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The Catholic Church’s mafioso fantasies: Why the Pope really isn’t so different from “The Godfather”
http://www.salon.com/2015/08/30/the_catholic_churchs_mafioso_fantasies_why_the_pope_really_isnt_so_different_from_the_godfather/But isn’t Pope Francis a figure to be admired? Isn’t he “modernizing” the Church? Is he not progressive, or at least more so than his predecessors? This is what the media have been telling us. After all, he rails against capitalism, talks of helping the poor, welcomes refugees to Europe, urges the protection of indigenous peoples, and even shows some tolerance toward gays. Moreover, he has just issued an encyclical recognizing the dangers of anthropogenic climate change that perturbed the faith-apologist New York Times columnist David Brooks, so he must be doing something right. Right? Oh, and crowds of Americans are preparing to welcome him during his visit to the United States next month, and snapping up commemorative papal baubles, magnets, “Papal Pleasure beer,” even papal mozzarella cheese in his honor. Plus, what about his admission last year that the Big Bang and evolution really took place? Doesn’t he deserve a round of applause?
No. Though even some Catholic priests themselves link celibacy to their enduring penchant to molest children, and despite well-founded reports that he planned to abolish the sacerdotal celibacy requirement, the Pope has not done so. He is not about to ordain women as priests. No matter how many millions of Catholics die in Africa of AIDS, he is not changing the Church’s anti-contraceptive policy. (Nor will he bless artificial contraception.) By opposing family planning, he thereby condemns much of his “flock” to perpetual misery; for the only proven way to reduce poverty involves empowering women to decide if and when they would like to have children. And just after France suffered the Charlie Hebdo massacre at the hands of Islamist terrorists last January, the Pope came out strongly, even pugilistically, against freedom of expression as far as religion goes.
The record shows it: The Pope stands firmly on the side of medievalism, and proudly carries on the destructive, sexist, anti-child, anti-free-speech policies of his predecessors.
No. Though even some Catholic priests themselves link celibacy to their enduring penchant to molest children, and despite well-founded reports that he planned to abolish the sacerdotal celibacy requirement, the Pope has not done so. He is not about to ordain women as priests. No matter how many millions of Catholics die in Africa of AIDS, he is not changing the Church’s anti-contraceptive policy. (Nor will he bless artificial contraception.) By opposing family planning, he thereby condemns much of his “flock” to perpetual misery; for the only proven way to reduce poverty involves empowering women to decide if and when they would like to have children. And just after France suffered the Charlie Hebdo massacre at the hands of Islamist terrorists last January, the Pope came out strongly, even pugilistically, against freedom of expression as far as religion goes.
The record shows it: The Pope stands firmly on the side of medievalism, and proudly carries on the destructive, sexist, anti-child, anti-free-speech policies of his predecessors.
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