Pope Francis - Person of the Year!

As you probably have heard, Pope Francis was just named Time Magazine's Person of the Year.  He receives the title which had also given to Blessed Pope John Paul II and John XXIII, (who will both be canonized in April).  I read the article, Pope Francis, The People's Pope, and I was a bit worried when I saw the opening line: "He took the name of a humble saint and then called for a church of healing. The first non-European pope in 1,200 years is poised to transform a place that measures change by the century".  Great... Another article about how Pope Francis is going to change everything about the Catholic Church and switch its teaching on abortion, gay marriage, etc.  Wonderful, another news piece that doesn't understand that the Church can't change these teaching because they are Divinely, not humanly, mandated.  They quickly realized my fears:

The papacy is mysterious and magical: it turns a septuagenarian into a superstar while revealing almost nothing about the man himself. And it raises hopes in every corner of the world—hopes that can never be fulfilled, for they are irreconcilable. The elderly traditionalist who pines for the old Latin Mass and the devout young woman who wishes she could be a priest both have hopes. The ambitious monsignor in the Vatican Curia and the evangelizing deacon in a remote Filipino village both have hopes. No Pope can make them all happy at once.

Here it comes, thought I...  But then they got it right:

And so Francis signals great change while giving the same answers to the uncomfortable questions. On the question of female priests: “We need to work harder to develop a profound theology of the woman.” Which means: no. No to abortion, because an individual life begins at conception. No to gay marriage, because the male-female bond is established by God. “The teaching of the church … is clear,” he has said, “and I am a son of the church, but”—and here he adds his prayer for himself—“it is not necessary to talk about those issues all the time.”

Again, later in the article:


The five words that have come to define both the promise and the limits of Francis’ papacy came in the form of a question: “Who am I to judge?” That was his answer when asked about homo­sexuality by a reporter in July. Many assumed Francis, with those words, was changing church doctrine. Instead, he was merely changing its tone, searching for a pragmatic path to reach the faithful who had been repelled by their church or its emphasis on strict dos and don’ts. Years of working closely with parish priests have taught him that the church seemed more comfortable with narrow issues than human complexity, and it lost congregants and credibility in the bargain. He is urging his army to think more broadly.

I was legitimately surprised!  Of course, the article isn't perfect, I could complain about some points (even in these quotations), but I'm not going to.  I think they did a really good job outlining the man who is now Pope.  The author seems to understand what the Pope is saying, knowing the background that is the 2000 years of Church Tradition.  I am just glad to see something that finally sets the record pretty straight.  Hopefully, this article will allow people to see the true depth behind Pope Francis.  He isn't changing doctrine, and his change in tone isn't because he is liberal.  Church teaching isn't liberal or conservative, it's truth.  Pope Francis, by putting a huge emphasis on love, compassion, charity, solidarity, etc. isn't undermining Church teaching, He is showing the world the beauty, goodness, and truth behind the morality that they all-too-often misunderstand as harsh, bureaucratic, rules. 

Thanks Time magazine for the great article!  Thanks Pope Francis for setting an example for the world!

Wow, I haven't written a blog post like that before.  (Let me know if it didn't make sense or if I said anything crazy - I hate it when that happens...)  I only have the metaphysics final tomorrow and a bit of polishing to do on the senior seminar paper!

2 comments:

  1. I liked your comment: "Church teaching isn't liberal or conservative, it's truth" the best. And, you're also right in saying we have a good example set for the world in our new Pope!

    Hope you're enjoying Christmas Break and relaxing with some quiet time (blogging, haha!!)

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    1. I am enjoying Christmas break, but it hasn't been too quiet just yet - lots to do, places to be, people to see, etc. It's all fun, but definitely not as relaxing as I had hoped. We'll see, I have another 2 weeks.

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