Learn more about Pope Francis rather than criticize

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McCall1981 said:
Great article, thanks for posting. Ive noticed this too, Pope Francis has said a lot of things that would get villainized if said by Benedict or John Paul or anyone else for that matter.

In homilies so far he’s “condemned” those who would make the Church an NGO, those who dont go out to evangelize, those who wont accept Vatican II, those who bring ideology into the Gospel, lukewarm Christians, careerist Priests, etc

In the first month of his Papacy he’s had strong words towards schismatic traditionalist calling them foolish and stubborn, and has also renewed the LCWR reform. He routinely talks about the devil, says Jesus can only be found in the Church, talks about the reality of sin, the culture of death, the dangers of secularism and spiritual poverty, the final judgement of Christ, encourages Confession, says shame is a Christian virtue… And this list is off the top of my head.

Also there was the letter from when he was a Cardinal where he said gay marriage and such was a movement of the devil to destroy God’s plan. Can you imagine what the outcry would have been if Benedict had written that?

Im very happy he’s addressed all these things, but its strange how he somehow “gets away with it” in the eyes if the media and others.
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I wonder if some of it is in the ‘how’ he says it. There’s definitely something to be said for stating your case quietly and calmly, rather than beating people over the head. Sort of like that old saying that goes ‘whisper if you want people to stop shouting and listen to you’. I think Pope Francis has a way about him that appeals to a lot of people and makes them more likely to at least consider what he has to say.

He gives the impression that he’d be happy to sit around the table after an ordinary family meal, listening to what everyone has to say and talking about how to put the world to rights. Then he’d help do the dishes and be on his way leaving you to mull over the points he raised.

That’s not a criticism of anyone else, it’s just the impression I get.
 
JReducation said:
I have to ask this question, because it’s been bugging me for weeks. Well, only since the election of Pope Francis. When I sit and listen to priests, brothers, sisters, theologians and apologists speak about this pope, the one thing that comes up in everyone’s mind is that he’s a consecrated religious. He is a Jesuit who is heavily influenced by the Franciscan school of ministry. We don’t speak of him as a Pope without speaking about his roots in the religious life. Because to do so is to take him out of context. When you take someone out of context, you’re not going to understand them and you’re going to miss a lot of the richness that’s there.

God gives to the Church many gifts and one of the greatest gifts that he has given to the Church is the religious life. In Vita Consecrata the Church states that even though the consecrated life is not part of the hierarchy of the Church, it is essential to the life of the Church. It is so essential that is is born in Christ’s life itself. Christ was the first consecrated religious. He lived in community with his Apostles. He lived according to the Evangelical Counsels. He was a servant to all. He was a contemplative. He was a mystic and he was a common laborer. The mission given to him by his Father was his Rule of Life. That’s really beautiful.

However, when people discuss Pope Francis on these forums and other forums on the Internet, they talk about him as if they were speaking about Pope Benedict, John Paul II, John XXIII and so forth. None of those popes were consecrated religious. In fact the popes whom we have had who came to us from the religious life were very revolutionary. Let’s take Clement V. The Benedictine who legalized abdication. Pius V, the Dominican who unified the Roman Rite. Clement XIV, the Franciscan who suppressed the Jesuits, because his order asked him to do so. Those are just some of the religious. The point is that these men brought rather interesting qualities, thoughts, behaviors, customs, changes and gifts to the papacy.

We look at Pope Francis and I don’t see many people on these forums

a. Remember that he’s a religious

b. Remember that he is a Jesuit trained in Ignatian thought and Ignatian pedegogy; therefore, when he speaks he’s going to use that system.

c. Remember the he is a follower of the Franciscan school of ministry, which is very emphatic that voluntary poverty is a means to salvation and necessary if one is to do pastoral care among the voiceless.

d. Remember that he is a consecrated religious who is disciplined in asceticism and trained to live without many things that most people take for granted. When presented with these extras, the immediate reaction of the religious is a question. “Do I really need this?”

e. Remember that every religious, even if he’s a pope, has a duty to his vows. They do not cease to exist.

Why do we take Pope Francis out of context? We do we not factor in that he’s a religious whenever we analyze what he does or say?
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As a Jesuit religious, is Pope, or Bishop Francis (which seems more apt), ultimately in obedience to the Superior General of the the Society of Jesus, or to the Roman Pontificate?

Also, now that the Pontificate no longer has temporal power, is there a Jesuit oath to
uphold the temporal power of the Pontificate still in effect?
 
I believe Brother answered this before on the several threads devoted to this subject, and I’ve read it confirmed elsewhere. The ONLY thing Pope Francis gave up as pope was obedience to the Jesuit Superior. He is still obliged, to whatever measures are possible and practical, to abide by the vows he took as a Jesuit. However, as supreme pontiff, he is not in obedience to the Jesuit Superior.

As to your second question - I defer to someone who knows better, but my guess is Pope Francis still has an obligation to uphold the temporal power of the pope, even while he IS the Pope.
 
sojo said:
I believe Brother answered this before on the several threads devoted to this subject, and I’ve read it confirmed elsewhere. The ONLY thing Pope Francis gave up as pope was obedience to the Jesuit Superior. He is still obliged, to whatever measures are possible and practical, to abide by the vows he took as a Jesuit. However, as supreme pontiff, he is not in obedience to the Jesuit Superior.

As to your second question - I defer to someone who knows better, but my guess is Pope Francis still has an obligation to uphold the temporal power of the pope, even while he IS the Pope.
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Thank you for passing on the information regarding the first question.

As to to the second question, it seems to me that Pope Francis is reluctant to exert universal spiritual authority… he seems as though he is allowing bishops to exert greater autonomy. It also seems to me that he does not find it worthy as a shepherd to be bogged down with the temporal authority of administration over the Vatican City State.
 
Today’s Homily 4/30/13 to :staff from the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, also known as APSA.

Here
“We can safeguard the Church, we can cure the Church, no? We do so with our work, but what’s most important is what the Lord does : He is the only One who can look into the face of evil and overcome it. The prince of the world comes but can do nothing against me: if we don’t want the prince of this world to take the Church into his hands, we must entrust it to the One who can defeat the prince of this world. Here the question arises: do we pray for the Church, for the entire Church? For our brothers and sisters whom we do not know, everywhere in the world? It is the Lord’s Church and in our prayer we say to the Lord: Lord, look at your Church … It’ s yours. Your Church is [made up of ] our brothers and sisters. This is a prayer that must come from our heart”.
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Then, Pope Francis remarked that “it is easy to pray for the grace of the Lord”, “to thank Him” or when “we need something.” But it is fundamental that we also pray to the Lord for all, for those who have “received the same Baptism,” saying “they are Yours, they are ours, watch over them”.
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Maybe we should start a thread of just his daily homilies?
 
AndyP2010 said:
Today’s Homily 4/30/13 to :staff from the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, also known as APSA.

Here

Maybe we should start a thread of just his daily homilies?
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I really like this one. Everything he says about a worldly Church is spot on.
 
But we can’t let this thread die. We don’t get too many threads on TC Forum that reach 1,000 posts. We’re not far. 😃
 
I just want to tell Mr. Casey that I LOVE it when he refers to himself in the third person. It carries a certain weight or panache.

And I agree with Br. JR – not only do most threads not make it to 1,000, but so many threads on the topic of our new Pope get locked early on.
 
I don’t know much about this news source, so I can’t vouch for it’s accuracy, but I found the report interesting and credible. Pope Francis has been a good friend of the Jewish community for many years. There is a great deal of affection between him and the Jewish leadership in Buenos Aires. He and a rabbi coauthored a book in spirituality.

According to this article, he has said that that he will not tolerate anti semitism on his watch. I do believe that if the man is to get seriously angry about something, this is one issue that may trigger his anger and disappointment with Catholics.

I believe that the attitude of Present Peres says a great deal about the Holy Father. The President seemed genuinely in awe of the pope. His language does not sound political or diplomatic. It sounds very genuine. There are few people who bring out the real in politicians.

Anyway, here’s the article and there are others on the same subject.

ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4374419,00.html
 
JReducation said:
I don’t know much about this news source, so I can’t vouch for it’s accuracy, but I found the report interesting and credible. Pope Francis has been a good friend of the Jewish community for many years. There is a great deal of affection between him and the Jewish leadership in Buenos Aires. He and a rabbi coauthored a book in spirituality.

According to this article, he has said that that he will not tolerate anti semitism on his watch. I do believe that if the man is to get seriously angry about something, this is one issue that may trigger his anger and disappointment with Catholics.

I believe that the attitude of Present Peres says a great deal about the Holy Father. The President seemed genuinely in awe of the pope. His language does not sound political or diplomatic. It sounds very genuine. There are few people who bring out the real in politicians.

Anyway, here’s the article and there are others on the same subject.

ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4374419,00.html
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That is how peace will come to the Middle East, not by politicians and dilomats, but by men of God who are willing to make sacrifices.

*We have to act in such a way that others will be able to say, when they meet us: this man is a Christian, because he does not hate, because he is willing to understand, because he is not a fanatic, because he is willing to make sacrifices, because he shows that he is a man of peace, because he knows how to love.
  • St. Josemaria Escriva*
That quote sits in a frame on a stand in my kitchen.

-im-
 
TimothyH said:
That is how peace will come to the Middle East, not by politicians and dilomats, but by men of God who are willing to make sacrifices.

We have to act in such a way that others will be able to say, when they meet us: this man is a Christian, because he does not hate, because he is willing to understand, because he is not a fanatic, because he is willing to make sacrifices, because he shows that he is a man of peace, because he knows how to love.
  • St. Josemaria Escriva
That quote sits in a frame on a stand in my kitchen.

-im-
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Pope Francis is certainly projecting that he is a man of peace. At the same time, he is a man who seems to be very much in control. For all that some people criticize him alleging that he overdoes it with the Bishop of Rome title to the detriment of the Pontiff, I don’t see this happening at all.

He may not refer to himself as the Pontiff or the pope all that often, but when one reads articles like this and others about his dealings with diplomats and with the curia thus far, he’s very much the Pontiff. The President of Israel has not reason to defer to the Bishop of Rome. He certainly has no reason to believe that the presence of the Bishop of Rome in Israel would aid the cause of peace. However, he knows that the presence of the Pontiff of the Universal Church is of great importance to Eastern and Western Christians in his country. The same presence is a respected one by Jews and Muslims. There is a lot going on under the surface of this visit and invitation to the Holy Father, a lot that speaks about the Holy Father’s authority. It’s an authority that he projects through great simplicity.

Here is an interesting comparison. Pope John Paul projected authority through his initiative. He did not genuflect before customs. We can agree disagree on whether he should have done so or not. We cannot disagree on the fact that a pope has the power not to do so and he used that power without reservation.

Pope Benedict, on the other hand, projective his authority through his great humility and his willingness to go out on a limb to bring unity to the Church. He took a beating for it, but he did not cave to either side. He loved the Lord and the Church to the point that he was willing to take on the cross.

Now we have Pope Francis who tells the cardinals at the Vatican Bank that they’re not getting paid another cent. He tells the staff at the Vatican that it’s not getting a bonus. He’s not going to live in the Papal Apartment for the time being. He’ll let us know when he’s ready to do that. He’s not too concerned about what people think when he goes to a prison to celebrate Holy Thursday mass and washes the feet of boys and girls, because he has the power to dispense himself from the rubrics. At the same time, he tells people to go to confession, pray the rosary and he tells priests to leave the light on and people will come. He tells them that there is no room in the Church for worldly priests and social climbers. He reminds the world that Christ can only be fully understood within the Church. I see this man building on what the popes before him accomplished.
 
The Unmistakable Voice of Pope Francis
The Church is a mother, not a babysitter. The Church is a “love story.”
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God is a person, not a mist or a “God spray.”
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Christians must avoid the “dark joy” of gossip.
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And yes, pessimism, cynicism and calumny are from Satan.
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In case anyone managed to miss it, these comments cement the obvious: the world has a new pope.
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At first I wondered if the colorful language Pope Francis has employed in his homilies and audiences wasn’t some side effect of a native Spanish speaker preaching in Italian and then getting translated into English. But it soon became clear that the pope’s flair for evocative imagery and unique phrases is something meant to cut across languages, not the result of being mangled by them.
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Pope Francis uses vivid, at times unexpected language to challenge, inspire and otherwise get his point across. Often bluntly. Sometimes humorously. Always memorably.
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This is a great article on his preaching.

also [John Thavis](http://www.johnthavis.com/a-pope-francis sampler#.UYKGphzuWsN) has a sampler of Pope Francis highlights.
 
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