The New Year’s Eve incident involving Pope Francis slapping an Asian woman has received worldwide media attention. But no one in the main stream media appears to have bothered to try to ascertain what the woman actually said to Pope Francis (or if they did, they chose not to report it).
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT: From the video, it appears Pope Francis’ angry outburst is in reaction to the woman’s statement. Thus, its important to understand what she actually said.
Over at Clay Testament, Eric Mader has done some pretty extensive research into the woman’s statement. Mader has experience working with people who speak both of the Chinese dialects. He believes the woman was speaking in broken English regarding the persecution of Chinese Catholics. He transcribed of the woman’s statement is as follows:
Why destroy their faith? Why destroy the Chinese? Look for the Chinese feelings. Talk to me!
Mader goes into some extensive details explaining the why this phrasing makes sense if the woman’s native language is Chinese.
Read the whole article. If Francis is feeling the heat about the terrible deal struck between the Vatican and China, then his reaction might make more sense.