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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| Pope Francis has an American problem |
| 2014-12-29 |
| [MACLEANS.CA] After ending 2014 with a successful visit to Turkey and his 78th birthday on Dec. 17, Pope Francis can look forward to a rapturous start to 2015. The Philippines, one of the world’s largest and most devout Catholic nations, is in such a fervour of anticipation for his Jan. 15 arrival that even the Marxist insurgents of the New People’s Army have declared a ceasefire. Francis may recall that welcome fondly when he embarks on the year’s other significant journey. The Pope’s first visit to the United States, to attend September’s World Meeting of Families gathering in Philadelphia—a massive Catholic event that, with Francis’s presence, may draw a million participants—will also take the pontiff to the heart of what theologian and Church historian Massimo Faggioli calls Francis’s “American problem.” It’s less a single problem, Faggioli goes on to explain, than a linked complex of issues that might all come into play next fall. The American Church is perhaps the most important and wealthiest national church within Catholicism, he says, and certainly “the most important in the northern hemisphere, [where the U.S. is] the largest and least secular developed country.” It’s also, as much because it reflects the divisions within a polarized America as it does those within Catholicism, a militantly ideological church, both the world centre of Catholic feminism and the home of a hierarchy unafraid to take to the pulpit with politically conservative messages. The American bishops, like Francis himself, defy conventional American left-right political categorization. They can seem like the Republican party at prayer in their opposition to the contraception provisions of President Barack Obama’s health care law or on the topic of same-sex marriage, but like militant Democrats on the question of sweeping amnesty for illegal immigrants—who are mostly Hispanic Catholics. They may not be as economically radical as Francis, but the Pope is not, as demonstrated by his recent robust championing of traditional marriage, very far removed from their social morality. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #11 Pope needs to steer clear from climate change, Cuba, GTMO, and all other things he has no understanding of. They are all political ploys. |
| Posted by: newc 2014-12-29 20:40 |
| #10 Am I the only one expecting a strong dose of liberal bullshit here? Yes. The rest of us fear worse. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-12-29 14:40 |
| #9 Whatever happened to just preaching the Gospel? |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2014-12-29 13:56 |
| #8 Just as conservatives Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul were on the same page in their day, socialists Obama and Pope Francis are on the same page today. Bill Clinton was the first black (liberal) American President, Obama is the first Latin (liberal) President. In the West, a secular world leader's agenda is enhanced when he is co-joined to an important religious leader in the West. |
| Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 2014-12-29 12:54 |
| #7 he [Pope Francis] believes it should be: on the plight of the poor and marginalized. What exactly does he mean by this? Is this another liberal social justice and income redistribution scheme? “The poor you will always have with you…” So said Jesus according to the accounts of three of the four Gospel writers (Matt. 26:11, Mark 14:7, and John 12:8)" This seems to be the truth despite tons of money thrown at the failed War on Poverty. I don't think the quote means the poor shouldn't be helped but what is the best means of helping the poor? Maybe this proverb is the best way to go: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime?"--not forced redistribution of wealth and social justice. You teach people nothing by this. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2014-12-29 10:49 |
| #6 Remember this is all filter through the Left media. Can't really get a grasp of what the man is doing without some injection of the Left's orthodox and prism vision. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-12-29 08:58 |
| #5 Papal infallibility and global warming. That is some two ball combination. It wouldn't surprise me that he will soon go to the UK and preach the necessity of an invasion of the Falkland Islands. |
| Posted by: Ulique Pelosi8805 2014-12-29 08:15 |
| #4 Here's a quote from that book - back in 2008 he was and still is very much on target, not just for Catholics, but all Christians and moral people: "The Church claims no right to dominate the secular realm. But she has every right - in fact an obligation - to engage secular authority and to challenge those wielding it to live the demands of justice. In this sense, the Catholic Church cannot stay, has never stayed, and never will stay 'out of politics.' Politics involves the exercise of power. The use of power has moral content and human consequences. And the well-being and destiny of the human person is very much the concern, and the special competence, of the Christian community" (pp. 217-18) and this: People who take God seriously will not remain silent about their faith. They will often disagree about doctrine or policy, but they won't be quiet. They can't be. They’ll act on what they believe, sometimes at the cost of their reputations and careers. Obviously the common good demands a respect for other people with different beliefs and a willingness to compromise whenever possible. But for Catholics, the common good can never mean muting themselves in public debate on foundational issues of human dignity. Christian faith is always personal but never private. This is why any notion of tolerance that tries to reduce faith to private idiosyncrasy, or a set of opinions that we can indulge at home but need to be quiet about in public, will always fail." |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-12-29 02:09 |
| #3 The progressives are scared becuase Philly is now the bailiwick of Archbishop Charles Chaput - a very othodox and fairly conservative voice int he Catholic Church in America. I've met him several times both in his role as a priest, and as a friend of my my confessor, a fellow Capuchin brother. His is very intelligent as well as insightful, and has a ton of moral courage. He is the very definition of "a man of God" as anyone who has had much personal interaction with him can tell you. Pope Francis isnt going to be able to mealy-mouth his way around the issues about the Family - divorce, homosexual "marriage", abortion, euthanasia, and especially the role of government and the opposition of the Church to "big government" due to its violation of the Catholic principle of Subsidiarity. Not to mention a very vocal critic of Obamacare's mandate. Abp Chaput even wrote a book about it: Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life. Give it a read, its well worth your time. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-12-29 02:05 |
| #2 Hewill “ease off from the condemnations of contraception, divorce and homosexuality,” Wills predicts, not by fiat but “by encouraging bishops to move in new directions. Classic distraction, deflection, and denial, which indicates he's probably a democrat. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-12-29 01:28 |
| #1 Francis is determined to move the focus from the sexual morality issues that dominate relations between Catholicism and the secular world view to where he believes it should be: on the plight of the poor and marginalized. Am I the only one expecting a strong dose of liberal bullshit here? |
| Posted by: Raj 2014-12-29 00:16 |