From Argentina, but parents from Italy, 76, against gay marriage, abortion, and euthanasia...nothing new........
I knew it was going to come out of South America; you can’t ignore the large Catholics who come from those countries. One article states…."He accused fellow church leaders of hypocrisy and forgetting that Jesus Christ bathed lepers and ate with prostitutes." Hmmm, as an ex-catholic I say this guy might make an interesting Pope.
I heard on NPR that he apparently turned a blind-eye to the Argentine military killing people?...something about it being an accusation that has followed him, apparently. Will see if any or more info on it comes up The largest segment of growing Catholics is in Africa...
Damn. And here I was excited about the prospect of a new and better Church. Stupid, stupid, stupid. :smt021
What a lot of people fail to realize is that ALL of the Cardinals in this establishment uphold conservative views and there's not even a light of hope in the Catholic faith. Surely, the common Catholics, even those who are non-practicing hold a more progressive worldview, but don't expect the higher ups to listen at all. In short...why bother?
Well, most of the cardinals were appointed by the last pope, who blamed the reform for the 'decline' of the catholic church, so yes, of course they are having conservative views. The new pope is a Jesuit and thus VERY conservative.
Shame. I wish they'd have have same standpoint when it came to pheodophiles and them protecting them.
Well I will say this, he chose his name from St. Francis of Assisi (whom I adore) because the new Pope has always been active for the poor and disenfranchised. He said (paraphrasing) "if a Nations is suffering, its poor are suffering much more worse' .... He also declined opulent cardinal housing, choosing to rather live in a small apartment in the city, he declined chauffeuring choosing to take public transportation instead, he reaches out to other religions, and wrote a book with a Jewish Rabbi... But yeah, he apparently gave up Jesuit names to the Dictator during the Argentine Dirty War...he has officially denied this. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/445767/20130313/pope-francis-argentina-dirty-war-vatican-rome.htm http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/0...ntine-dirty-war-allegations-biographer-calls/ Interesting if not sad back story on it in both of the links...he had a chance to defend himself in court...and he didn't pass muster.
How disappointing. But on the flipside, he's not one for pomp and circumstance and didn't want the popemobile, so maybe we'll start seeing some reforms in that way. Something has to give!
Interesting read and perspective from John Kass in the Chicago Tribune: Kass: Pope Francis should heed warning of his predecessor John Kass March 14, 2013 Jorge Bergoglio, the son of Italian immigrants born in Buenos Aires, doesn't fit the image of a high and mighty churchman in charge of an empire of more than 1 billion people. He's a humble man and, at 76, not young. Until quite recently, he rode the bus to work and lived in a small apartment. He cooked his own meals. After the white smoke poured from the Vatican on Wednesday, and Cardinal Bergoglio took the name Pope Francis, he asked the people to pray for him. By taking the name Francis — one of Roman Catholicism's most humble and beloved saints — the new pope announced changes coming to Western Christianity's largest church, a church in crisis. The cardinals, in putting their trust in Francis, were directly responding to the challenge laid out by the former Pope Benedict XVI. Before he stepped down, Benedict repeatedly warned that the church was in crisis, among the hierarchs and the laity. The example on most people's minds, regardless of their faith, is the hypocrisy among the church leaders who moved sexually abusive priests from parish to parish to cover up their crimes and allow them to continue ruining the lives of children. Benedict also warned that such hypocrisy had accelerated a drifting faith among the people (and this applies to all Christians), where some attend services and see not a holy miracle but a pageant. This is endemic, particularly in the stridently secular big-government West that regards Christianity as a competitor, an obstacle to overcome, if not an outright threat to squash. Shortly after Francis was chosen, I phoned two experts to explore Benedict's warning in the context of the church's new leadership. The first was Larry Chapp, professor of theology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. "Benedict made it very, very clear," Chapp told me, "that the crisis in the church, from the sexual abuse crisis, to the mismanagement of the Curia, to the crisis in the Vatican, to the crisis of secularism in Western society, all of these crises have one root cause: "The leadership of the church lacks proper faith in Jesus Christ. They're not living in a sense an evangelical life of poverty, chastity and obedience. They're not living a radical life of devotion to the poor and the outcast and the marginal. They're too concerned with worldly things. Now they've picked the man Francis who in a sense will reorient the church toward fundamental things of faith. I think this is critical. Yes, the cardinals responded to the challenge." Prior to the selection, there was much talk that the cardinals would chose either an evangelist or a bureaucrat. "Instead, they elected a man of faith," Chapp said. "They went and found the holiest man in the College of Cardinals and made him pope. It wasn't what people were expecting. But they saw his holiness and faith as priority No. 1. And that's astounding." Rod Dreher, a former Roman Catholic turned Orthodox Christian who writes on religion and culture for The American Conservative, said Francis should do something dramatic to address the sexual abuse and other scandals. "He can have a come-to-Jesus moment with some of these cardinals and bishops who have been the most egregious facilitators of abuse, covering it up. "If the pope could make an example of a few of those guys and forcibly retire them, send them to a monastery," said Dreher, "this would send the message to the people and the wider world that the days of covering these things up are over." It would allow the new pope to publicly and forcefully come down on the side of the faithful. "To stand with the people against the aristocratic class, so to speak, within the church … to show there's a new regime in town and that the bad old days are over," Dreher said. "We need a clean break with the cover-ups." As the scandals and the cover-ups have cost Catholic leaders the moral authority required to act as good shepherds, the onslaught of a strident secularism, particularly in the West, has weakened Christianity generally. Is it our ravenous consumerism? Our hunger requiring shiny new objects and ever-stronger sensations? "Benedict spoke of the dictatorship of relativism, the idea that there is no absolute truth, that truth is whatever you think truth should be," said Dreher. "This is the acid burning through the spiritual life of the West." What bothers him most is his fear that the young have drifted away. "Social science tells us that among young people, there are many who have no church or faith at all. They don't feel the need for God anymore. We've become so rich, so craving of sensation, that we think we don't need God, or that the god we think we need looks a lot like ourselves. "This is the great competitor for the Roman Catholic Church and all Christian churches now: consumerism and narcissism and the almighty self." But can Pope Francis hold against such forces? "The church is countercultural now. It has to be," Dreher said. He recalled the words of Flannery O'Connor, the great Catholic writer: "You have to push as hard as the age that pushes against you." Now, Dreher said, "I hope this pope pushes back hard against the age." And so do many of us. jskass@tribune.com What do you all think?
That was an interesting read...I found the quoted parts on point...but again, I understand the focus on rounding up the pedophiles that were protected, but he is allegedly directly responsible for the torture and/or deaths of Jesuits...how can they reconcile that in their decision. I also heard in the last 'election; that he was voted as the next choice to Joseph Ratzinger had JR not been a shoo-in. But it seems the Cardinals don't much care -- if you remember, JR was tied to Hitler and the Nazis. Joseph Ratzinger joined the Hitler Youth in 1941 when, according to him and his supporters, it became compulsory for all German boys. Millions of Germans were in a position similar to that of Joseph Ratzinger and his family, so why spend so much time focusing on him? Because he is no longer merely Joseph Ratzinger, or even a Catholic Cardinal — he is now Pope Benedict XVI. None of the other Germans who joined the Hitler Youth, were part of the military in Nazi Germany, lived near a concentration camp, and watched Jews being rounded up for death camps has ever become pope. It's almost like immoral lunatics are morally guiding a billion followers. How does (did) ^ even happen? :smt017
Question:.......Under Pope Francis' tennure...how likely is the formation of one world religion and subsequently the new world order......perhaps the combining of Islam and Christianity to----Chrislam--------WATCH-OUT !!.....
Not a navy SEAL. Samurai is more like it. Jesuits, like samurai are very loyal and they believe in living and dying in the service of the Lord. Living a simple life is also part of this life. I honestly have no comment on Pope Francis. I have to listen to what he says. I was baptised Catholic and my middle name was after the cardinal who baptised me. At one time, I wanted to go into Catholicism. Because of a priest who was a bit of a maverick and comedian. When he gave mass(which I had attended once) it was standing room only. He was always giving good advice as well as a joke. I miss that guy.
