Dear Pope Bergoglio, here's something to think about ...

[Scuba]

[Gravitycollapse]

1. The Vatican is a symbol of opulence and greed.

80K is chump change.

[Drale]

2. Nothing is going to change

Abortion and euthanasia

Cardinal Bergoglio has invited his clergy and laity to oppose both abortion and euthanasia.

Homosexuality

He has affirmed church teaching on homosexuality, though he teaches the importance of respecting individuals who are gay or lesbian He strongly opposed legislation introduced in 2010 by the Argentine Government to allow same-sex marriage, calling it a "real and dire anthropological throwback". In a letter to the monasteries of Buenos Aires, he wrote: "Let's not be naive, we're not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God." He has also insisted that adoption by gay and lesbian people is a form of discrimination against children. This position received a rebuke from Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who said the church's tone was reminiscent of "medieval times and the Inquisition".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis#Homosexuality

[freshwest]

5. I see this as the humans are livestock argument. If sex and marriage are not about the spouses, why

are they getting joined together for?

To please God by making more people?

To make more cannon fodder for the leaders of the world or corporations?

I find this reasoning to be suspect. But then I'm a humanist. This also fits under my NOYB category.

[fadedrose]

3. From your OP to the pope's ears

hopefully . . . if someone leads him to read DU...

[TheMightyFavog]

4. He didn't wear a jeweled cross I noticed.

A very simple cross.

[Chan790]

6. As archbishop...

Bergoglio gave up his chauffeured car and rode the bus so he could see and talk to his flock, sold the residence of his office and lived in a small apartment in a middle-class area of BA so that nobody could be mistaken he was better than the laity. He's been very vocal about poverty. He chose to name himself after Francis of Assisi. He spent the church's money well to provide aid during Argentina's long economic collapse to the poorest among his flock. He's a staunch voice for pastoral work and a man of the people.

There's a lot to dislike about the guy (he's a rabid homophobe who is obsessed with the idea that gay marriage is a Satanic lie and adoption of children by gay people is a form of child abuse...for starters), but I think awareness and combating poverty is the one thing you can't get on the guy about.

[jeff47]

7. Sure, he lived so simply that he hid political prisoners on his private island.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/jan/04/argenitina-videla-bergoglio-repentance

He recounts how the Argentine navy with the connivance of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, now the Jesuit archbishop of Buenos Aires, hid from a visiting delegation of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission the dictatorship's political prisoners. Bergoglio was hiding them in nothing less than his holiday home in an island called El Silencio in the River Plate.

What says living simply like stashing prisoners on your island vacation home?

[Chan790]

11. I said there was plenty to dislike about the guy.

What does his shitty record on opposing abuse of political prisoners have to do with the price of tea in China?

The topic was his awareness and combating of poverty.

Most of the hierarchy of the church in Argentina supported the RW and nominally-Catholic junta. He's also a homophobe. He sees Satanic boogiemen in everything. He opposes death-with-dignity laws. He's rabidly pro-life. He opposes ordination of women or a place in the hierarchy for women. He's not-progressive on a lot of things admittedly...none of which are poverty.

Yes, he has an island retreat. Still not an argument against his awareness of poverty concerns.

[jeff47]

12. Your claim about his awareness was based on living a "simple" life.

Having an island retreat, much less storing a dictator's victims there, is not a "simple" life.

[dipsydoodle]

8. Has he replied to you yet ?

.

[reformist2]

9. If all the gold were in churches, the world would be a better place.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

10. Brings to mind this recent column by an active Catholic priest:

The entire piece is well worth a read. A segment:


http://ncronline.org/blogs/parish-diary/what-would-christ-say-if-he-could-see-church-today



What would Christ say if he could see the church today?

by Fr. Peter Daly | Mar. 11, 2013

Over the next few weeks, in the run-up to the election of the new pope, the world will experience a tsunami of images from Vatican City. Ordinarily skeptical journalists will gush over the art, the architecture, the ceremonies and the history of the Vatican. Predictably, the media will fall in love with its sights and sounds. That's OK for them. They care nothing about our church. But we Catholics, who love our church and see it as the body of Christ made visible, should step back from the pomp and power and consider what image we project.

What would Jesus say if he saw a long parade of cardinals in red watered silk cassocks and lace surplices? Would he think they were vested appropriately as successors of his apostles? He told the 12 to take nothing for their first journey except a walking stick and a single tunic (Mark 6:8-9). Do these men travel in the spirit of the first apostles or in the spirit of Renaissance nobility?

What would Jesus say if he heard bishops addressed as "Your Eminence" or "Your Excellency"? Didn't he tell his followers not to be like the Pharisees, who demanded titles of honor like "rabbi," "teacher," "master" or even "father" (Matthew 23:8-10)?


What would Jesus say if he saw cardinals in long silk capes (cappa magnas) processing to seats of honor at ceremonies and styling themselves as "princes" of the church? Jesus criticized the religious leaders of his own day who demanded seats of honor in synagogues and who "widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels" (Matthew 23:5-6).