POPE FRANCIS.....A FLAMING LIBERAL

Pope Francis' election as Pope of the Catholic Church provided me no consolation at the time. I wrote soon after that I doubted he was what Catholics in the United States needed. I envisioned him as another preacher of Church doctrinaire which had driven Catholics from the Church en masse. 

 

I considered the problems of United States Catholics distinct from those of Catholics in other countries. Gays, abortion and birth control were among the leaders. It was my opinion that a simple priest from Argentina was not equipped by training or experience to deal with these issues. My reasoning was based on the fact that his primary concern as a prelate  in Argentina was to help the poor. Poverty was a local problem he had dealt with his entire priestly career.

 

I was wrong! I could not have been more wrong!

 

Pope Francis has been a surprise and a breath of fresh air. Doctrinaire is not as rigid. He speaks of love. Jesus loved. The Church should love. The new Pope recognized that the position of the Church had been one of obsession. A rigid doctrinaire approach to gays, abortion and birth control. He said in effect ease up, love one another.

 

Pope Francis made it clear. Such items were on the table for rethinking.

 

Slate Magazine last week referred to Pope Francis as.....a flaming liberal. He is. Conservative he is not. His comments are shaking his Church and the rest of the world at the same time.

 

If question still existed as to his flaming liberalism, Pope Francis cleared the air this past Sunday. The Pope was in Cagliari, Sardinia. He had a prepared speech to give. The comments of the people caused him to cast his prepared remarks aside. People were telling him they lacked work, needed work. Things were desperate. It was increasingly difficult for a father to feed his family.

 

Pope Francis' off the cuff remarks hit home. Not only for Cagliari, but for the rest of the world also. He spoke of money, big business and poverty.

 

He began by condemning big business' idolatry of money over man. He referred to money as an ".....idol." Decried the ".....god called money."

 

The Pope said, ".....where there is no work, there is no dignity." This statement recalled to mind Flora's comment. Flora is an Albanian I met in Amorgos this past summer. She cleaned my living quarters.

 

Flora moved me. Her simplicity, her piety. Life could be tough. I quoted Flora's comment in my column published here late in August. She told me that ".....for poor people winter is all year, there is no summer."

 

Flora and the Pope are of the same mind set.

 

Pope Francis further commented on the old, the young and their treatment in the money world of today. He said,  "We throw away grandparents and we throw away young people. We have to say no to this throwaway culture. We want a system that helps everyone."

 

Another of his comments hit me hard. He urged the unemployed to fight for work. Fight.....

 

Comments the Pope has made fuel the fires of revolutionary thought. Love one another, tear away at the restrictive thinking of the Church, everyone who wants to work should work.

 

No question Pope Francis is a liberal. Makes sense. Jesus was a liberal.

 

Pope Francis is planting seeds that will alter the thinking of the Catholic Church. Perhaps the world.