UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
* Pope Francis faces increasing trouble from many of the world’s Catholics and some outside governments they influence. He is running out of time to avoid this as he soon begins his 79th year. He must promptly try to shift his current failing strategy for the good of the Catholic Church and, perhaps, his own good as well.
* While a handful of competing Cardinals, with their limited crusading conservative supporters, are part of the challenges Francis faces, many more Catholics of diverse viewpoints are rapidly losing fundamental trust in the Vatican under Francis with his failing strategy. This is a huge problem for all Cardinals as well as for Pope Francis. More and more Catholics are seeing that, under Francis’ shrewd Jesuitical hype, his strategy seems in substance a lot like his failed predecessors’ “hide and spin” strategy.
* A 24/7 media and Internet are amplifying daily worldwide the unending Catholic Church scandals, especially continuing child abuse and financial corruption ones. Catholics are now steadily losing hope, after almost two years, that this aging pope can eventually regain their trust. They view, correctly in my judgment, Francis’ current failing strategy as too focused on creative media management, rather than on implementing long overdue fundamental reforms.
* As Cardinal Pell moves into his plush new Vatican Bank office after he seemingly stumbled over hundreds of millions of dollars of “found” Vatican assets, two former Vatican Bank managers and a lawyer have had their accounts seized, surrounded by allegations of embezzlement. Slowly but surely, some of the real reasons behind the Vatican’s main emphasis on financial “reforms” seem to be revealed, no?
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