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Far-right Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene declared that “evil is being defeated” in the wake of Pope Francis’ death.
“Today there were major shifts in global leaderships,” said the self-identified “Christian nationalist” in a post on X Monday morning, roughly nine hours after the pontiff’s passing.
“Evil is being defeated by the hand of God.”
She did not clarify what she meant, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.
But her post sparked anger from other X users who interpreted it as a celebration of the death of the 88-year-old Pope, who passed away at 7:35 a.m. local time on Easter Monday from a cerebral stroke, according to the Vatican.
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“Shame on you, lady. This is disgusting,” said one user.
“You’re a disgrace to America and the world,” said another.
“I thought you liked Pete Hegseth!” joked South Carolina journalist Meghan McCarthy, referring to the embattled Defense Secretary whose job is rumored to be in danger after a second group chat scandal.
Pope Francis’ death begins a nine-day mourning period and a complex process to choose the new head of the Catholic Church.
Taylor Greene, 50, was baptized Catholic and married in a Catholic ceremony, but was rebaptized into an evangelical Protestant denomination in 2011.
In a statement in 2022, she said she had quit the Catholic Church because she believed she could not trust its leaders to “protect [her] children from pedophiles” following repeated sexual abuse scandals.
She said that many ordinary Catholics were “pious” and that many priests are “kind [and] brilliant,” but accused the Church’s leadership of being “controlled by Satan” and riddled with “criminals and abusers.”
