UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
The Cardinals who elected Pope Francis had been selected either by ex-Pope Benedict, or by John Paul II with the ex-Pope’s and/or Cardinal Sodano’s input. The Cardinals have for years promoted and protected an unaccountable organization run primarily for their personal benefit, it appears. Some, perhaps even many, of them are now likely facing an imminent legal seige for alleged crimes of child endangerment and/or financial misdeeds, including possibly even Joseph Ratzinger. Meanwhile, Vatican Cardinals are trying hard to keep secret a dossier reportedly of Vatican officials’ financial and sexual misconduct.
Pope Francis, a seemingly amiable, humble and frugal Italian/Argentinian Jesuit, had been made Cardinal in 2001 by John Paul II, who at the time suffered from Parkinson’s Disease and relied often on Cardinal Sodano and/or Ratzinger. The new Pope had been the young head of the Jesuits under an Argentine military dictatorship in the late 1970′s, when Sodano also had been papal ambassador under nearby Chile’s Pinochet dictatorship.
Given this history, have the Cardinals just secretly elected, as “hyped”, a real “Francis of Assisi” type as Pope? Will that likely lead to reform of a troubled Church? Will Cardinals and Bishops now be called to account for their misdeeds? Or was he elected mainly because the Ratzinger/Scola bloc offset the Sodano/Sherer bloc and Francis seemed to be an acceptable interim compromise not tainted by the secret Vatican scandal dossier, who might also provide cover for a few more years while the media obsesses over his personal attributes? Some in the mindless media are already interviewing Pope Francis’ childhood sweetheart, which perhaps may be intended to distance him from some of the reported gay sex stories involving others in the hierarchy.
The media apparently will have an opportunity to direct questions to Pope Francis and hopefully will ask him some of the questions suggested below. Unlike Ratzinger’s practice, Pope Francis may at least directly brief Fr. Lombardi, a fellow Jesuit and Vatican press officer. Hopefully, the media will not spend too much of the limited time rehashing the Pope’s actions as a young provincial over three decades ago in Argentina’s Dirty War. The subject has been gone over at length for years by Argentine journalists and activists with conflicting and inconclusive results. While it is a serious subject, the Pope will still stay Pope no matter what is now said about the Dirty War. The media needs to focus now on the current scandals facing the Catholic Church and on how Pope Francis plans to address them.
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