And so today, Kevin Cirilli at The Hill writes: Pope Francis Drives a Wedge Between the Catholic Church, GOP.
Pope Francis is increasingly driving a wedge between conservatives and the Catholic Church.As I said before - this is definitely something to keep an eye on.
The magnetic pope has sparked new enthusiasm around the world for the church and has flexed his political muscles internationally, most recently by helping to engineer a new relationship between the United States and Cuba.
But Francis’s agenda, which also includes calls to address income inequality and limit climate change, is putting him at odds with Republicans, including GOP Catholics in the United States. ..
“Oh my gloria, this is a definite change in tone from being a 'scolder-in-chief' to being the one who identifies with the pain in our world,” said Simone, who organized the “Nuns on a Bus” cross-country tours.
“Pope Francis's message and tone are making Catholic Republicans a little uncomfortable,” Simone said. “He's stirring the concern on issues like poverty and the economy.”
I could not be happier about this development. Thanks for covering it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting this out there! Pope Francis is really making waves I think. May he have a long long tenure as Pope.
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The Pope has made such an impact on me that even though I'm a Jew, I'm going to observe lent.
ReplyDeleteI am not a Catholic, but I really love this Pope. He is what I envisioned a Pope should be like, caring about what I think is the most important invisible group: "the least of these"... The Jesus principle many GOP Catholics and GOP fundamental Christians have forgotten.
ReplyDeleteFor years Catholics have been convinced they and their christian brothers had so much in common and within months of Pope Francis elevation, right-wing pukes were denouncing Francis for being too liberal and Republicans in the US Congress denied giving the Pope any formal recogniztion because he's too much like Obama.
ReplyDeleteCatholics shoul beware because it won't be too long that Right-Wing evangelicals denounce the Papists.
Well, to quote Jimi Hendrix (Band of Gypsies - Buddy Miles, drums - Billy Cox bass. lead in comments of side two of the album.I'm old enough that I bought it when it came out) "Happy New Year, first of all". Hope it's "the berries" for us all as we deal with individual and national situations.
ReplyDeleteThese recent South American clergy, and them Jesuits in particular (it's helpful to know a bit about the individual Orders (think clan and that you are pretty damn devoted to what it stands for)...If you factor this stuff in, it's quite amazing that he was elected - and by how many votes - in the first place. These guys are the philosophers, at the top of the Catholic food chain, and are KNOWN rabble rousers. He seems like a genuinely good guy with, CLEARly, a big set of balls (unlike that "timid Obama" who isn't leeeeeeeeading. GEEzus smh). He's gonna do a lot more. THE thing for him, though, is gonna be WOMEN. This is strictly my opinion, but, in terms of this VERY old and powerful institution, dealing with racism is a walk in the park compared to the historical corner in which it has painted itself (yep, I'm aware that the major three religions have all done the same thing in this regard). Catholicism is a HUGE plank of the Christian religion and women and all of the iterations therein are starin' him right in the face. If there's, at the level these two men are, any possibility for some honest consideration of changing a long held view and it's impact on all concerned, it's with these two guys. The conversations these two guys have and will yet have...
We shall see what the good Pope shall yet do
I see a lot of similarities between Pope Francis and President Obama. One of them is the fact that their critics--when confronted with evidence that shatters their positions--simply move the goalposts. In the case of President Obama, it's to whine about the NSA, Snowden, Gitmo, and his "war on whistleblowers", whatever the hell that is. In the case of Pope Francis, it's to be smug about how religion should be wiped out or bring up the sex scandals.
DeleteBoth are leading, despite the argle-bargle spewed by their critics.
Just a note - it is Sr. Simone Campbell who leads "Network" that organized "Nuns on the Bus". We were colleagues back in the day...
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