VATICAN - Pope: Never before has the family been under such attack, Church renewal starts from the heart [AN]

[commenter]

You sound as though you lament the fact that our Holy Father is not adept at being a “spinmeister”. That he is above the cesspool that has become American-style political rhetoric and polemics is laudable, in my view. It raises him beyond the partisan gridlock that has paralyzed our political process, and it allows him a more universal appeal.

It’s not wrong for Christian leaders to take into account modern realities facing their listeners. In Poland, St. John Paul faced a media and government controlled by his opponents. He was not indifferent to the needs of his people in that environment and constantly adapted his strategy in communicating to Catholics, and to the Communists.
If you call him a spinmeister, well St. Paul did the same thing. He didn’t compromise the truth, but he did adapt his presentation to fit the context. JPII didn’t join the Communists, he had to take into account the power they had to oppress Catholics, and everyone else.

It’s tempting to ignore the “cesspool”, but if it affects the people, those people are important enough to take into account. I volunteer at a Mission in the inner city, where violent crime is common. We do lock doors to protect people. That doesn’t mean we join in the “cesspool” or join the violence, but we do take local dangers into account; our clients and volunteers are valuable enough to make us adjust our procedures, which we do from time to time as things change.

I think Pope Francis would agree we don’t need a pope who has “universal appeal”. From what I know of him, St. Francis would likely say the same. I think the Pope, and the saint, had something else in mind.

 

[PTL]

The problem is that Francis’ defenses of orthodox doctrine are given to small groups and printed only in media read by relatively few.

The important thing is not just what gets said, but what gets heard, and who hears it.

Right on!

 

[unafraid]

It’s not wrong for Christian leaders to take into account modern realities facing their listeners. In Poland, St. John Paul faced a media and government controlled by his opponents. He was not indifferent to the needs of his people in that environment and constantly adapted his strategy in communicating to Catholics, and to the Communists.
If you call him a spinmeister, well St. Paul did the same thing. He didn’t compromise the truth, but he did adapt his presentation to fit the context. JPII didn’t join the Communists, he had to take into account the power they had to oppress Catholics, and everyone else.

It’s tempting to ignore the “cesspool”, but if it affects the people, those people are important enough to take into account. I volunteer at a Mission in the inner city, where violent crime is common. We do lock doors to protect people. That doesn’t mean we join in the “cesspool” or join the violence, but we do take local dangers into account; our clients and volunteers are valuable enough to make us adjust our procedures, which we do from time to time as things change.

I think Pope Francis would agree we don’t need a pope who has “universal appeal”. From what I know of him, St. Francis would likely say the same. I think the Pope, and the saint, had something else in mind.

You left out the word “more” when you attempted to quote me. I said “more universal appeal”. This distinction changes the meaning entirely, thereby changing the essence of your intended response, as well.

Also, my use of the word “cesspool” was specific to the sad reality of modern political rhetorical discord in America. Getting semantics right is important when quoting another.

 

[commenter]

You left out the word “more” when you attempted to quote me. I said “more universal appeal”. This distinction changes the meaning entirely, thereby changing the essence of your intended response, as well.

Also, my use of the word “cesspool” was specific to the sad reality of modern political rhetorical discord in America. Getting semantics right is important when quoting another.

The problem in America is not that we have “discord”. The problem is that some kinds of institutional evil, including abortion and same-sex marriage, are portrayed as “good” by the political and media establishment. It is the acceptance of the killing of the unborn that is a cesspool, not the fact that prolifers and pro abortion people are sometimes impolite. It’s the killing, not the yelling, that is the “problem”.

The problem is not with some talk show soundbite attacking from the Right or Left, but calm, unemotional media executives and their political allies who preach diversity, civil discourse, unity, say “No more name-calling”, while they bolster a system in which a huge percentage of babies get dismembered - peacefully, silently, out of sight, with no discord.

Pope Francis obviously agrees with those Christians who are acclaiming the truth, which causes them to be attacked by the media for “discord”. In other words, he is not indifferent to what’s going on in 2014. His advisers and communications specialists need to reduce the media manipulation of his statements, which themselves are fine but misused by bad guys. They need to find ways to publicly encourage those who create needed discord outside courteous abortion clinics.

 

[CarmelJerome]

A Hitler and a Stalin sin through their own free will, making it their responsibility, not God’s. God does not cause the sin, but he permits the effects of sin as part of his final plan.

I remember this quote from Solzhenitsyn: “Bless you prison, bless you for being in my life. For there, lying upon the rotting prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity as we are made to believe, but the maturity of the human soul.”

Stalin created the prison, God permitted it and used it as a spiritual turning point for Solzhenitsyn.

And that turning point then became a pivot for the entire Cold War. Defense of communist states became all but impossible for many years after the publication of The Gulag Archipelago.

 

[Origen52]

The Holy Father speaks Italian, Spanish and Latin; not English. If you are having problems understanding, maybe you need to read what he said in the original.

Io parlo italiano abbastanza bene e molte volte non lo capisco. Papa Francesco, parla un misculio di spagnolo e italiano. Perche non e ad agio con la lingua parla in una maniera confusa.

 

[Prodigal_Son]

I am convinced the issue is one of kindness. The Pope is a kind man, and it is his kindness that is the problem.

Kindness is never a problem. It is a virtue. We are never supposed to “take off” our virtues, like a garment.

Francis’s kindness is a challenge to all of us.

 

[FollowChrist34]

Kindness is never a problem. It is a virtue. We are never supposed to “take off” our virtues, like a garment.

Francis’s kindness is a challenge to all of us.

It’s a fine line between kindness and sentimentalism. Not in the case of the Pope, in those who may, if not careful, re-interpret and re-apply his kindness to suit their own agenda.