Catholics call it the 'Pope Francis effect': 'The new pope has made being Catholic cool'

[gilliam]

In an intimate ceremony at SS. Simon and Jude Church in Scott on a recent weekday afternoon, Christopher Fox bowed his head as the Rev. Jay Donahue dipped a seashell into a font of holy water and poured it on him three times, baptizing him in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Mr. Fox then donned a floor-length alb, or white robe, a symbol of his baptism, and was confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church.
His confirmation name: Francis.
It was mainly a tribute to his late father’s name, but it was also a salute to the new pope, who has fired the imagination of many Catholics and non-Catholics alike with a bracing series of humble actions, blunt criticisms of church bureaucrats and conciliatory gestures to the marginalized.
Mr. Fox said he was already in the process of joining the church when Francis became pope, but “with the pope coming along, it just added that spark to it all.”
It’s been called the “Pope Francis effect.”

Read more: post-gazette.com/local/region/2013/12/22/Catholics-call-it-the-Pope-Francis-effect/stories/201312220107#ixzz2oP63BWQZ

 

[ProVobis]

A new Pope doesn’t make a new Church. People will learn that quickly enough.

 

[Tampa_Dave]

If Pope Francis’ influence draws Catholics back and adds new Catholic converts, I’m all for it. Hopefully, the beauty of our Catholic faith will keep them there.

 

[Tigg]

I remember years ago when Mother Teresa died within days of Princess Diana. Diana was exalted by the secular press for months on end (and we all loved her) while Mother Teresa was put on the back burner by the media. When some of her writings eventually were disclosed, the press then put a negative spin on them declaring she wrote she had lost her faith. yeah, right - the secular world is qualified to interpret matters of the soul like the Dark Night.

The point is, the world has a fascination with the pontiff (not necessarily a bad thing) but I sometimes doubt they are seeing the “Son of the Church” (which the media does not portray) or listening only to the erroneous reports and mis-translations that abound. My guess is that the Holy Father, in his humility, would not want a “Pope Francis effect,” placing the emphasis on his person, but would rather prefer that his influence would cause others to turn their eyes to Christ, embrace the eternal Church and submit to the beauty of the truth She holds.

 

[Mark121359]

I remember years ago when Mother Teresa died within days of Princess Diana. Diana was exalted by the secular press for months on end (and we all loved her) while Mother Teresa was put on the back burner by the media. When some of her writings eventually were disclosed, the press then put a negative spin on them declaring she wrote she had lost her faith. yeah, right - the secular world is qualified to interpret matters of the soul like the Dark Night.

Yes, excellent point Tigg, I remember this as well! In fact ABC’s coverage with Peter Jennings was particularly biased against the future Saint!…From the Catholic League;

***Media coverage of the funeral Mass for Mother Teresa was generally quite fair. The lone exception came from ABC. During the consecration of the Host, ABC anchor Peter Jennings allowed author Christopher Hitchens to rant and rave against Mother Teresa; the Vanity Fair writer lambasted the late champion of the poor for her alleged “false humility” and “rabid fundamentalism.” ***

Catholic League president William Donohue delivered the following remarks about this incident;

***“ABC stands in stark contrast to CBS, NBC, CNN and FOX, all of whom treated Mother Teresa with the respect she deserves. Inviting the embittered Christopher Hitchens to comment on Mother Teresa would be like inviting an educated David Duke to comment on Martin Luther King. Hitchens is a notorious anti-Catholic bigot and ABC was certainly well aware of this fact when they invited him. He is also the author of a slim book on Mother Teresa, The Missionary Position, a volume that is most noted for its absence of any citations and its hate-filled commentary.

“There was an Episcopal priest who slammed Mother Teresa on CBS ‘This Morning’ on September 8, but the reporter was obviously shocked by Rev. Donald Reeves’ statement and did everything she could to calm things down. On September 7, NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ invited Hitchens to comment on the royals, but Hitchens was not allowed to stay for the next segment on Mother Teresa; Tim Russert handled the situation with professionalism.

“Against this backdrop we have ABC’s irresponsible and calculated decision to allow Christopher Hitchens to bash Mother Teresa; the decision by Peter Jennings to let Hitchens continue his diatribe during Holy Communion was particularly offensive. Princess Diana had many detractors, yet none surfaced on TV. Mother Teresa had one person who hated her and the Disney-owned network found room for him to vent.***

The point is, the world has a fascination with the pontiff (not necessarily a bad thing) but I sometimes doubt they are seeing the “Son of the Church” (which the media does not portray) or listening only to the erroneous reports and mis-translations that abound. My guess is that the Holy Father, in his humility, would not want a “Pope Francis effect,” placing the emphasis on his person, but would rather prefer that his influence would cause others to turn their eyes to Christ, embrace the eternal Church and submit to the beauty of the truth She holds.

I have to believe the bolded above as well. The MSM never ceases to astound me with their absurd mis-translations of this pontiff and the Catholic Faith in general. But what most troubles me is that so many Catholics today are so willing to embrace these erroneous translations!..why is this?

***Peace, Mark ***

 

[ProVobis]

But what most troubles me is that so many Catholics today are so willing to embrace these erroneous translations!..why is this?

Embrace isn’t the word I would use. Dependency on any translation would be more like it.

What I find bothersome, though, is how quickly these are translated and disseminated, before any attempt to double-check or to verify them. Ten different translators would produce ten different translations so I would think it would behoove the public to learn of all possible translations. Spanish and Italian represent different cultures; I wouldn’t expect any one translation into English to be precise. There is a school of thought that says the originator of the comments in question to be somewhat involved in the translation process (such as Pope Benedict did with his resignation, for example), but some of us don’t see this occurring these days.

 

[Darryl1958]

There was a similar cult of personality surrounding John Paul II. Hopefully, the dividends of the Pope Francis effect will be even more enormous.
On the other hand, the media frenzy cooled a bit when the reporters came to recognize that John Paul II was indeed a Catholic wedded to two thousand years of Catholic tradition, and no changes to core beliefs were in the pipes. That’s how I remember it anyway.
I imagine there will come a time when people will recognize that the Church is all about the teaching, and not too much about the celebrity, which is always a passing phase.

 

[SuperLuigi]

There was a similar cult of personality surrounding John Paul II. Hopefully, the dividends of the Pope Francis effect will be even more enormous.
On the other hand, the media frenzy cooled a bit when the reporters came to recognize that John Paul II was indeed a Catholic wedded to two thousand years of Catholic tradition, and no changes to core beliefs were in the pipes. That’s how I remember it anyway.
I imagine there will come a time when people will recognize that the Church is all about the teaching, and not too much about the celebrity, which is always a passing phase.

There’s always people though who will say "well, if the Church would accept women priests/so-called gay "marriage/contraception/abortion, it would have more members.

Some folks just don’t get that we’re not willing to sell our souls for popularity like the First World political left & establishment.

 

[ProVobis]

On the other hand, the media frenzy cooled a bit when the reporters came to recognize that John Paul II was indeed a Catholic wedded to two thousand years of Catholic tradition, and no changes to core beliefs were in the pipes. That’s how I remember it anyway.
I imagine there will come a time when people will recognize that the Church is all about the teaching, and not too much about the celebrity, which is always a passing phase.

John Paul II made being Polish cool.

 

[Darryl1958]

John Paul II made being Polish cool.

I think that John Paul II is, was and shall be the greatest historical figure to arise in my life time. He completely changed the course of world history, and completely transformed the role of the papacy in the world.
He is definitely anyone of Polish descent can be proud of.

He was an amazing, amazing man.
And he was cool too.

 

[GeorgetownGirl]

Well, I have noticed a huge shift in how the media views the CC with Francis in charge (TIME Person of the year, etc).

Everyone loves Francis.

 

[BunnyLover]

Hey, the MSM is cool with us for a change. Just enjoy it.

I did see one article using one phrase, not even a full sentence of his, to prove a point that right wingers are horrible people (but just right wingers, no one else, because everyone else is full of love, not hate). So in that case, I can see a large margin for error.

But I mean, the Church does want us to repair capitalism and help the poor and accomplish goals that are traditionally concerns for left wingers too, so when the Pope says something to that effect I’m not going to blame it on mistranslation.

So What are the biggest mistranslations that people are getting giddy about? I mean, I’m going to do research to get quotes from him but I’m not going to look for ten translations to compare and contrast each sentence. And so far when I read complete sentences from him I love what I’m seeing.

 

[livingwordunity]

It would be nice if someone would inform the Obama admin that being Catholic is cool so he can stop trying to force us to do things that go against our faith.

 

[estesbob]

A new Pope doesn’t make a new Church. People will learn that quickly enough.

At some point the MM and the Left will discover the pope is indeed “Catholic” and they will turn on him.

 

[livingwordunity]

At some point the MM and the Left will discover the pope is indeed “Catholic” and they will turn on him.

We who say this are falsely accused of wanting something bad to happen to our Pope or hating him because we don’t believe the mainstream media (MSM) is going to always like him. But, the fact is that those running the MSM still hate Catholicism. They basically think that they can bribe our Pope with popularity the way they do with politicians. But the Pope isn’t going to dump the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. Some liberals try to say that the Pope is just waiting for the right time to make all of the radical changes they want (i.e. abortion, so-called same-sex ‘marriage’, euthanasia, etc.). But if the Pope were one of them and if it were possible for him to make such radical changes to Church doctrine he would have done it day one of his Papacy. So, unless the MSM starts to love Catholic doctrine, sooner or later they are going to start to hate our Pope. I’m not saying that there isn’t any good fruit that can come from the Pope’s current popularity in the MSM. His name is getting out there on the streets, so it will depend on who hears about him and if they are seeking the truth.

 

[gilliam]

Be careful. This is not a matter of “us” vs the “MSM” that is a war also being fought by a lot of people whose god is money and power. A lot of those in the “MSM” believe in God. To say we are against “the other” and that “other” is well, MSM or the Illuminati or whomever is, IMHO, a cop out. It is a different war we fight. A much harder war.

We fight the war of ignorance in the ways of Christ. If you are looking for a guideline; the Pope has given you one: “Every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God, and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God,” the Pope noted. “This is the spirit of the Antichrist.” “If a thought, if a desire takes you along the road of humility and abasement, of service to others, it is from Jesus,” noted Pope Francis, “but if it brings you to the road of sufficiency, of vanity, of pride, along the path of an abstract thought, it is not from Jesus.”

We follow the teachings of the Church and of our Holy Father and the Magisterium; not Fox News or MSNBC or Rush Limbaugh or the Republican Party or the Democratic Party.

Ref: en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/01/07/pope_francis:_test_the_spirits/en1-761803

 

[Luigi_Daniele]

At some point the MM and the Left will discover the pope is indeed “Catholic” and they will turn on him.

Or…

or this could be the beginning of the often promised new springtime. An era of Catholic conversion and large conversions to the Faith. Time will tell.

 

[livingwordunity]

Be careful. This is not a matter of “us” vs the “MSM” that is a war also being fought by a lot of people whose god is money and power. A lot of those in the “MSM” believe in God. To say we are against “the other” and that “other” is well, MSM or the Illuminati or whomever is, IMHO, a cop out.

Bill Gates is the top boss of MSNBC since he owns it. He is an atheist (and the second wealthiest man in the world) who gave his money to Obama’s campaign. MSNBC programing and columnist opinion reflects that. The individuals who work at MSNBC are chosen based on how well they conform to the leftist ideology of the big boss. If they give a point of view that isn’t consistent with that, they are fired and have to hope that Fox News might offer them a job. Your “Illuminati” comment is a red herring and is ad hominem. I haven’t seen anyone here say anything about “the Illuminati”. I judge the secular media based on historical trend analysis and on the fact that they are consistently against the moral doctrines of the Catholic Church. Notice that they never said that they like the Catholic Church. That’s because they are trying to separate our Pope from the Church.

 

[estesbob]

Or…

or this could be the beginning of the often promised new springtime. An era of Catholic conversion and large conversions to the Faith. Time will tell.

I pray you are right.

 

[Cider]

Which Catholics? Not this one. Enough with the cult of personality.