “expelled from his own land” when his family fled to Egypt and had to “take refuge in a society and a culture foreign to his own.”
Putting fake Christians to shame, Pope Francis went on to state that Jesus loved “everyone with a universal love” and taught us to see the”dignity of every human being, without exception.”
“Thus, all the Christian faithful and people of good will are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights, not vice versa,” the pope wrote.
He then turned his pen towards addressing the United States directly.
“I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations,” wrote Pope Francis.
“The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality,” he continued.
“At the same time, one must recognize the right of a nation to defend itself and keep communities safe from those who have committed violent or serious crimes while in the country or prior to arrival.”
“That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” wrote the pope.
It was the next part of the letter that has really infuriated MAGA supporters. Recently, Vice President J.D. Vance — who was baptized and confirmed into the Catholic Church in 2019 — attacked the Church’s compassionate teachings on immigration.
Proving that he either doesn’t understand Catholic theology or would prefer to cherrypick what he likes and doesn’t, Vance butchered a medieval concept known as “ordo amoris” or the “order of love.”
“As an American leader, but also just as an American citizen, your compassion belongs first to your fellow citizens,” Vance told Fox News. “That doesn’t mean you hate people from outside of your own borders, but there’s this old-school [concept] — and I think it’s a very Christian concept, by the way — that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then, after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.”
Of course, the idea that one should love those closest to you doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t love people from other countries. Vance shamelessly twisted the meaning to suit his party’s xenophobic views. St. Augustine, who pioneered the concept that Vance was referencing, certainly didn’t advocate for an authoritarian mass migration program.
In his letter, Pope Francis wrote that “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” a direct and blunt rebuke of Vance’s claims.
“In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings!” the pope continued. “The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’, that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Francis warned against deploying “an ideological criterion that distorts social life and imposes the will of the strongest as the criterion of truth.”
He went on to urge the bishops in the United States to continue working “closely with migrants and refugees, proclaiming Jesus Christ” and “promoting fundamental human rights.”
“God will richly reward all that you do for the protection and defense of those who are considered less valuable, less important or less human!” he added.
Pope Francis then turned his attention to the entire Catholic Church, urging its followers “not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”
He concluded by calling for all of us to work towards a “a society that is more fraternal, inclusive and respectful of the dignity of all.”
In other words, we need to build a world where MAGA is not the law of the land.
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In that letter to the American bishops he makes reference strongly to the parable of the Good Samaritan which is also central to the message of Fratelli Tuttii.
Thank God for the miracle that is Francis.