A CNN contributor compared Pope Francis with Barack Obama by calling him the “Hope and Change Pope.”
“He hasn’t actually done much in the way of real policy changes of initiatives, and he certainly is the hope and change pope, but he’s at the head of a body, the Vatican, that’s very resistant to change,” the commentator said. “I’ve read, for instance, that observers say that you don’t change the Vatican, the Vatican changes you.”
This is, of course, ridiculous and yes, offensive when you consider that the pro-abortion/pro-gay marriage Obama is currently at war with the Catholic Church. And the especially sad part is that they’re hoping that the Church will change into the Democratic Party of Rome. That’s what they want. It drives them bananas that this 2,000 year old institution still exists. Make no mistake, it is the existence of the Catholic Church that drives them crazy.
And this is one thing that drives me a bit crazy. They keep talking about Pope Francis as if he’s going to focus the Church on the poor unlike all those other mean nasty popes. What has the Church been doing? The Catholic Church is the largest force for good in the world. If only they’d get rid of those pesky ideas about the sanctity of life, the Church might even be considered as cool as the Episcopalians.
March 20, 2013 at 12:09 pm
I think I want to barf…
March 20, 2013 at 12:38 pm
It makes me crazy because it makes it sound like Pope Benedict or John Paul II were egomaniacs who lived large and didn't care about the poor. Always a zero sum game with the Progressives, which is of course false. The problem for them is the Church is usually about both/and eg. the poor and Beauty, acts of charity, and acts of spiritual mercy.
They will turn on him, Just like they did with John Paul II, when they realize that he is devout, and not interested in their diversity agenda, but is actually Catholic. They should have paid attention to his first homily where he talked about preaching Christ without the Cross and equating that with preaching with the Devil.
March 20, 2013 at 2:33 pm
I think Pope Francis is setting a very clear anti-American tone for all of us to take heed, liberals and conservatives alike. We spend money like there's no tomorrow, we prop up the wealthy and affluent, we build up social systems to give us the upper edge in society. Pope Francis makes it clear that Catholics are called to take a different stance in society. To seek out and help the poor and the downtrodden. How many of us, and of course I'm talking about myself here, vote pro life but come back to our very comfortable homes and way of American life and passively live out the next four years until we can be defeated again? How many of us use our Catholic voice when it's supposed to help in the polls, but don't live it as Francis of Assisi did? I really think this Pope is not going to 'make friends' to any one worldly ideologue and that is a much needed and proper Catholic response to this messy business of life that we've all run amok in.
March 20, 2013 at 5:27 pm
Here's the thing about the mainstream media and Pope Francis: they are attempting to usurp him as "one of their own," that is, they want to depict Pope Francis as being more liberal than his past predecessors, they want to showcase him as an agent of change who will right all of the wrongs done by the Catholic Church by liberalizing the Church's theology. Why would they do such a thing? Simple, once they have all of those "c"atholics convinced that he's on their side, the MSM will use all of it's coercive powers against the Pope the moment he pronounced or sticks to Catholic teaching in matters of morals, sexuality and ethics. The moment that Pope Francis declares unequivocally that same-sex "marriage" is an abomination and contrary to God's plan, see how fast the media lovefest becomes a hatefest. The moment that Pope Francis says that all forms of contraception are evil, see how quick the MSM will show him as beeing archaic and not the agent of change that they wanted. The moment that Pope Francis states that abortion is murder, well I think we all know what the mainstream media will portray him as.
The fact of the matter is this: The more the media, i.e. the world, hates him, the more good that we as Catholics know he is doing. The more and more he is criticized, the more and more good that is happening within the Church! Stay strong my fellow Catholics and never forget to pray for our Pope!
March 20, 2013 at 6:24 pm
Hey, people have won Nobel Prizes for less.
March 20, 2013 at 6:24 pm
I am afraid that Pope Francis is exactly what they say, LIBERAL.
He seems to favour disenting clerics and the left wing of the Church, and though he has said some strong things about the non-negotiables, the real fight is in the grey-areas, the liturgy, ecumenism and the relationship between the Church and the modern world.
Compared with popes of the past he is extremely liberal in these areas. This will effectively work to destroy the church internally and externally over time because it dilutes the missionary spirit within the church.
Let's hope the Holy Spirit gives Pope Francis a change of heart, because even a cursory look into his past track record is not good, if one loves Catholic tradition.
March 20, 2013 at 6:56 pm
Calm down…consider the source. Don't worry..they'll hate him before long exactly 10 nanoseconds after he upholds any teaching of the Church on any area of sexuality…in other words…they'll will express their disappointment in what 'was a promising beginning' before the month is done.
March 20, 2013 at 9:08 pm
Well, from what I can tell, he IS an "affirmative action" pope. The only qualification he seems to have to hold the office is that he is a latino of Italian descent.
March 21, 2013 at 6:52 pm
In a sense this appears to be true because they both have "personality cult" that is being helped bu the mainstream secular media (we already know Style is more important than Substance" BTW there is Hope and Change with the new Pope since he is having a Mass at a Youth Prison on Holy Thursday rather than at St. John Lateran which is the custom, but I digress.
March 22, 2013 at 3:38 pm
The liberals shall fall!