This “Looking Back” post is about Pope Francis and how American Catholics saw him, but maybe more importantly how they might differ from the MAGA/Evangelicals who have moved to the extreme right in American culture. Here are the words from the post five years ago with my highlights that I will talk about here: When I wrote these words, Pope Francis had been pope for … Continue reading Favorites Sunday – About The Pope
To me the foundation of my spirituality lies in the words of Jesus in Matthew 25, particularly verse 40: ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Pope Francis almost wants me to return to my religious roots in Catholicism. He says inconvenient truths that so many other religious leader shy away from … Continue reading Pope Francis.. Not Afraid To Speak Out..
I want to pen some final words about Pope Francis here. The title of this post is a recent quote from him that truly inspires me. There are just too many people in the world to who the very idea of hope seems unknowable. They live in such despair that all they can manage is just surviving day-to-day.  It is said that Pope Francis views the … Continue reading Living On The Outskirts Of Hope…
In Francis’ encyclical Laudato SÃ, he took aim at the West’s “extreme and selective consumerism” and “throwaway culture,” arguing that the developed world’s voracious appetites are a bigger threat to the planet than population growth. Blaming overpopulation in poorer parts of the world, he writes, “is an attempt to legitimize the present model of distribution, where a minority believes that it has the right to … Continue reading Pope Francis and Consumerism…
the mark of the shepherd is you have got the smell of the sheep. You have to go out and not only teach, but listen to the people of God. And he said, my ideal of a pastor was a priest I knew who knew who the name of every dog in the slum…. What he has done, I think, is he has transformed the … Continue reading The Mark Of The Shepherd…
I have to put out a quick post here following Pope Francis’ speech before our congress. To me it was very inspiring but obviously there were those there that simply refused to listen to anything he said. Instead they sat stoically on their hands while those around them frequently stood and applauded. This reminded me of the last words in the final verse of one … Continue reading Perhaps They Never Will..
On Sept. 24, Francis will be the first pontiff ever to speak before a joint session of Congress. He’ll speak in English rather than his native Spanish. And he’ll most likely say a lot of things objectionable to the Republicans who hold majorities in both branches of Congress, and to many champions of American-style capitalism. Source: Pope Francis has an unsettling message for corporate America … Continue reading Pope Francis has an unsettling message for corporate America
The problem is simply that Francis has broken from too many elements in the Republican Party platform. First there were affirming statements about homosexuality. Then harsh words for capitalism and trickle-down economics. And now climate change. That, it seems, is a bridge too far. Francis has put conservative American Catholics in the position of having to choose between the pope and the GOP. It should … Continue reading Choosing Between the Pope and the GOP…
Francis issued a blistering indictment of the Vatican bureaucracy Monday, accusing the cardinals, bishops and priests who serve him of using their Vatican careers to grab power and wealth, of living “hypocritical” double lives and forgetting that they’re supposed to be joyful men of God. Francis turned the traditional, genteel exchange of Christmas greetings into a public dressing down of the Curia, the central administration … Continue reading Pope in blistering critique of Vatican bureaucrats
After spending $43 million on residential renovations, German bishop Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst was suspended. On Wednesday, Pope Francis accepted the bishop’s resignation…. Francis has called on his priests and bishops to be models of sobriety in a church that “is poor and is for the poor.” SOURCE:Â Why Pope Francis accepted the ‘Bishop of Bling’ resignation – CSMonitor.com. I continue to be amazed by … Continue reading "A Church That Is Poor"…
Pope Francis, laying out his hopes Wednesday for the just-begun year, urged people to work for a world where everyone accepts each other’s differences and where enemies recognize that they are brothers. “We are all children of one heavenly father, we belong to the same human family and we share a common destiny,” Francis said…. “What is happening in the heart of man? What is … Continue reading Strength, Courage, Hope in New Year
“In this context, some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naive trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing … Continue reading Trickle Down Thoughts From The Pope….
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis said in the first peace message of his pontificate that huge salaries and bonuses are symptoms of an economy based on greed and inequality and called again for nations to narrow the wealth gap. In his message for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Peace, marked around the world on January 1, he also called for sharing of … Continue reading Pope attacks mega-salaries and wealth gap…
Worth reading is a recent interview with Pope Francis conducted by Eugenio Scalfari of La Repubblica. Scalfari, an atheist, had written to request an interview, and was floored when the Pope himself called to schedule a time. The whole interview is worth reading and pondering. I was especially struck by one interchange in which Pope Francis says something very akin to something George Fox said. … Continue reading A Quakerish Pope?
RJ's Corner 