Biographical details throw light on the Pope’s ideological instincts

[Theodora]

Interesting points are made in the following article:
spectator.org/pope-franciss-communist-mentor/

Some excerpted paragraphs from it:

*Pope Francis grew up in socialist Argentina, an experience that left a deep impression on his thinking. He told the Latin American journalists Javier Camara and Sebastian Pfaffen that as a young man he “read books of the Communist Party that my boss in the laboratory gave me” and that “there was a period where I would wait anxiously for the newspaper La Vanguardia, which was not allowed to be sold with the other newspapers and was brought to us by the socialist militants.”

*The “boss” to whom Pope Francis referred is Esther Ballestrino de Careaga. He has described her as a “Paraguayan woman” and a “fervent communist.” He considers her one of his most important mentors. “I owe a huge amount to that great woman,” he has said, saying that she “taught me so much about politics.” (He worked for her as an assistant at Hickethier-Bachmann Laboratory in Buenos Aires.)
*“She often read Communist Party texts to me and gave them to me to read. So I also got to know that very materialistic conception. I remember that she also gave me the statement from the American Communists in defense of the Rosenbergs, who had been sentenced to death,” he has said. Learning about communism, he said, “through a courageous and honest person was helpful. I realized a few things, an aspect of the social, which I then found in the social doctrine of the Church.” As the archbishop of Buenos Aires, he took pride in helping her hide the family’s Marxist literature from the authorities who were investigating her. According to the author James Carroll, Bergoglio smuggled her communist books, including Marx’s Das Kapital, into a “Jesuit library.”
*
In the Bible, there are verses, where the believers share their possession: Acts 4:32-35.

Acts 2: 44-45 explained: * "And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common, *and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need."

With that in mind, I can wholeheartedly agree what Pope Francis said in 2014: *“I must say that communists have stolen our flag. The flag of the poor is Christian,”

*More…spectator.org/pope-franciss-communist-mentor/

 

[friardchips]

Interesting points are made in the following article:
spectator.org/pope-franciss-communist-mentor/

Some excerpted paragraphs from it:

*Pope Francis grew up in socialist Argentina, an experience that left a deep impression on his thinking. He told the Latin American journalists Javier Camara and Sebastian Pfaffen that as a young man he “read books of the Communist Party that my boss in the laboratory gave me” and that “there was a period where I would wait anxiously for the newspaper La Vanguardia, which was not allowed to be sold with the other newspapers and was brought to us by the socialist militants.”

*The “boss” to whom Pope Francis referred is Esther Ballestrino de Careaga. He has described her as a “Paraguayan woman” and a “fervent communist.” He considers her one of his most important mentors. “I owe a huge amount to that great woman,” he has said, saying that she “taught me so much about politics.” (He worked for her as an assistant at Hickethier-Bachmann Laboratory in Buenos Aires.)
*“She often read Communist Party texts to me and gave them to me to read. So I also got to know that very materialistic conception. I remember that she also gave me the statement from the American Communists in defense of the Rosenbergs, who had been sentenced to death,” he has said. Learning about communism, he said, “through a courageous and honest person was helpful. I realized a few things, an aspect of the social, which I then found in the social doctrine of the Church.” As the archbishop of Buenos Aires, he took pride in helping her hide the family’s Marxist literature from the authorities who were investigating her. According to the author James Carroll, Bergoglio smuggled her communist books, including Marx’s Das Kapital, into a “Jesuit library.”
*
In the Bible, there are verses, where the believers share their possession: Acts 4:32-35.

Acts 2: 44-45 explained: * "And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common, *and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need."

With that in mind, I can wholeheartedly agree what Pope Francis said in 2014: *“I must say that communists have stolen our flag. The flag of the poor is Christian,”

*More…spectator.org/pope-franciss-communist-mentor/

Pope Francis is not in the business of judging but of making connections and looking for the best in things.

*'Evo Morales, Bolivia’s proudly Marxist president, offered the pontiff that sacrilegious image of Jesus Christ. Morales described the gift as a copy of a crucifix designed by a late priest, Fr. Luis Espinal, who belonged to the Jesuit order (as does Pope Francis) and had committed his life to melding Marxism with religion. Pope Francis had honored Espinal’s memory upon his arrival in Bolivia.

Had John Paul II or Pope Benedict XVI seen such a grotesque cross, they might have broken it over their knees. Not Pope Francis. He accepted the hammer-and-sickle cross warmly, telling the press on the plane ride back to Rome that “I understand this work” and that “for me it wasn’t an offense.” After the visit, Morales gushed, “I feel like now I have a Pope. I didn’t feel that before.”’*

• I am pretty sure that the Pope looked upon the Cross handed to him with some caution and saying he understood it wasn’t saying he loved it. I think this part of the article is excessively elaborate designed for viewer attention. He might have appreciated mostly the person’s effort in making it for him.

Pope Francis no doubt understands the more idealistic elements of Marxism without thinking that Communism is in any way healthy. Look at the all the trouble in Cuba.

The article also mentions inequality being the reason Satan rebelled. I think it was more about a lack of humility and obedience.

The article said how Pope Francis was able to understand materialist-attitudes and this of course is something we know Pope Francis is not a great fan of. So he must have seen the practical down-sides of Marxist theories.

It seems to me that the article is trying to suggest that PF is in favour of Communism when in fact all this article shows is that Pope Francis was astute enough to be educated in the processes and machinations of the environment he grew up in, which was sensible, because knowledge makes you stronger, and could even be considered a matter of survival, especially in worlds of severe poverty, hoarded wealth and militant regimes. It also shows that this particular newspaper is as typically snarky as always.

No one is advocating that Communism is somehow a good thing. No way. It is oppressive. Pope Francis would be aware of that. But sometimes to try controlling a beast by taming it, you have to first understand it.

Are there no better sources than ones from the extreme right-wing.

 

[JPUSC]

For those bewildered by Pope Francis, those who knew Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio prior to his election to the pontificate can shed some light on the situation. Priests from Buenos Aires who worked with Cardinal Bergoglio in different capacities suggest that people from opposite camps would both come out of meetings with the then-Cardinal believing he supported their position. “He’s with us but can’t say so publicly,” they would relate, as would those who met with him from the opposing camp.

According to one priest who knows the Pope but wishes to remain anonymous, Francis is very much a Peronist — named for former Argentina President Juan Domingo Perón. Like Perón, Pope Francis plays with both left wing and right wing factions.

The priest tells a story about President Peron that helps to understand Francis. Once Peron was in his car and at a fork in the road his driver asked him which way he would like to go. Peron replied: “Put the flicker on for a right turn, but go left.”

lifesitenews.com/blogs/pope-francis-praises-pro-life-cause-there-is-no-more-important-work

 

[exnihilo]

I definitely think the Pope’s environment has shaped his ideology. What I find odd is that Argentina was a very wealthy, and thriving country. Then the socialists got hold of it and ruined the economy. The free market brought prosperity and the socialists destroyed it. So why would you think the socialists, who keep being proven wrong, are right?

With that in mind, I can wholeheartedly agree what Pope Francis said in 2014: *“I must say that communists have stolen our flag. The flag of the poor is Christian,”
*

I wouldn’t say the communists have stolen it but have merely attempted to. Christianity is responsible for the attitude of taking care of the poor. In the past people tended to just not care about the poor. Communism comes along and promises to take care of the poor, but the means aren’t voluntary but by force. Worse still it can’t actually deliver on its promise. The poor are still poor under communism. All that changes is that the economy as a whole is poorer. There are less extremes in wealth because as a whole everyone is worse off.

Also, care for the poor isn’t just about them having goods and services. It is also about the dignity of the individual. Communism degrades the individual by forcibly subjugating him to the supposed collective which is really just the state. It also forces atheism which is certainly not caring for the poor.

 

[babs57]

Communism is an Utopian ideology wherein all things are shared for the good of all the citizens. This ideology is at the core of the moral structure of the church. It is the Utopia of the Kingdom of God.

The problem is that man tries to build this Utopia without God. It doesn’t work for him. He ends up with a Tower of Babel, where he uses bricks instead of stone and pitch instead of mortar for the purpose of making of himself a great nation.