September 7, 2015

"This is a new, very new generation of pope."

"Hopefully there will be a lot more interfaith cooperation, and just a more welcoming vibe overall."
"Well, he says, 'Who am I to judge?' But he's the one who can do something to change doctrine, and to change that the church carries out the things that it does," she says. "So he kind of is the one to judge, and to change the way that things are done."

29 comments:

amielalune said...

Great, except most of the people they quote are people who have no idea how the Catholic church operates.

They think the pope can change Church doctrine and teachings. And that the Church is apparently a democracy.

Can I have that two minutes of my life back??

rehajm said...

He's new the way Bernie Sanders is new.

Lewis Wetzel said...

NPR: the go-to network for religious coverage!

tim maguire said...

Secularists, may as well be secularists, and adherents of various failing religions are cheered that the Pope wants to put the Catholic Church on the same path of decline they started down over 50 years ago. How nice.

traditionalguy said...

The Jesuit newbie is saying Pardon me while a new world Church arises from the one that served the Holy a Roman Empire's needs to govern men in order to serve a new world Empire's needs of governing the atmosphere and thus making all actions be done on communal lands no longer privately owned but Empire owned.

And he has that sweet, caring bedside manner saying submit like Francic of Assisi did and it won't hurt so much.

Anonymous said...

Francis the talking pope getting the NPR cat ladies all aflutter again?

gspencer said...

Really, really tough to "dialogue" with people who take seriously their own "holy texts," such as this one,

"Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture - [fight] until they give the jizyah willingly while they are humbled."

Paddy O said...

Francis is, it seems, an evangelist pope. That's great. He's bringing a new attitude and new responses to the church. Not changing it as much as bringing out what those in the Church find to be true. That a lot of people think he is some radical suggests how little a lot of people know about the RCC to begin with.

More interesting to this professional observer is the increasing engagement between the Catholics and the Orthodox. Like shown here.

The East and the West split in 1054. We could, maybe even we likely will, see this millennium old division repaired. Truly monumental. The surface liturgical issues are really covering up the underlying leadership debate, but there does seem to be a chance with this Pope to help renew and participate in a different (yet older) model of church leadership.

Sebastian said...

He's hardly of a "new generation."

But fair's fair: Progs win.

The culture war is almost over even within the Church.

Of course, if Francis keeps going, there won't be much Church left.

Even as an outsider, I find the spectacle a bit remarkable.

Anyone who finds a hunger in himself to be more serious will have to look elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

If you have an air conditioner, Francis will judge you so fast you won't know what hit you.

MD Greene said...

Next up: NPR reports on the Pope's odds in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Anonymous said...

Short NPR version

Good Non-Catholics love him

Bad Non-Catholics don't

Catholics? Who know or cares???

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

One of the problems with buying "craft beer" is I feel like I should show preference for local businesses but there are so many of them and a man can buy only so much beer.

Well, fortunately for me, the Pope is coming to Philadelphia and so a local brewery is marking the occasion by selling a product named "Holy Wooder."

And so now I can strike that brewery off my list, completely, and that helps a lot.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Haw! Haw!! Haw!!!

I'm not the least bit religious, but that's just stupid.

And disrespectful.

Nichevo said...

Traditionalguy,

I have realized who you remind me of, with your rants and your wildly inflated self-esteem.


You are really Dale Gribble, from King of the Hill.

Anonymous said...

Paddy O: ...suggests how little a lot of people know about the RCC to begin with.

The other day on the radio the BBC was breathlessly reporting that Francis had introduced a progressive new policy into the RCC - for the first time priests were going to be allowed to forgive women who had had abortions!

The interesting things one can learn from the MSM about religion. Gee, that was awfully nice of Francis to finally extend to this kind of sinner the sacramental access that had always been available to every other kind, don't you think?

But, the reporter intoned solemnly, Francis said it was still a sin.

Anonymous said...

Paddy O: The East and the West split in 1054. We could, maybe even we likely will, see this millennium old division repaired. Truly monumental.

I'd like to see the Latin Church de-schism with Orthodox Christianity just to watch trad-guy's head explode.

Unknown said...

When Pope Francis was elected npr did a piece on how he protected a couple of radical priests from the Argentine authorities, but bemoaned the fact "he didn't support their program". They were disappointed he was a Catholic. He has a strong record against Marxism, yet when he reiterates a century old view of justice between labor and management lefties think he's a socialist, and some on the right think the same thing. He was well known in South America as a traditional pastor who cared for the poor and was hated for it. He ties in stewardship for the environment with traditional sexual morality--including protection of the unborn specifically--and a chirpy npr interviewee opines he hasn't said anything about sexual ethics yet.

Nobobody in the media has figured Pope Francis out, but the linked article is typical of npr pieces on Catholic issues. Whether the author is intellectually incurious, willfully ignorant, or just plain ignorant is difficult to say.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"He's new the way Bernie Sanders is new."

Bang on. And thinking about it, it would also apply to just about every hyped person and idea of my sentient lifetime.

YoungHegelian said...

The East and the West split in 1054. We could, maybe even we likely will, see this millennium old division repaired. Truly monumental.

I hear ya, Paddy. But the Orthodox are such a royal pain in the butt, I'm not sure the RCC needs that sort of headache now.

Some years back, the RCC held a conference in Europe with representatives from the various autocephalous Orthodox churches. They soon ran into a problem. The Armenians & the Antiochenes simply refused to sit at the same table with the Greeks.

Now, the Russian Church, backed by Putin in the political realm, is trying to expand its sphere of influence into territories traditionally covered by other Orthodox churches, and those other churches aren't happy.

And let's not even get started on how all the older Orthodox churches would like to strangle the Orthodox Church in America in its crib. The older autocephalous churches have no intention to allow their cash-cow ethnic parishes in the rich USA get taken over by some upstart Americans.

I love Orthodox theology. I love the Orthodox liturgy. I just can't stand the Orthodox. As the Orthodox theologian John Meyendorff put it: "Right church, wrong people".

Anonymous said...

People will be waiting an eternity for doctrinal changes, that's just not how things work. The pope isn't given the power to change doctrine, the most he can do is clarify things that are uncertain or change a point of emphasis. Francis has a different emphasis from recent popes, but rest assured he will disappoint every media outlet in the world when all is said and done when it comes to doctrine.

The abortion thing applies to the internal church legal process. Abortion happens to not only be a sin, but also a church crime in canon law, one which only a bishop ordinarily can forgive. While that power has long been delegated to priests by many bishops, it's not universally the case, hence the papal dispensation (in reference to the crime aspect of the thing). No extra step needed, it's forgiven in confession along with the sin so long as the priest has the authority to do so.

YoungHegelian said...

I'd also like to add that for those who are fond of Orthodoxy, everything the Orthodox church teaches (including married priests) & the various Orthodox liturgies can be had in full communion with Rome if one goes to an Eastern Rite Church. I'm not going to lie to you & tell you that this arrangement between the other rites & Rome is always convivial, but, hey, nobody's schismed out yet. Your local RCC priest probably isn't going to point you in that direction, either, because it's just too "smells & bells" for your average RCC parish priest, who also harbors grave misgivings about the Latin Tridentine liturgy as well. But, he can't do a damn thing to stop you from going, either, because the Eastern Rite sacraments are as valid as they are at any other RCC parish in the world.

It really is worth a visit to an Eastern Rite parish for liturgy if you've never done it before.

darrenoia said...

The secular leftists won't be happy until the question "Is the pope Catholic?" is no longer a rhetorical one.

Jason said...

As I said before, watching the secular press try to cover the Church = lulz.

Anonymous said...

cyrus83: The abortion thing applies to the internal church legal process. Abortion happens to not only be a sin, but also a church crime in canon law, one which only a bishop ordinarily can forgive. While that power has long been delegated to priests by many bishops, it's not universally the case, hence the papal dispensation (in reference to the crime aspect of the thing).

I stand corrected. This I did not know.

(I'm confident that the BBC reporter wasn't working from an understanding of this distinction, though.)

Paddy O said...

"I love Orthodox theology. I love the Orthodox liturgy. I just can't stand the Orthodox."

I so agree with this! I really am taken by most Orthodox theology, but the politics of it drive me away. The situation in North America is definitely one of my continuing problems with the EO. I think the EO has a better claim on being the representative of the earliest churches in structure, but I'm still a loyal Protestant because I ultimately don't think any hierarchy is in charge of who is in or out based on extra-ecumenical-council rules.

As a symbolic gesture, unity would be huge, and it would push both sides to break down some of their long-held barriers.

Paddy O said...

"While that power has long been delegated to priests by many bishops"

Including, I think, North America, so that's probably why we hereabouts would not see it as a change.

The Godfather said...

"Cobbler, stick to thy last."

Francis doesn't know squat about the environment or economics, but he cerainly knows a lot about what's right and wrong in the Roman Catholic Church. I'm an outsider, but it seems to me that he could have a very productive Pontificate if he focused on improving the Church, rather than on subjects on which he has nothing useful to add.

Browndog said...

I think this Pope is not far from preaching "Collective Salvation Doctrine."

Should that come to pass, I look forward to the Time Magazine cover with the caption "We're all Catholic now"