Pope Francis Steers Catholic Church Away from Sex to Real-world Politics

By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Alessandra Migliaccio
Ames Tribune
February 13, 2015

http://amestrib.com/news/pope-francis-steers-catholic-church-away-sex-real-world-politics

Pope Francis waves to the crowd from the papamobile during his inauguration mass at St Peter's square in 2013 at the Vatican. TNS file photo

He’s met with a transgender man, told Catholics not to breed like rabbits and washed the feet of a Muslim woman. While all this may sound like he’s ready to overturn dogma, Pope Francis’ real interest is geopolitics.

In less than two years in office, Francis has nudged the conversation away from abusive priests and used the image makeover to wade into such as matters as Cuba-U.S. relations and climate change. In September, he will become the first religious leader who serves as a head of state to address a joint session of Congress.

“He’s capitalizing on the fascination that he exercises,” said John Wauck, a professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. “He’s gotten the attention of the world and is using it.”

Pope John Paul II was single-minded in the pursuit of ending Communism in the 1980s, and Pope Benedict XVI was a gaffe-prone bookworm fretting over relativism. Francis, in contrast, embraces a broad policy agenda outside the Vatican.

In an echo of the Obama administration, he is making his own pivot to Asia. He already has been twice to the region shunned by his predecessor with a view not only to refilling pews, but also gaining traction with the rising powers.

The challenge for Francis — who is from a religious order that proselytized in China in the 16th century — is how to duplicate his success as a mediator between the U.S. and Cuba with a more formidable Communist foe. The Vatican and the world’s most populous country have been at odds since 1951 over, among many things, the right to ordain bishops.

Francis, who says he would go to Beijing tomorrow, has a secret corridor with the new leadership for diplomatic messages. There have been small gestures on both sides: Francis didn’t see the Dalai Lama in Rome; doing so would have incensed Chinese authorities. President Xi Jinping allowed Francis to fly in China’s airspace, the first time a pope was granted that right.

The road nonetheless will probably be long. To coax China, the pope would need to abandon Taiwan, which China has long claimed. There is little sign that China is willing to stop its practice of naming bishops independently of the Holy See. China has about 12 million Catholics — three times the number in Ireland — compared with a mere 300,000 in Taiwan.

The gap between the pope’s knowledge and effectiveness may be large. Francis has dived into tough international conflicts including Korea, Cuba and Palestine and not all has gone well.

His call for reconciliation between the Koreas met with silence from Pyongyang. The day he arrived on the peninsula, North Korea fired missiles into the sea.

While he brought attention to the plight of Palestinians by praying in Bethlehem near graffiti that read “Free Palestine,” his visit was overshadowed by a resurgence in violence.

He was much more successful with Cuba, secretly hosting delegations from there and the U.S. and playing a vital role in the prisoner exchanges that led to renewed relations after half a century.

The pope’s international outlook also is evident in the reconfiguration of the College of Cardinals that will pick his successor, which increases the chance that the next leader of 1.2 billion Catholics will come from Asia or Africa.

That reshuffle — coupled with the removal of critics such as Boston’s Cardinal Raymond Burke from key positions — has agitated a still-strong conservative wing of the church that would prefer a return to business as usual.

“A number of cardinals are upset,” said the Rev. Gerald Fogarty, a professor of religious studies and history at the University of Virginia. “You can’t expect the old guard to take it lying down, and they’ve been around a long time.”

He has announced plans to shrink the bureaucracy that runs the church, removed executives at the mismanaged Vatican Bank and told cardinals to abandon their limousines and catch the bus.

At the bank, he’s brought a measure of transparency following allegations of illegal behavior and poor oversight. The bank now publishes an annual report, has closed 2,000 accounts and undertaken a review of 18,000 clients.