Why Pope Francis Rocked in 2014
news.com.au
Proving he’s not afraid to take on the big guns in the lead-up, Pope Francis issued a blistering critique of the Vatican bureaucracy that serves him, denouncing how some people lust for power at all costs, live hypocritical double lives and suffer from “spiritual Alzheimer’s” that has made them forget they’re supposed to be joyful men of God. Francis’s Christmas greeting to the cardinals, bishops and priests who run the Holy See was no joyful exchange of holiday good wishes. Rather, it was a sobering catalogue of 15 sins of the Curia that Francis said he hoped would be atoned for and cured in the new year. He had some zingers: How the “terrorism of gossip” can “kill the reputation of our colleagues and brothers in cold blood.” How cliques can “enslave their members and become a cancer that threatens the harmony of the body” and eventually kill it by “friendly fire.” About how some suffer from a “pathology of power” that makes them seek power at all costs, even if it means defaming or discrediting others publicly. He endeared himself to animal lovers everywhere
During a recent weekly general audience at the Vatican, the Pope, speaking of the afterlife, appeared to suggest that animals could go to heaven, asserting, “Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfilment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us.” Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper concluded Pope Francis believed animals have a place in the afterlife. The comments were welcomed by groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who saw them as a repudiation of conservative Roman Catholic theology that says animals cannot go to heaven because they have no souls. He digs the tango A celebration ... tango dancers light up St Peter's Square in honour of Pope Francis' 78th birthday. Picture: Getty Images In an interview several years before he became Pope, the Buenos-Aires-born Francis talked about his passion for the tango. “I love it. It’s something that comes from deep within me,” he told the AFP news agency. Last week, hundreds of couples danced a mass tango in St Peter’s Square to honour the tango fan’s 78th birthday during his weekly public audience. The brainchild of a dance teacher who appealed on social media for couples to show their support for the pontiff, the event attracted about 13,000 wellwishers who brought birthday cards, cake and the Argentine drink mate. He promised to take a strong stance against abuse scandals
In April, Pope Francis asked for forgiveness for the “evil” damage to children caused by sexual abusers in the clergy. In his strongest statement on the subject yet, he described the abuse as a “moral damage carried out by men of the Church”, and said “sanctions” would be imposed. The statement, made in a meeting with a child rights group, didn’t hold back. Pope Francis pleaded for forgiveness for the “evil” of priests who sexually abused children, and promised to take an even stronger stand than before against Catholic abuse scandals. “I feel compelled to personally take on all the evil that some priests — quite a few in number, (although) obviously not compared to the number of all priests — ?to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children,” he said. He made the cover of Rolling Stone
A picture of a smiling, waving Pope graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in February, above the cover line “The times they are a-changin’”. The cover came just a month after he was smiling from the cover of Time magazine as its 2013 “person of the year.”. Rolling Stone contributing editor Mark Binelli penned a glowing profile of the Pope, describing how after the “disastrous” papacy of Benedict, “Pope Francis has done much to separate himself from past popes and establish himself as a people’s pope.” Binelli wrote: “By eschewing the papal palace for a modest two-room apartment, by publicly scolding church leaders for being ‘obsessed’ with divisive social issues like gay marriage, birth control and abortion (’Who am I to judge?’ Francis famously replied when asked his views on homosexual priests) and — perhaps most astonishingly of all — by devoting much of his first major written teaching to a scathing critique of unchecked free-market capitalism, the pope revealed his own obsessions to be more in line with the boss’s son.” He urged the Catholic Church to support gay children
Gay marriage is still not on the church’s agenda, but the Pope has at least started a conversation. Just this week Francis urged the church’s top theologians to listen to what ordinary Catholics have to say and pay attention to the “signs of the times”. He also urged the Catholic Church to help parents stand by their gay children. “We come across this reality all the time in the confessional: a father and a mother whose son or daughter is in that situation,” he told the Argentine daily La Nacion. This happened to me several times in Buenos Aires ... We have to find a way to help that father or that mother to stand by their son or daughter.” He gave two schoolkids a ride in the Popemobile
Pope Francis reinforced his status as king of the kids in the lead-up to Easter 2014 when he invited two 11-year-olds, Livio Bastianelli and Davide Maria Bianchi, to climb aboard the Popemobile during his general audience in St Peter’s Square. Bastianelli told The Associated Press it was a ride of a lifetime: “I was really excited. That never happens!” Francis’ sense of humour was also on display later, as he joked that a monsignor, forced to cut short a reading because of a nagging cough, was “getting old.” He dropped the F Bomb
In March, the ever-entertaining Francis shocked thousands in St Peter’s Square when he accidentally swore during a weekly address in March. For the Argentinian pontiff, it was a case of committing common mistake made by non-native Italian speakers. The Pope innocently stumbled over the Italian word for ‘example’ or ‘case’?—?“caso,” and instead uttered “cazzo” — which translates to “f---- (or can also mean the male genitalia). Whoops. He’s a super-cool man of peace
The historic thawing of frosty relations between the US and Cuba earlier this month came about, in part, because of Pope Francis. US President Barack Obama made special mention of the pontiff, saying: “In particular, I want to thank his Holiness Pope Francis, whose moral example shows us the importance of pursuing the world as it should be, rather than simply settling for the world as it is.”
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.