Pope Francis Demands Catholics Reject the Death Penalty as 'Inadmissible' In Every Form

[apnu]

10. I'm an atheist but I dig this Pope.

He's a liberal and pretty progressive heading an organization that is at least 50% hard-core conservative at the moment. He's probably got all kinds of internal political struggles to deal with on a daily basis, I know there's a cadre of cardinals that hate his guts.

But he's trying to drag an ancient religious organization into the light of the modern day, and he smiles and is pleasant about the whole thing.

But what I like most about him is he seems to be the kind of guy who actually walks his talk. Given that most Christian's I've met aren't Christian at all and don't emulate the life for philosophy of their God, here's a guy trying to lead by example. I respect that.

So while some will knee-jerk bash Catholics and religion in general around here, I am not one of those people. I judge people by their actions and his actions are pretty good.

Case in point, he opened a shelter for homeless people who can go to a clean bathroom, take a shower (soap is provided), and get a hair cut all for free. No strings attached, no requirements of conversion like the Salvation Army. Just hot clean water, soap and someone to give a trim. That's true human kindness.

Say what you will of the Church and its leaders, some of them are real hating assholes, but its current leader? Not so much.

Yes he's still behind on many things, but he's moving in the right direction and he's dragging the whole Vatican with him. That counts.