It's interesting seeing the reactions to Pope Francis. Some on the right are trying to make this the case, the Pope is being misunderstood, and his message is suffering at the hands of poor English translations. But that seems to ignore the last 175 years of Catholic teaching on social justice, poverty, "the idolatry of the marketplace," American consumerism, unions, and fundamental human dignity and rights of workers. This odd notion by conservatives the pope is suffering at the hands of bad translation that the American Catholic Conference of Bishops (which is far more conservative now than it was say in the 1960s - early 1980s), who all speak perfectly fine English, condemned Paul Ryan's budget plan as 'unmoral.' And when Ryan was boasting that his political views were based on the New Testament, and his personal faith as a Roman Catholic, sixty American Catholic theologians issued a press report, and the letter they sent to him (and their English is pretty good too), was a serious misrepresentation of the Catholic faith.
Then you have the case of liberal leaning non Catholics, or atheists, or non-denominational tapping their feet thinking that unless Pope Francis changes specific church doctrines this exact minute*, they're pretty unimpressed and "Meh." As a world leader, the Pope is saying and doing things that are pretty unparalleled by any current political leaders in the West (e.g. this statement the Pope made last week: “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”). Even the President doesn't make that many strong statements about making it a matter of morality; the President will stop far short of that and say it's just not American). Meanwhile you have notable public conservative Catholics who are pushing back (notably Bill O'Really, who offered the suggestion some people are poor because well "aren't they drug addicts?").
But I think Pope Francis' speeches and writings, and most of all, his personal examples will have an impact; and he will create a climate that will hopefully lead to more changes. I use the Gorbachev analogy. When he came to power, there were a lot of skeptics about HIS changes and proposals. It finally took Maggie Thacher calling President Reagan to convince him that he was "someone we could do business with." So in what, six years we went from expecting WWIII to almost unilateral disarmament, with the USSR and USA nearly giving up all their nuclear weapons (but short of that, the two countries negotiated significant reductions on both sides with radical proposals for Europe, etc etc.) That's the power of an individual, at the right place, at the right time.
------------------------------------------------- * (The pope is revisiting priestly celibacy, which really is a not a "dogma" but instead a church practise that can be rescinded at anytime), and would only affect secular priests, not monastic orders.
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Date: 8/12/13 16:05 (UTC)Then you have the case of liberal leaning non Catholics, or atheists, or non-denominational tapping their feet thinking that unless Pope Francis changes specific church doctrines this exact minute*, they're pretty unimpressed and "Meh." As a world leader, the Pope is saying and doing things that are pretty unparalleled by any current political leaders in the West (e.g. this statement the Pope made last week: “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”). Even the President doesn't make that many strong statements about making it a matter of morality; the President will stop far short of that and say it's just not American). Meanwhile you have notable public conservative Catholics who are pushing back (notably Bill O'Really, who offered the suggestion some people are poor because well "aren't they drug addicts?").
But I think Pope Francis' speeches and writings, and most of all, his personal examples will have an impact; and he will create a climate that will hopefully lead to more changes. I use the Gorbachev analogy. When he came to power, there were a lot of skeptics about HIS changes and proposals. It finally took Maggie Thacher calling President Reagan to convince him that he was "someone we could do business with." So in what, six years we went from expecting WWIII to almost unilateral disarmament, with the USSR and USA nearly giving up all their nuclear weapons (but short of that, the two countries negotiated significant reductions on both sides with radical proposals for Europe, etc etc.) That's the power of an individual, at the right place, at the right time.
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* (The pope is revisiting priestly celibacy, which really is a not a "dogma" but instead a church practise that can be rescinded at anytime), and would only affect secular priests, not monastic orders.