Pope Francis is starting to look a lot like Sarah Palin or Kevin Rudd

[trotsky]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/22/pope-francis-is-starting-to-look-a-lot-like-sarah-palin-or-kevin-rudd

I’m starting to have a crisis of faith. Not in God, but rather, in Pope Francis.

It seems a betrayal to even write these words. I’m a progressive Catholic who longs for a church that is more welcoming of women, homosexuals and divorced people. I want a church where the hierarchy spends more time talking about liberating the poor and oppressed and less time lecturing about birth control. I pray for a church that comprehensively faces the causes of child sexual abuse so we can have confidence such systematic evil will never occur again.

Francis – global superstar, media darling, a truly modern pope – is the best hope people like me have had for many years, right? He’s the second coming of John XXIII, isn’t he?

...

But has Francis really changed the church? If the pope moves on in two or three years, what will he have left behind? A church more welcoming of the talents of all its members, more accepting of all those who love God and live faithful lives, and a safer place for children, or a just a string of Instagram pictures, warm memories and the latent fizz of lost celebrity? I pray it is the former. I pray the Holy Spirit is moving.

[rug]

1. The only thing I see in common is a short amount of time in office.

[beam me up scottie]

2. "people who confuse popularity with leadership, or celebrity with substance."

The pope has transmogrified into the most modern of all creatures: a 21st century celebrity. Having spent the past two years taking selfies, delighting crowds with his antics and entertaining the media with his well-placed “off the cuff” quips, Francis is starting to look familiar. Think Sarah Palin, or Kevin Rudd: people who confuse popularity with leadership, or celebrity with substance.

Sounds about right.

[trotsky]

3. Sure does.

Would be a lot funnier if people didn't accept the PR campaign so readily - and attack those who have been pointing this out the whole time.

[Lordquinton]

4. The last pope was more like Palin

quitting before his term was up.

[trotsky]

5. LOL

Nice.