On May 6–8, you can attend the virtual Fifth International Vatican Conference, entitled "Exploring the Mind, Body & Soul."  It is, we are told, "a global health care initiative: How innovation and novel delivery systems improve human health."  Over the course of three days, 114 people will speak.  Many of them sound like interesting people, but a few should raise questions.  They seem to be more about "woke" cachet for an increasingly left-wing institution than about mind, body, and soul within the context of the Vatican.

Unlike the mainstream media, I always like starting with my biases, so you know the filter through which my ideas flow.  I'm conservative.  I'm also not Catholic.  And I don't like Pope Francis.  The reason I don't like him is that I think he's a product of Latin America's liberation theology, which is a way of dressing up communism in Catholic garb.  While the pope has hewed to being anti-abortion, his pronouncements about the economy and the environment are indistinguishable from any leftist political leader's words.

Now, back to the conference.  The announcement explains the conference's purpose:

Organized in partnership between the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, the Cura Foundation and the Science and Faith (STOQ) Foundation, the Conference will bring together the world's leading physicians, scientists, leaders of faith, ethicists, patient advocates, policymakers, philanthropists and influencers to engage in powerful conversations on the latest breakthroughs in medicine, health care delivery and prevention, as well as the anthropological outcomes and the cultural impact of technological advances.

Together we will focus on advances in medical innovation and the creation of healthier communities and seek to catalyze new, interdisciplinary approaches and partnerships to improve health and wellbeing, as well as understand human uniqueness. The 2021 event will be moderated by renowned journalists, who will explore the role of religion, faith and spirituality, and the interplay of the mind, body and soul – and, ultimately, search for areas of convergence between the humanities and the natural sciences.

Together we will #UniteToPrevent and #UniteToCure.

And the conference's "mission":

Our mission is to improve human health and wellbeing by encouraging and promoting innovation, new partnerships and advancing greater public awareness of the power of prevention and preparedness. We will explore the relationship between the mind, body and soul and the anthropological and cultural dimensions of being human.

One would think the speakers would be people who live in accordance with the Church's foundational beliefs, even if they're not actually Catholics.  But that doesn't seem to be the case.  While many of the people are definitely leaders in their fields, some of them are still pretty questionable in the context of a Vatican conference.

The opening address will come from the ubiquitous and by now execrable Anthony Fauci.  One of the top-named speakers is Chelsea Clinton, who is pro-abortion and unbelievably vapid.  But for her family name, she'd be a shoo-in for one of life's nobodies.  LifeSite details a few other interesting speaker choices for a Vatican-sponsored conference, some of whom just seem out of place and others of whom have remarkably inappropriate values for a Church gathering:

NIH director Francis Collins has a long history of anti-life policies, and has previously acclaimed the "scientific benefits" which come from fetal tissue research, claiming that such work could be conducted "with an ethical framework."  

He is joined at the Vatican conference by Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, who has firmly aligned himself with the globalist, liberal elite, by banning emails from Republicans and the Trump campaign in the wake of the January 6 Capitol protests, as well as prohibiting all clients from even questioning the 2020 U.S. election. Benioff has a history of promoting LGBT issues, and is described by Time as "one of the most outspoken executives," for LGBT affairs. 

Also speaking at the conference will be United Nations representative and conservationist Jane Goodall, who supports population control; new age activist Deepak Chopra; rock guitarist Joe Perry; Mormon Elder William K. Jackson; executive chair of the British Board of Scholars and Imams, Shaykh Dr. Asim Yusuf; pro-abortion model Cindy Crawford; and disgraced ex-prefect of the Secretariat for Communication, Monsignor Dario Viganò. 

If the Church doesn't stand by its values, why should the faithful?  Indeed, why should there be any faithful if the Church doesn't stand for anything except for the garden-variety woke Marxism that generally affects the West?

Image: Vatican conference announcement.