UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
* Pope Francis and I are both children of immigrants who lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War. I would have loved him as my pastor in our earlier years. As a “senior citizen beginner” world leader, however, the pope concerns me, especially in light of my long experience as as international lawyer and as a parent. While Francis appears to try to speak humbly at times, he often seems to act arrogantly, as discussed below.
* Pope Francis admitted here [Francis Admits Popes’ Mistakes. Will He Fix Them? ] that he and other popes made mistakes. Fine, yet he seems to operate often, too often, as if he believes that he is “infallible” on complex family, political and economic issues, not just on “faith and morals”. A few examples of this from the pope’s Philippines trip and elsewhere follow.
* Pope Francis is clearly a first rate salesman, but he seems, to me at least, to be at best a second rate manager, and a third rate strategist. He relies too often on secrecy and rhetoric, and on a narrow and opportunistic group of billionaire and clerical advisers, almost all men — “Yes Men”. He frequently pontificates on social, political and economic issues either with insufficient regard for some pertinent factual data or with a lack of direct experience on the issues, or both.. Since he has over a billion followers, and most in the media so often accept as “Gospel” whatever he says, Pope Francis concerns me deeply, more each day.
* Several examples from his trip to the Philippines follow. One example involves politics and economics and another, contraception and confession, and a third, free political speech, and are reported here:
* [National Catholic Reporter]
* [National Catholic Reporter]
* [National Catholic Reporter]
* Two other good examples involve Pope Francis’ serious missteps in international politics. One was his ill advised Vatican welcome of Russia’s President Putin before the Ukraine invasion, as reported here:
* [Daily Kos]
* And the other was on August 18 when Francis ratcheted up the Holy See’s demands for “action” — including a new invasion of Iraq — by the international community, as reported here:
* [National Catholic Register]
* On his current Asian trip, Pope Francis has called on the Philippines’ President Aquino to root out widespread corruption there, indicating “…, it is now, more than ever, necessary that political leaders be outstanding for honesty, integrity and commitment to the common good,” Francis told the President that his country needed to reform social structures “which perpetuate poverty and the exclusion of the poor.” adding “I hope that this prophetic summons will challenge everyone, at all levels of society, to reject every form of corruption which diverts resources from the poor, … ”
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