Well, I was certainly wrong about the Italian part.
I was stunned by a lot of what happened. He's from Latin America! the first non-European pope, a true breakthrough for the Church. He's a Jesuit, which means he's not a dogmatic moron (I looked at some of the backgrounds of these guys, and most are more indoctrinated than educated). He took the name Francis, after one of the more likable saints, which suggests both humility and a willingness to set aside the doctrinaire schisms between sects within the Church (Franciscans and Jesuits have sort of different worldviews).
And it keeps going: he is a chemist, so he likes science (no coincidence that in Bill Maher's jeremiad of a documentary, Religulous, the two most sympathetic apologists for faith are Catholic priests. Give the Church credit for coming a long way on the role of science. No one learns about Adam and Eve eating brontosaurus burgers in parochial school). And bless him, his harsh words about neoliberal orthodoxy are very welcome. I hope Paul Ryan is listening (he may be, but lay Catholics always seem to ignore what the clerics say).
But... he's also said that gay people asking to be treated like humans is the work of Satan. He's said to be close to Benedict on most ideological points, so don't expect much actual progress on anything. And his role during Argentina's military dictatorship deserves very close scrutiny — at the moment, it appears unclear if he is an evildoer or just a coward. The questions are serious, and a cynic would wonder whether the gentle, carefully constructed public face will merely paper over more of the same. You can never be too cynical when thinking about the Church.
This is the frustrating thing about the Church. I know precisely his opinion on capital punishment, for example, and I know it is correct. And I can also guess what he thinks of contraception. It's a jumble of position, humanity at its most charitable and noble, and its most sick and depraved. It's best to just steer clear.
And yet, watching the hullabaloo from St. Peter's Square on the internet this afternoon. I found myself again wishing it meant something to me and mourning that it doesn't. Ah well, I should just get my melodramatic spectacle fix from opera or something.
I was stunned by a lot of what happened. He's from Latin America! the first non-European pope, a true breakthrough for the Church. He's a Jesuit, which means he's not a dogmatic moron (I looked at some of the backgrounds of these guys, and most are more indoctrinated than educated). He took the name Francis, after one of the more likable saints, which suggests both humility and a willingness to set aside the doctrinaire schisms between sects within the Church (Franciscans and Jesuits have sort of different worldviews).
And it keeps going: he is a chemist, so he likes science (no coincidence that in Bill Maher's jeremiad of a documentary, Religulous, the two most sympathetic apologists for faith are Catholic priests. Give the Church credit for coming a long way on the role of science. No one learns about Adam and Eve eating brontosaurus burgers in parochial school). And bless him, his harsh words about neoliberal orthodoxy are very welcome. I hope Paul Ryan is listening (he may be, but lay Catholics always seem to ignore what the clerics say).
But... he's also said that gay people asking to be treated like humans is the work of Satan. He's said to be close to Benedict on most ideological points, so don't expect much actual progress on anything. And his role during Argentina's military dictatorship deserves very close scrutiny — at the moment, it appears unclear if he is an evildoer or just a coward. The questions are serious, and a cynic would wonder whether the gentle, carefully constructed public face will merely paper over more of the same. You can never be too cynical when thinking about the Church.
This is the frustrating thing about the Church. I know precisely his opinion on capital punishment, for example, and I know it is correct. And I can also guess what he thinks of contraception. It's a jumble of position, humanity at its most charitable and noble, and its most sick and depraved. It's best to just steer clear.
And yet, watching the hullabaloo from St. Peter's Square on the internet this afternoon. I found myself again wishing it meant something to me and mourning that it doesn't. Ah well, I should just get my melodramatic spectacle fix from opera or something.
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