Pope Francis is really growing on me.

[Drahthaardogs]

He seems to get that being Christian means trying to follow in Jesus's footsteps. Poor, humble, accessible, and being inclusive instead of exclusive. He also does not seem too interested in taking up the religious right's talking points about homosexuality and abortion, and instead is focusing on the poor and social justice and loving thy neighbor. It feels like we have a real Catholic again in the Papacy instead of a wannabe Falwell.

Now if we could just get a strong Labor movement going again in the Church I will be dancing a jig.

[Warpy]

1. He talks a real good fight

but he's heading one of the most hidebound, conservative groups in the history of the planet. The church itself will not change. The people already have and if they can't ignore conservative and antiwoman church doctrine, they are leaving.

[sabrina 1]

2. Change has to begin somewhere. Nothing happens over night. I agree with the OP, he seems to

be more of a 'New Testament' guy than an 'Old Testament' guy, and that's a start.

[pnwmom]

13. Yes -- "change has to begin somewhere."

I have no idea how far he'll get, but I think he's sincerely trying.

[Drahthaardogs]

4. Um, no.

The Church is growing in numbers of about 1.2 to 1.5 % per year. It is growing rapidly in Africa and Asia and numbers have remained steady in the Americas since about 2011.

[Warpy]

8. Um, no.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/27/19718910-pope-gives-advice-on-stemming-exodus-from-church?lite

[Drahthaardogs]

9. Do a little research please. These Census numbers were released in May of this year.

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1302116.htm


Thanks for playing though...

[nomorenomore08]

3. I'd really like to be cautiously optimistic. But his stance e.g. on gays in the church

seems a little too close to a softer version of Benedict's. Less harsh and judgmental, but still problematic.

[MintyWriter]

5. It's good...

to see some people trying to do some good.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. He has said nothing that is new and only repeated the same old slurs against gay people

with a different accent. He has called gay couples 'an attack on God' and he says that adoption by gay parents is 'child abuse'. Of course the RCC is a world leader in actual vicious child abuse of unspeakable nature and frequency. But he had the hubris to say that about us.
He equates being gay to being greedy and says it is a sin to be gay. His rap today is straight out of Falwell 'hate the sin, love the sinner' bullshit.
The SOP of GD says not to post about religion and it might be polite to follow that advice. I think it is mean and heartless to claim a bigoted man who says horrible things about a minority he is superstitious against is actually friendly to that minority. I also think it is both self indulgent and self serving to do so.

[DonRedwood]

7. I want to see you dance a jig

[theHandpuppet]

10. Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy!

It's another "Francis rocks!" thread. Gosh, I just couldn't get my fill on LBN so I thought I'd drop on over to GD for another helping.

[davidohenry]

11. I hope

I do hope that he allows for women priests!

[theHandpuppet]

12. I see I should have used the sarcasm thingie

He's already made his position on women priests quite clear: NO.

[delrem]

14. He's South American so has a closer affinity to Liberation Theology

than Ratzinger.

I mean "affinity" in terms of geographic nearness, something no other Pope has had.

My most awful time as an ex-Catholic was having to deal with my Catholic family and acquaintances while a Pope, John Paul 2, made love to Ronald Reagan - even while condemning leading Catholic figures promoting liberation theology and giving their blessing to victims of the extreme, fascist, right.

Now they want to sanctify the man.

I followed the leaders of Liberation Theology, not the Pope - and that introduced me to a vast physical and spiritual world.

I think lots of people give way too much credit to Conservative voices, especially when Conservative people have recently won. I mean by "credit", a "credit to win". Lots of people don't recognize that the populous groundswell is always on the side of progressive morality, even when it's suppressed or oppressed by happenstance. Progressive morality is the lifeblood of communities. Communities don't thrive on everybody trying to fuck over the others. Communities thrive on people working for a common interest. The common interest is *never* the interest of "the 1%".