The Activist Pope

New York Times
July 6, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/13/world/europe/francis-the-activist-pope.html?_r=1

The first Jesuit pope and the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years, Francis has differed significantly from his predecessors with his outspoken style and his approach to leading the church. His comments on poverty, church reform, climate change and divorce have made headlines around the world. Here is a look at some of them.

Pope Francis greeted the faithful in St. Peter's Square in September 2013.

He Criticized the 'Cult of Money' Driving the World Financial System

Francis’ emphasis on the poor, and a style that is more akin to that of a parish priest, albeit one with a billion parishioners, was transforming perceptions within weeks of his selection.

In a speech to diplomats accredited to the Holy See in May 2013, Francis spoke of the need for more ethics in finance.

“We have created new idols," he said. "The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.”

Francis' Humility and Emphasis on the Poor Strike a New Tone at the Vatican (May 25, 2013)

He's Not Afraid to Criticize the Church ...

Six months into his papacy, Pope Francis sent shock waves through the Roman Catholic Church with the publication of his remarks that the church had grown “obsessed” with abortion, same-sex marriage and contraception, and that he had chosen not to talk about those issues despite criticism.

His comments came in a long interview in which he criticized the church for putting dogma before love, and for prioritizing moral doctrines over serving the poor and marginalized. He articulated his vision of an inclusive church, a “home for all” — a striking contrast with his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who envisioned a smaller, purer church.

The next month, in a challenge to the Vatican hierarchy, Francis called for decentralizing power in the church, saying the Vatican and even the pope must collaborate with bishops, laypeople and in particular women.

Pope Says Church Is Obsessed With Gays, Abortion and Birth Control (Sept. 19, 2013)

Pope Sets Down Goals for an Inclusive Church (Nov. 26, 2013)

... Or to Change Its Structure and Leadership

Francis took on a Vatican bureaucracy so plagued by intrigue and inertia that it contributed, numerous church officials now believe, to Benedict's resignation.

Francis replaced traditionalists with moderates as the church prepared for important debates about the Vatican's decision-making process and the nature of the family.

He also started to break up the rival blocs of Italians with entrenched influence in the Roman Curia, the Vatican administration. He increased financial transparency in the Vatican Bank and upended the career ladder that many prelates have spent their lives climbing.

Francis at Israel’s concrete barrier separating Bethlehem from Jerusalem.

He Endorsed the 'State of Palestine'

Pope Francis put himself directly into the collapsed Middle East peace process in May 2014, issuing an invitation to host the Israeli and Palestinian presidents for a prayer summit meeting at his apartment in the Vatican.

Francis took the unexpected step in Bethlehem, where he became the first pontiff ever to fly directly into the West Bank and to refer to the Israeli-occupied territory as the “State of Palestine.”

After describing the overall situation between Israel and the Palestinians as “increasingly unacceptable,” the pope made a dramatic, unscheduled stop at Israel’s contentious concrete barrier separating Bethlehem from Jerusalem, where he prayed and touched his head to the graffiti-covered wall.

He Could Change the Church's Stance on Divorce

Francis set in motion a high-level debate about whether the church could change its posture toward divorced people without altering a doctrine that declares marriage to be permanent and indissoluble.

It is a hot issue within the church. The battle lines are clear: Some high-level church officials, most notably the conference of German bishops, want the church to relax its rules. They want to give divorced Catholics a chance to more fully return to church life and receive Communion even if they have remarried without having their previous marriages formally annulled.

Traditionalists are pushing back fiercely, arguing that the indissolubility of marriage is ordained by God and therefore nonnegotiable.

This October, bishops and other church leaders will meet for a second Vatican synod at which they will decide whether to recommend changes. The decision of whether to act, then, will be up to Francis.

As Vatican Revisits Divorce, Many Catholics Long for Acceptance (Jan. 24, 2015)

He Is Holding Bishops More Accountable for Sex Abuse

Francis approved the creation of a Vatican tribunal for judging bishops accused of covering up or failing to act in cases of child sexual abuse by priests, a step long demanded by victims in the more than three decades that the Roman Catholic Church has publicly dealt with the abuse scandal.

Until Francis, no pope had publicly confronted or demoted bishops accused of gross negligence.

Catholics participated in a Mass honoring Archbishop Oscar Romero at the El Salvador del Mundo plaza in May.

He Is Reviving Liberation Theology

Francis cleared the path for the slain Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador to become a saint. Thousands attended his beatification, the last step before sainthood, in May.

For years, Vatican critics of liberation theology and conservative Latin American bishops helped stall the canonization process for Archbishop Romero, even though many Catholics in the region regard him as a towering moral figure: an outspoken critic of social injustice and political repression who was assassinated during a Mass in 1980.

By advancing the campaign for sainthood, Francis sent a signal that the allegiance of his church is to the poor. That is a big difference from previous years, when some bishops were widely seen as aligned with autocratic governments that favored the wealthy.

In his encyclical, read by a nun at the Vatican on Thursday, Francis focused on the harm climate change poses to the poor.

He Is Pushing for Action on Climate Change

On June 18, Francis released his second teaching letter, known as an encyclical. Entitled "Laudato Si'," it called for a radical transformation of politics, economics and individual lifestyles to confront climate change. It attributed environmental destruction to apathy, the reckless pursuit of profits, excessive faith in technology and political shortsightedness.

It wasn't Francis' first push on the issue. Vatican officials are campaigning for world leaders to enact a sweeping United Nations climate change accord in Paris in December. The accord would, for the first time, commit every nation to enact tough new laws to cut emissions that cause global warming.

They're already encountering fierce resistance, particularly from powerful figures in the United States.

House Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, has invited the pope to speak to Congress when he visits in September. Climate policy advocates see it as a potentially charged moment. Mr. Boehner, who is Catholic, has often criticized the Obama administration for what he calls its “job-killing” environmental agenda.

“I think Boehner was out of his mind to invite the pope to speak to Congress,” said the Rev. Thomas Reese, an analyst at the National Catholic Reporter. “Can you imagine what the Republicans will do when he says, ‘You’ve got to do something about global warming’?”