Pope Leo XIV, Jan. 6 Capitol rioters
Pope Leo XIV leaves after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday. Credit: AP/Alessandra Tarantino
Other events need apologies from pope
I admire Pope Leo XIV’s apology for the Catholic Church’s actions during slavery [“Pope apologizes for church’s slavery role,” News, May 26]. However, the list isn’t complete.
We need apologies for the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the lack of strong opposition to the many people murdered during the Nazi regime in the 1930s and ’40s.
I attended St. Walburga’s Academy of the Holy Child in West Harlem during elementary school years and still remember my history textbooks didn’t mention these events in a negative way.
— Gabriele K. Libbey, Harbor Isle
Jan. 6 participants are not ‘victims’
Reps. Andrew Garbarino and Tom Suozzi got it right in objecting to the Department of Justice’s attempt to pervert the concept of victim reparations [“All LI reps shun DOJ payout fund,” News, May 25].
It is wrong on several levels for the DOJ to call participants in that coup attempt “victims.” They chose to attempt to overthrow an election.
What followed was criminal investigation by legitimate authority, not persecution.
Rep. Nick LaLota is off base comparing the violent seditionists with migrants seeking asylum. But at least he acknowledges the impropriety of offering any insurrectionists money.
— Stephanie Lapasota, Huntington Station
Insurrection day will never go away
Not only has President Donald Trump pardoned most of the criminals and hint he might pay them for their insurrection actions, but now the Department of Justice has scrubbed its website of information about Jan. 6 [“DOJ scrubs releases on rioters,” Nation & World, May 24]. I guess they figure if you can’t see it, it will eventually go away.
I believe that day will never go away. It has to go down as one of the worst days in American history. Shame on anyone who thinks otherwise.
— Michael Palermo, Seaford
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