CNN Vatican analyst: Pope Francis' name 'precedent shattering'

[struggle4progress]

By Michael Martinez, CNN
updated 4:24 PM EDT, Wed March 13, 2013

... In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI recounted how St. Francis was born in 1181 or 1182 as the son of a rich Italian cloth merchant, according to the Vatican website.

After "a carefree adolescence and youth," Francis joined the military and was taken prisoner. He was freed after becoming ill, and when he returned to Assisi, Italy, a spiritual conversion began, and he abandoned his worldly lifestyle.

In a famous episode, Christ on the Cross came to life three times in the small Church of St. Damian and told him: "Go, Francis, and repair my Church in ruins," Pope Benedict XVI said, according to Vatican's website.

"At that moment St. Francis was called to repair the small church, but the ruinous state of the building was a symbol of the dramatic and disquieting situation of the Church herself," Pope Benedict XVI said. "At that time the Church had a superficial faith which did not shape or transform life, a scarcely zealous clergy, and a chilling of love" ...

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/13/world/pope-name/?hpt=hp_t1

[Mopar151]

1. Lighten up, Francis!

Somebody haedda say it....

[Meshuga]

6. Don't call me Francis!

Somebody haedda say that too.

[cbayer]

2. From the descriptions of him I have seen, the name seems fitting.

[earthside]

3. Maybe this Francis?

[Ron Obvious]

4. Or Franciscus I

Or, as he's known outside of English-speaking world: Franciscus I. Possibly Francisco in the Spanish-speaking world, I guess.

[Iggo]

13. San Francisco.

For serious.

[alfredo]

5. St Francis promoted the conversion of the Jew to Christianity. His methods were not

the usual violent forced conversion, but by using reason.


Even a velvet glove can contain a fist. Conversion didn't save the Jew from the burning stake.

[okasha]

7. Could you provide us with a source

for the burning of converted Jews in thirteenth-century Italy?

[alfredo]

10. James Carroll "Augustine's Sword." Rome, for a period of time,

was a relatively safe place for Jews. Safe doesn't mean good, or free. They were forced into ghettos.

St Francis lived during a time when it may not have been safe to stand up for the Jews. His thought was probably along the same line as others who didn't want the Jews harmed. Several Popes didn't want the Jews killed, but then the next may not feel the same. The Jews lived on a knife edge. They endured.


There are several cases of mass suicide by Jews when faced with forced conversion.

[LuvNewcastle]

9. Looks like he might have had another Francis in mind.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/national-international/Pope-Francis-St-Francis-Xavier-Assisi-197875531.html

[cbayer]

11. That's cool. Perhaps he had both of them in mind.

[alfredo]

12. Saint X.