Still in favour of homophobia and misogyny, though.
Making these points explicit is a huge shift.
In fact, these are exactly the sort of things that would have got you into a load of trouble under JPII, and that trouble would have been brought to your door by a certain cardinal Ratzinger.
Dadgummit! If they ainât peterphiles theyâre damned commies!
I feel nothing short of hatred towards the Catholic church, based on its historic and not-all-that-historic record. However as far as cherry-picking useful bits and pieces of the doctrine goes, this overt switch to the narrative of social compassion is certainly most laudable, today perhaps more than ever.
Itâs actually a âconservativeâ position relative to ostensible Catholic doctrine (itâs politely ignored these days; but I donât think usuryâs âmortal sinâ status was ever officially taken off the books, nor is the fact that Jesus was a bit of a pinko exactly unknown); but relative to the downright cozy relationship that the church has generally tried to cultivate with secular power, and the relatively specific alliance against âgodless communismâ⌠That has not made this a popular position of lateâŚ
(See also, âliberation theology, more or less total official disavowal ofâ and âjust about anything the US approved of in Latin America during the cold warâ)
The pope is starting to make sense! Whatâs the world coming to?
No seriously. Still quite a long way to go, IMO, but itâs a start and in the right direction too. Letâs hope the guys who are in charge of the money donât stop him.
I like how people interpret his habit of cooking his own meals as a sign of humility⌠rather than self-preservation in light papal history.
Ah, just doing your own cooking wonât keep the âinheritance powderâ out of your supply chainâŚ
The real importance, I think, lies in this: Since the fall of Communism, there has been no ideological competition to the free market doctrine. I certainly donât miss the Soviet model at all, but it forced capitalism to behave and prove itself - by creating a wide shared prosperity to prop up its political legitimacy.
Now that this competition is gone, the - letâs face it - ruling classes feel they can get away with anything. So on the one hand, this is a very smart political move on popes part - giving the church back its relevance by positioning it as the main ideological antagonist of the status quo. On the other hand - we really need somebody with a loud enough voice to do it.
Iâm not really sure how I feel about this, if my analysis is correctâŚ
Rush Limbaugh and his merry band of Corporate Christians are fuming mad about this. How long before Catholics are declared to be dirty RINOs and driven out of the party? Due to the abortion issue, theyâve been a sizable chunk of the Republican vote at the polls. Rush vs the Pope certainly isnât going to help the GOP with their Hispanic outreach efforts. This is a battle that Rush and pals simply canât win. The Pope is the one person who can tell you to go to hell and actually mean it. Best move would be to ignore the subject entirely and babble on about the War on Christmas or Eric Holder. I doubt Rush realizes the difference between the Pope and a wayward Congressman worried about being primaried.
I want to know who the hell put this Hippie Christ in Christmas?
The new pope talking about Hippie Jesusâ message will no doubt lead people to attack the churchâs wealth, their pedophile priests and their views on womenâs bodies. But Iâm still excited to see it. Itâs a reminder that the people pushing the concept of profit above all have to destroy the true messages of Jesus in order to meet their profit needs. Thatâs why they want to figure out âHow do We Challenge a Social Justice Narrative.â
A social justice narrative doesnât lead to growing profits for a select group. It leads to a more equitable situation for all. And they just canât have that.
Flash back -2 A.D.
Fade in a wedding out side of Jerusalem. Itâs four weeks before the pagan Festival of Lights.
A drunk wedding guest approaches Jesus.
âHey Jesus, think of how much money you can make from turning this free water into expensive wine! If we combined this water wine with your loaves and fishes trick and my marketing savvy we could make a fortune! Weâll open up a restaurant. Weâll call it, er um, âThe Needleâs Eyeâ and weâll put it in that empty building over on 3rd. You know, the big brown one you get to when pass through Cameltown.
Iâm serious! With free wine and free food our only costs would be labor. But if we get people to work for you for free, say we call them disciples instead of waiters, it would be pure profit. Thatâs it! Jesus H. Christ, the Pure Prophet! Oh My God, Iâm a genius. Iâve got to get this idea to Matthew, Mark and Luke so we can get some coverage on this. I just hope they get the story straight. The gospels are so easily manipulated. Gotta run, partner. Give my best to Mary.â
Happy Holidays everyone!
Live Long and Prosper,
Spocko
Pope Francis is making me wish I was Catholic. Letâs hope he leaves a lasting legacy on the church.
You know, maybe itâs just the lingering childhood Catechism in my brain, but it kind of always unnerved me that right on the street, outside our most powerful economic epicenter, we built a LITERAL GODDAMN GOLDEN COW.
This guy needs to do a podcast with like Joe Rogan and Russell Brand. Maybe they could turn him on to DMT.
That is really cute coming from the gold-draped leader of an institution that any sane person, after thousands of years of insanity, bullshit and slaughter, has long stopped paying attention or giving any serious thought to.
âEvangelii gaudiumâ, means âthe joy of the gospelâ. âGadiumâ in this post is a typo.
Itâs a positive message from a powerful person. Given the times, letâs not "Yeah, but-â it to death.
Sheesh. I thought it meant âOverdressed Marketerâ. But Latin class was a long time agoâŚ
